Soil For New Raised Beds. 11.3.2021

I decided to have the soil hauled here instead of doing it myself. I calculated the beds will need three cubic yards each, and Ning also wants a cubic yard. My little pickup, trusty as it is, can only handle 1/3 cubic yard at a time. On a good day - for dry soil mix or wood chips. That would have been about 28 trips. This project is a signifant part of my gardening future, so it's worth it. This soil is recycled from whatever is brought to the yard waste center, mainly sod or yard re-grading. I used recycled topsoil from the same source, last year, for one of the raised beds, amended with home made compost. That was an excellent crop (garlic). Various places sell mixes - sand, compost, perlite, forest humus (that one sounds suspicious). All of the organic fluff will break down in a year or two, resulting in a lot of volume loss. The sand or perlite might help drainage, but I think will dry out too fast. Topsoil is what the garden is anyway, so I bought plain, sifted topsoil. I'm surprised he could back that giant truck through the gate. But he did.

In a sense, that truck was full of next year's tomatoes :-). First, I need to fill the raised bed. The top foot will be fresh compost plus enriched soil,from a raised bed that I have to deconstruct and rebuild due to mole damage. I think the first bed will be completed and ready for winter's mellowing and settling, in about a week.