Vegetable Garden

Hi

I am currently starting my own little 'Good Life' Project. I've always grown vegetables in pots but have decided to go a little bigger. The soil in my garden is not very good. I don't need to dig too deep and i find coal and clay. Do you think it is possible to use this soil without spending a lot of money on compost, topsoil and manure etc. I want to do what is best but I feel as though it is going to be so expensive. I want to get started but do not know what to do for the best. I want to produce the healthiest and best vegetables that I can.

Thank you.

Jules

 

Bit of an oxymoron there, you want to grow the best but without putting any 'life' into your soil. I'm afraid without improving your soil the best you can hope for is mediocre. If you search around there are sources of cheap or free horse manure. Usually stables are having to burn it as they cannot get rid of it all. Spent mushroom compost is relatively inexpensive when you balance cost against volume. You may even be in an area where you can get spent hops or wool shoddy. Even seaweed can be obtained. Don the deerstalker, the cape and pipe and turn detective.

Best wishes, Cheers, Tony.

 

Raised beds and 'muck', that'll sort it

 

Grrrr I've just replied and an error came up and reply deleted. Technology!!!!

Thank you guys for your help. You are so right I am contradicting myself. It's just that money is tight and compost seems so expensive on the websites I have looked at. I am going to take your advice and am shortly going into Sherlock Holmes mode.

Thank you once again.

Jules

 

You know it makes sense. Cheers, Tony.

 

Whereabouts are you based Jules?

 

Staffordshire.My soil is just awful. Full of stones and coal. It's a past coal mining area. All I want to do is get started. I'll keep searching.

 

That's the answer. Dig the soil under the raised beds, as it will help to have it "loose" so roots can get down into it. Ask on Freecycle for topsoil - people who are building extensions etc. will have to pay to have it taken away ... unless you do it for them! You'll need some means of transporting it though.

 

I agree with the raised beds .... I read somewhere a while back that coal reduces the PH of soil to below 6 .... and also read that coal is toxic and one should be carefull when growing veg in soil containing coal...

I may be wrong, and never followed up, and cannot find that link to google

 

I was going to line the raised beds with newspaper but I am not sure what to do. I don't want the roots of the vegetables getting anywhere near the coal. I'm new to all this really and just want to get it right. I've grown things in pots but not to the extent that I would like. If only I could use the soil I've already got but hey ho! In your opinion do you think I should use manure, compost and topsoil. The manure has to be pretty old doesn't it or it can burn the roots?? Can you plant as soon as you put it down? Sorry so many questions.

Thank you for your very valued help

 

Dim is right about the coal containing heavy metals.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heavy_metals_and_coal

That also rules out another thought I had about river/canal dredgings, as they could be contaminated too.

Leafmold is a good soil conditioner, so get onto that in the autumn, takes a year or so though.

Old Lime Mortar is good, as long as its not grey or black.

Wood chippings from a joiners workshop can be rotted down, but you need to make sure they are not using treated timber.

 

Blimey! That coal is bad stuff! Does that mean that Jules has no options other than growing in pots?

 

Hi Jules,

I did a search on google for free horse manure and found someone on Ebay about 4 miles away giving it away, just had to bag it myself, I used old compost bags. Got 18 bags FOC and was told if I need more just phone to arrange for the people to open up the gate for me, apparently they are struggling to get rid of it, they have a pile about 10 foot high by 25 foot. Worth trying a search.

Rusty

 

Thanks guys for your help. I'm at a bit of a loss what to do now as the coal sounds pretty toxic. I can only think of totally blocking out the soil underneath but what drainage would I have then? I had it planned to put the newspaper down and then put the compost etc on top. I looked at getting an allotment last year but was told there was a three year waiting list and didn't want to wait that long. This is something I really want to do but don't want pots everywhere again. I don't feel I got the full benefit of vegetable growing by doing it in pots.

 

Thanks Rusty. I'll definitely give that a go WHEN I get up and running and find a solution to my rubbish soil.