When / how to rejuvenate soil in raised planters?

[RalphVa]

plowhog,

Do you maintain a compost bin? We have one and our neighbor lady even brings her material over to help out. Working that into your raised beds in the late summer (after harvest) or the fall would be the best time to add it. Adding it in the spring works as your second best time.

We put material such as the following in ours:

• Grass clippings.
• Tree leaves.
• Vegetable food scraps (coffee grounds, lettuce, potato peels, banana peels, avocado skins, etc.)
• Black and white newspaper.
• Printer paper.
• Most disease-free yard waste.
• Cardboard.
• Egg shells.
• Vegetarian animal manure (e.g. cows, horses, rabbits, hamsters, etc.)

I just make piles and collect kitchen compost in an old garbage container. When container gets full, I flatten the compost pile and dump kitchen stuff in, which has been layered with some wood chippy stuff from top of the compost pile. They retoss the compost pile.

Has worked great for 21 years there underneath a red cedar tree.

You'll need to toss yours every so often.

 

[RalphVa]

Before you decide not to use the oak leaves, check your soil pH. I have so much clay and limestone rock in my soil that oak leaves, chips, bark are all welcome additions to the soil here.

All the best,

Peter

It's an old wives tale that any tree leaves lower the pH. When fully composted, they are neutral. The earlier research just didn't go far enough.

 

[RalphVa]

Thanks for that input, Larry. A few years ago I was chipping a large volume of oak twigs and someone else advised not to use the chips for garden mulch. For the same reason.

And I realize now I should start saving some of my late fall grass clippings ...

Not true. See my above comment.

 

[jyoutz]

Miracle Grow liquid fertilizer

 

[Larry Caldwell]

It's an old wives tale that any tree leaves lower the pH. When fully composted, they are neutral. The earlier research just didn't go far enough.

Tannic acid is soluble and will leach out if you run enough water through it. The water also takes nutrients, so I'm more in favor of neutralizing the acid than flushing it.

 

[RalphVa]

Miracle Grow liquid fertilizer

If you want to kill everything in the soil and then depend on this stuff forever. I once bought some Miracle Grow soil. Great first year. Then didn't buy anything to put in the soil. NOTHING would grow until rejuvenated about 4 years later.

 

[jyoutz]

If you want to kill everything in the soil and then depend on this stuff forever. I once bought some Miracle Grow soil. Great first year. Then didn't buy anything to put in the soil. NOTHING would grow until rejuvenated about 4 years later.

I think it’s best for container growing. There are better options for plants in the native soil, but growing in containers is an artificial environment with man made soil and it is best with a balanced liquid fertilizer. Yes, containers do need regular infusions of fertilizer. That’s why greenhouse growers use them exclusively.

 

[plowhog]

check your soil pH.

Good idea Peter-- thanks! I will do that.

I've never composted before but have an abundance of what I need to do so. So I will look into that .... here was a good article I found for anyone (like me) starting out ...

Composting 101: How to Start Composting

If you’re new to gardening or lawn care, you may wonder how composting works. You can learn how to start a compost pile with a few simple steps.

www.lawnstarter.com

 

[ultrarunner]

If you want to kill everything in the soil and then depend on this stuff forever. I once bought some Miracle Grow soil. Great first year. Then didn't buy anything to put in the soil. NOTHING would grow until rejuvenated about 4 years later.

I guess I am on borrowed time with my container plants...?

These Geraniums are typically seasonal plants and found all over the Alpine region of Bavaria in window boxes... it's hard to picture an old farmhouse or residence without.

It's now 4 years and I use a thimble of miracle grow bloom at least once a week if not every three days in summer.

Its out of character but I splurged and had the flower stock airmailed from Austria...

Not sure how much longer before the soil plays out but until then I will keep using Miracle…

As a side note in Alpine country it is quite a competition as to getting your window boxes out and blooming!

 

[the old grind]

OP, great article with some critical dos & don't at the end of it. Some gardeners I know will compost grass clippings separately. With high green to brown ratio and high moisture the piles take off fast and heat up quickly. Some of that will be stirred into 'slower', larger, older piles when turning both. Bins are easier to cover and monitor, 'work' faster for that.

Why I like to compost is that neglect 'is well tolerated' and time is on my side when piles get half as big as my tractor. I'm screening mere cu ft vs yards for my sparse use. I'll mention compost tea again because pots & planters don't always have room to top dress. This can buy time before more vigorous steps are taken & no carrier salts to build up in soils vs MG.