A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Compost in new bed

I'm going to establish a few new beds in my back yard this spring and the soil here is pretty heavy with a lot of clay and rock. I am going to buy a few pickup loads of horse manure mixed with sawdust and composted for 3 years.

Can I just dump this in the new beds and plant them or will it need to be mixed with some better soil than what is there? Other amendments that might be required?

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

The best thing to do would be to till it into the soil. Or purchase some topsoil to mix it with. It won't burn the plants having been aged for a few years, but it won't provide all of the nutrients that plants need to thrive like the soil does.

Other amendments that might be required?
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You may want to check the Ph of the soil. The sawdust/horsepoo mix may be acidic also.
The more organic matter you can get in there the better. If you have access to compost and/or spoiled lucerne bales or similar it will all help.
As your soil is heavy, a dressing of gypsum may also assist in breraking up the clay. A crop of potatos is a good first crop to help break up and condition heavy soils.

Thanks for the responses. I'll take your advice and maybe I can get something growing amongst all these rocks.

Hey Mike, save those bigger rocks and make a cute little rock garden...
They can be alot of fun....

I would recommend getting what most Organic Nurserys call their Garden Blend soil to mix with the manure and sawdust. Top Soil alone doesn't have enough organic matter in it and their is nothing wrong whatsoever with applying compost on top of the mixture when it's spread, then till it all in together.
Terry

speaking of rock gardens... what is a rock garden?

Hi Weezie: I just finished a backyard landscaping project (mostly with a pick and shovel), so I'm not too excited about the cuteness of rocks!

I did get enough good sized ones out to go almost completely around my iris bed though.

There's never a rock or the likeness of one,
I didn't like..
or be able to find something to do with them...

Oooh~oooh ROCKS!!!

Do we get to see your project complete???

I want to see pictures too please. It's good to see you posting Mike it's been awhile.