When / how to rejuvenate soil in raised planters?

[arizona98tj]

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.)

 

[plowhog]

Right now I have a huge quantity of fallen oak leaves. All chopped up from getting mowed, then sucked up by a Cyclone Rake. I have lots of cubic feet of this material.

Would these be good to add? And I have four raised planters -- 4x8 feet each. So just a small area.

 

[ultrarunner]

Good question as I am on year 4 on my balcony boxes...

Was told to plan on rejuvenating annually bur so far only a little Miracle Grow and slow release...

 

[jaydee325]

Get the book, Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew.

 

[CalG]

I did a quick search re: "cover crops," but mostly found articles about use in open areas to limit soil damage from runoff. My application are 4x8 foot raised planters.

It was 21F here this morning. Not sure if a cover crop would grow well over winter?

According to the weather forecast for the Reno area, you are looking at temps in the 50s for the next ten days.

That's sufficient time for WINTER RYE GRASS to get a start. It will grow whenever it can even through the winter. Won't look like anything is happening, but IT"S ALL IN THE ROOTS!
Add bagged amendment when you spread the seed! Add those leaves too, mix them through and through, all the way down to the bottom (before planting the rye grass ;-), just don't put a suffocating layer on top. I turn in as much maple leaves as my wife will let me. In three weeks, the organic material is nearly undetectable from 5 feet away. But if the soil is run through your hands, It's obvious. If you plant rye grass, a light mulch over the top is great. 21 degrees here today. rye grass is green and looking good! I'll need to mow the top off before turning it in next spring. ;-) (picture taken out the front door just now. 4 o'clock in the afternoon. burr! yup, that's snow ;-)

 

[arizona98tj]

Right now I have a huge quantity of fallen oak leaves. All chopped up from getting mowed, then sucked up by a Cyclone Rake. I have lots of cubic feet of this material.

Would these be good to add? And I have four raised planters -- 4x8 feet each. So just a small area.

Yes, chopped oak leaves would certainly qualify as disease-free yard waste.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Right now I have a huge quantity of fallen oak leaves. All chopped up from getting mowed, then sucked up by a Cyclone Rake. I have lots of cubic feet of this material.

Would these be good to add? And I have four raised planters -- 4x8 feet each. So just a small area.

Oak leaves (and others) have a high tannic acid content, and will sour the soil. That's great for acid loving crops, not great for most vegetables. I compost my leaves by mixing alkaline wood ash with the leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc., plus some nitrogen fertilizer to keep the little compost beasts happy. If it's so cold the pile freezes, you may have to let it "work" through warm weather to rot down to compost and deal with year old compost instead. Mix it in. Fertilize to restore nutrients removed by crops. The compost will keep soil micro-organisms active, but you need N-P-K to make plants.

 

[the old grind]

For container plants too cumbersome to re-pot making compost tea is so easy to make. What Larry said above, adding Nitrogen ferts will speed a compost. Just be sure to check ph before top-dressing with it. Berries and asparagus like acid soil, but one has to know what they have before applying. Props to Ralph for using fish emulsion. Not cheap, but a great organic fert .. and not just for growing 'natural' glaucoma medicine, a 'local' hobby I gave up 40 yrs ago.

 

[plowhog]

Oak leaves (and others) have a high tannic acid content, and will sour the soil. That's great for acid loving crops, not great for most vegetables.

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 ...

 

[ponytug]

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