Getting soil for raised veggy beds

Hi,


I have just built two raised garden beds and I am now looking into getting garden soil delivered. Being somewhat new to gardening I am wondering what to look for and hopefully get some recommendation where to order.

I have phoned around a bit and most soil contains mushroom manure. Is mushroom manure actually a good ingredient for vegetable gardening? I have heard that it may contain herbicides and that is somewhat acidic. Also, what percentage of manure is acceptable? I was just quoted 50% manure from Southwest Garden Supplies? I also heard that Fraser Richmond Soil and Fiber produces good soil. Unfortunately they do not deliver as far as I know.

Thx
Jochen

 

Personally, I would go to a bulk supplier and look at what they have. You can do a pH test and correct an acidic soil easy enough.

Some mixes have a high sand ratio, some have alot of wood chips in them.

I am not certain, but the Fraser Richmond soil supplier you mentioned may be the supplier of
"night soil." (human waste) Which may work well in some applications, but I don't want to grow my food in that. (heavy metals?)

I don't know if you have ever loaded up a raised planter with soil? I did some that were over three feet tall. Using long planks to wheel the stuff in was tough.

Some soil suppliers will blow in the soil, but once again they may be using "night soil" So, check.

 

I couldn't google anything about night soil and fraser richmond soils, but I will give them a call tomorrow. It looks like they supply some of the bulk suppliers in town, so I may be getting some of their soil one way or the other. But I definitely do not want to grow in night soil either.

What do you think about 50% mushroom manure content? As far as I know the right amount of lime will reduce the acidity, but high good is the nutrient content in mushroom manure and how save is it in terms of pesticides.

 

Fraaser Richmond used to deliver. I have never liked their product, but a friend of mine uses nothing else and swears by it.

 

Hi,
I am unable to give you a good answer to your mushroom manure question.

I live on one of the original Dairyland co-op farms in Pitt Meadows. It's now retired.
I rent an acre with a house, workshops and small barn from them.

The farm has a covered inground pool of cow poop that is 50 feet by 150 feet and really deep. They pushed the waste in one end with a tractor and used to use a conveyor on the other end to load up the composted waste and spread it on the corn fields.

As tempting it is, I don't use any of this on my gardens. They fed the cows alot of corn so they would grow fast and as a result the cows need alot of antibiotics and such. I have never tested this cache.

Unless the mushroom manure is guaranteed from 100 percent organic grass fed cows
and composted for a year, there may be trace amounts of things that you don't want in it. Although, I don't know how much the human body can dispose of with no ill effects.

I've probably been eating from home gardens fertilized with the same cow matter for my whole life. Confusing options.

 

Try googling sewage treatment in Vancouver. I think Iona Island is where they do it.

 

I think that I will go for the high content mushroom manure soil, test the Ph and then adjust it accordingly. I am ultimately planning to build up the soil myself over time, using green manure and the worm composting I just setup. I just want something decent for the start.

Being a bit of a mushroom picker, I know that mushroom easily pickup contaminants from the soil. Anyone who has large amounts of mushroom manure must get it form a commercial grower, and I bet they monitor that soil very well in order to meet whatever standards there are. I don’t have any proof of that, but the whole deduction makes sense to me.

I have just learned that Fraser Richmond composts household kitchen waste picked up from the roadside and they do/did have problems with plastic contamination. Considering what sometime ends up in my trash bin, I don’t feel that good about growing my food in it. I certainly would get it for flowers and anything else non-edible.

 

I wouldn't worry about it to much, personally. I have put in raised beds over the last 2 years & am still working on getting "real soil" rather a mix of components. Fill the beds up this year with mix that is available for delivery to get the bulk of the volume. Then add compost or manure from sources you find more desirable to improve the beds until you have a complete working soil system in a few years hence. These material components we place are merely the environment of & food for for the actual soil makers (bacteria, single-celled organisms, nematodes, crustaceans, insects, plants etc. etc.) Get a few buckets of soil from a neighbour with good organic garden practice & spread that on your beds as inoculant.

Just my somewhat basic approach to the process, but it works.

 

Lysichiton's got it: you're simply providing a situation for soil making organisms (already present under your lawn) to really get to work making soil. Starting with a truckload of topsoil gives you an instant headstart, but if you get a hold of a few straw bales you'll end up with decent beds in a couple of seasons, with little hassle...cultivate and mound the existing lawn soil in each bed, spread a little compost, and pile on the straw. Good, friable raised soil mounds will be the eventual result. Via a technique called "straw bale gardening" (google nets a bunch of informative sources), you can begin gardening immediately. Might be easier than sourcing and dealing with a truckload of soil...Worth noting that depending on your situation, straw might encourage voles. Otherwise, it builds soil surprisingly fast.