On 8/29/2016 8:00 PM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
...
In addition to the vegetable beds we have a fig, a kumquat, and a pear
tree, all producing well after four years of growth. Do need to replace
the growing medium in the raised beds though. That means a tarp to hold
the new medium and toss it several times to get it all mixed properly. I
think we might be getting a bit to old for that too. Might have to call
in the 200 + lbs grandsons to do the tossing.

replace? that sounds like a project for sure.
why not amend on top and let the worms, gravity
and rains do the work for you instead? might be
worth a trial...


songbird

Tried that, the compost part of the "soil" just eventually disappears.
This is the Square Foot Garden mix, peat moss, vermiculite, compost.

It's easier for the two of us old geezers to shovel the mix out on the
tarp and then shake it back and forth to mix it totally. The beds are
only six inches deep by four feet wide by eight feet long, the big one
is a double. We also put in kitchen vegetable scraps occasionally,
hoping to pull some worms into the mix. We finally, after three years
are seeing some earthworms in the beds. Took their own sweet time. I
think it's because we have been potholing a good bit of stuff from the
compost bucket rather than put it into the composter. We will continue
with that one.