Mulching raised bed veg patch

Hi

I am after some advice. I started a raised bed last year. Should I add compost over the bear ground now or wait until Spring.

When I do add the the compost am I OK adding multipurpose or should I add compost specific for veg.


Currenty Iin the ground I have have some Sping cabbage, I was going to plant some summer cabbage in the Spring to the spare part of this bed.

Over wintering onions and Garlic in another bed, waiting to add some Red barron sets in the spring in the spare part of this bed.


Currently still some Leeks and carrots left in another bed This will be for new poatoes and salads next year.

Any help much appreciated

Cheers

Pat

 

Hi Pat,

Just been doing just that:autlv:Digging out an enormous 2 year old heap & spreading around the plot between veg thats still in the ground. You can leave it till spring so the winter rains don't wash all the nutrients thru, but I needed to sort the compost corner out.

Dave is probably the one to answer the multiporpoise/ specific compost question, I just dig anything organic in that I can get hold of, anything to hold the moisture in the soil helps too.

If you do dig it in now, you could cover the bed with cardboard. That would keep the rain from leaching the soil & give you clean ground to plant into in the spring.

 

If you have clay, and the soil is not good, I would rough dig it now and let the frost at it over the winter, and add well rotted manure / compost in the Spring (although digging in some well rotted compost would be fine)

If you have good soil already, and you are thus basically on a "no-dig" or "minimal-dig" regime then chucking compost / manure on the surface will give the worms some work to do over the Winter.

For bought in compost I would add it in the Spring / when you are ready to plant. Seems a bit of a waste putting it on now - but I've never bought in Multi-purpose compost for anything other than potting on

 

Forgot to mention runner/french bean trenches. Fill them full of kitchen waste over winter, then cover in soil & plant beans on top. The nitrogen fixing nodules on the bean roots will rot the stuff down so the beans can feed on it.

Some folk line the trenches with news paper, but then again, some folk do a lot of things.

 

If you add commercial multipurpose compost now all the nutrients that have been added to it will have been leached out by the time your plants need them and all it will do is to act as a soil conditioner. This in itself is good but you'll lose some of the (expensive) benefits.
If you want to use bought multipurpose compost, I reckon the best time to add it is just before sowing or planting.

 

Perhaps come at this from another angle

Why do you want to add compost to your beds?

Not deep enough?
To add goodness?

Some other reason perhaps?

Knowing that would help us to give you some suggestions

 

Thanks to all for advice.

I am trying to follow a no dig or minimal dig regime and want to generally improve the soil and also raise the depth of the bed gradually.

Cheers

Pat

 

It would help to double-dig the bed once (at the "outset" so to speak). Incorporating well rotted manure / compost at the junction between the top-soil and sub-soil (make sure you don't mix the two - double digging is the process of opening up the sub-soil without mixing it with the top-soil)

If you have heavy soil leaving it rough over the winter (i.e. uncovered / uninsulated by compost or cardboard etc.) will benefit from frost action.

Thereafter you can build up the beds with top-layer of compost or manure - but if the sub-soil is rock hard just building it up on its own isn't going to be a saviour - unless you are going to add 12"-18" which I expect would be very expensive.

My raised beds don't have any surrounding frame - I dug the paths out and put the soil on the beds. The "edges" crumble onto the (lowered) paths, as you might expect!, and I shovel them back onto the beds occasionally.

I had the local farmer plough it on Day One, and then I ran a tractor-mounted Rotavator over it. The soil is heavy clay.

Since then (about 4 years ago) I have done nothing much. I incorporated manure at the outset, and now I add manure each Autumn (but not where I want to grow roots). The only digging it gets is when I harvest Spuds, Leeks and Parsnips. I have a little Mantis Rotavator which I run over the beds where I want to plant things like potatoes, but for many things, particular Brassicas, I just spread manure in the autumn and plant straight through it in the spring with no cultivation at all.

I mention this not as a recommendation!!! but to indicate that for a time-busy person, like me, this is "good enough". However, I did open the soil up at the outset (albeit not by digging by hand!) and I do think that is crucial.

 

Many Thanks Kristen

I did double dig the patch originally (Its only small). I have timber surrounding the bed but it is not full yet, so I have scope to increase the depth.

I that think this weekend providing I am not under snow I will add some manure to the patch (avoiding the root the area for roots).

Thanks again

Pat

 

Sounds like you are in excellent shape for good coprs then :thumb: and you mostly want to provide some additional goodness, and perhaps bring the level up to the tops of the timber surround?

In which case I think manure now, and then something more "compost-y" in the Spring should be idea. Lucky veg plants - would that mine were so lucky!