Amending soil for shrubs, etc
 

Hello,
When gardeners talk about 'amending soil with compost', what does that
mean??
..
Here is my question...Say I am building raised beds. I want to plant shrubs
in the raised beds. I am using lousy soil from another part of the yard. I
will amend the soil....But...is it important to put compost in the entire
bed, or within an area around the roots, and/or what??
..
Thank you.

Amending soil for shrubs, etc
 

In article , says...
Hello,
When gardeners talk about 'amending soil with compost', what does that
mean??
.
Here is my question...Say I am building raised beds. I want to plant shrubs
in the raised beds. I am using lousy soil from another part of the yard. I
will amend the soil....But...is it important to put compost in the entire
bed, or within an area around the roots, and/or what??


Spread it over the entire bed, and mix it in evenly, before you
plant the shrubs.


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Amending soil for shrubs, etc
 

On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:10:43 -0700,
wrote:

In article , says...
Hello,
When gardeners talk about 'amending soil with compost', what does that
mean??
.
Here is my question...Say I am building raised beds. I want to plant shrubs
in the raised beds. I am using lousy soil from another part of the yard. I
will amend the soil....But...is it important to put compost in the entire
bed, or within an area around the roots, and/or what??


Spread it over the entire bed, and mix it in evenly, before you
plant the shrubs.

EVENLY is the operative word!

BTW, if your "lousy" soil happens to be on the alkalineside
(like So. Calif adobe) you might want to add something to rectify the
acid-alkaline balance. Also, if soil is "heavy", you could add some
vermiculite or Perlite that creates "gaps" in soil. I'm not
explaining this very well...g

Persephone

Amending soil for shrubs, etc
 

Persephone wrote in message
...
On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:10:43 -0700,
wrote:

In article , says...
Hello,
When gardeners talk about 'amending soil with compost', what does that
mean??
.
Here is my question...Say I am building raised beds. I want to plant
shrubs
in the raised beds. I am using lousy soil from another part of the
yard. I
will amend the soil....But...is it important to put compost in the
entire
bed, or within an area around the roots, and/or what??


Spread it over the entire bed, and mix it in evenly, before you
plant the shrubs.

EVENLY is the operative word!

BTW, if your "lousy" soil happens to be on the alkalineside
(like So. Calif adobe) you might want to add something to rectify the
acid-alkaline balance. Also, if soil is "heavy", you could add some
vermiculite or Perlite that creates "gaps" in soil. I'm not
explaining this very well...g

Sand would last the longest and look the best. Vermiculite collapses in time
and the stark white of perlite is very unattractive.


Persephone

Amending soil for shrubs, etc
 

On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:16:36 -0400, "Jack" wrote:

Hello,
When gardeners talk about 'amending soil with compost', what does that
mean??
.
Here is my question...Say I am building raised beds. I want to plant shrubs
in the raised beds. I am using lousy soil from another part of the yard. I
will amend the soil....But...is it important to put compost in the entire
bed, or within an area around the roots, and/or what??
.
Thank you.


Two schools:

1) Amend soil when you want to plant shrubs or anything non-native and
be prepared to add compost yearly to keep those non-native plants
happy and healthy.

2) Loosen the soil, plant the native or adapted plants which are good
for your conditions and backfill them with the same soil without
amending it, but putting an inch or two of compost on top of the soil
and very gently mix it to a depth of an inch and cover that with
minimum of two inches of shredded mulch. Do not use deco chips.