The Final Raised Bed Is Filled with Soil. 1.4.22

Today was drizzling but otherwise OK. I become a bit anxious when there is an unfinished project. So, I filled the last raised bed the rest of the way with top soil. Given how much it's rained and snowed this week, I want to think that the lower layers are all settled, so the top level settling might be minimal. Before adding more soil, I dusted the previous layer with wood ash and the cremated remains of chicken femurs. Those came from the chicken thighs I use to make Rufus's dog food. If the uncremated bones are used, they don't degrade all that fast, and can be dug up when planting and digging. So I let them dry out, then throw them into the woodstove whenever I burn some logs. Then the bones become very brittle, crumblng apart with a finger touch, and most are just ash. Bone ash adds Calcium and Phosphorus, and wood ashes add Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, and some other minerals. They are alkaline but not quite as much as lime and I the soil tested acidic anyway. So it's a beneficial amendment or at least no harm done. When I fill, I empty the buckets so he ground is uneven, with mountains and valleys. Well, maybe for a hobbit but it is uneven. That way, after mixing, there is no distinct "lasagna" layer. Then I added biochar all over that - the black appearance is biochar.

Then I used the garden claw hand tiller to mix it in, then I used a shovel to mix some more. Then I used the garden rake to mix and smooth.

Next I'll add about a pound of crushed eggshells to the top and mix those in, and a layer of leaves Then it will settle and mellow and earthworms will purposefully tunnel through all of that, leaving trails and starting to built good soil structure. Then, I'll lay the paths between and around all of the raised beds. I'll discuss eggshells and what university agricultural research says about them with that post. There are lots of people on the internet repeating what others say, positive and negative. Almost none of them report actual research.