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Organic Gardens


I have a patch of land 30 x 30 (about 1000 sf). The ground is full of clay. I'd like to plant a vegetable garden, surrounded by citrus trees, so I would want higher quality soil.What kind and how much soil would you recommend?

Clay soil is actually good soil, the problem with it is that it is usually very compacted.

Are making raised beds or are you wanting to amend your soil and plant in it?

If you are making raised beds I would recommend you use 2 parts of our Potting Mix or Nursery Mix 1 part Vermi Green Compost or Diestel Structured Compost. If you have 900 square feet of beds and they are 8" deep you will need 15 yards of Potting Mix and 7 yards of Vermi Green Compost/Diestel Structured Compost. We can mix the two together for you.

If you want to work with your soil then wait until it has dried out a bit from the rain, now may be a perfect time. You want a little moisture in the soil so you can get a shovel into it. If it is muddy don't work it until it has drained. You will need 6 yards of Vermi Green Compost or Diestel Structured Compost and 3 yards of Fine Redwood Amendment. We can mix them together for you. You will spread the mix over your soil and mix in with a rototiller. I generally do not like rototillers but they are great to use one time when the soil is compacted. The rototiller will open up the soil and incorporate the compost and amendment. The Fine Redwood Amendment will help keep the soil open and the Vermi Green Compost or Diestel Structured Compost will add food and life to the soil.

In addition to Vermi Green Compost and Diestel Structured Compost we have a Composted Horse Manure. The Diestel Structured Compost is composted turkey manure made by the Diestel family from their turkey ranch. We know everything that goes into their compost. The Vermi Green Compost is a green waste compost so we don't know everything that has gone into it, it is approved to use on organic farms. The Composted Horse Manure is local, it is good to use as mulch on top of your veggie garden.

Mulches are very important for the health of your soil. Do keep your soil covered with 2"-3" layer of mulch. We have many kinds of mulches; composted horse manure, Mocha Mulch, Wood Chips or Arbor Mulch would all work well. They will all provide protection from the sun, help hold moisture in the soil, break up rain drops so they can penetrate into the soil, provide a long term source of food for the biology in the soil and mulching also helps retard weed growth. Over time you will want to maintain your vegetable garden by applying 1/4"-1/2" of compost in the fall over the top of the beds and mulch over the top of the compost. You will also want to apply an organic fertilizer like Down to Earth All Purpose or Vegetable fertilizer during the growing season.


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