Raised Bed

[paulhipwood]

Have finally started to get some raised beds.
The snow has virtually gone but replaced by mud.
I have decided to grow the veg at my Daughters horse padock. It is just next to the muck heap.
The soil is clay and very heavy.
I have not dug any soil foir years, so I got the raised bed in the correct position (it is 12 foot by 4 foot). The idea was to dig the depth of the spade and fill the hole with two spades of well rotted manure and then work backwards and spade some soil over this and mix it up.
I put the spade on the ground and jumped on it. The ground was rock hard and i gracefully fell backwards into the mud. Jumed up pretty quick and looked around to see if anyone had saw my fall. Thankfully only the horses noticed.
Tomorrow I will be back.

regards
paul

[paulhipwood]

Hi All

Have started filling the raised bed.
You can see the manure heap just behond the raised bed. Its very muddy.
I am digging one spade down, then filling up with well rooted manure and then putting the top soil back on top.
I hope this is the correct way.
Sould I then fork over the top soil to break it up?
Anything else I should do?
Am planning to build four of these over the next few weeks.

best regards
Paul

[airconednightmare]

Hi Paul, you want to mix the manure, soil and compost (if you have it) in the bed so that you have a nice even mix that goes down to 18"-2ft below the surface and the manure needs to be well rotted (a good few months in a pile before use). If you have an acidic mix you should add lime. a ph of 7ish, lots of nutrients and some TLC will produce a nice crop