Add Compost to Raised Beds Every Year

Q. I have a 500 SF raised bed garden.  I would like to add Viragrow compost to it this year.  My soil is pretty good.  How much should add?  I usually rototill in 20 1QF bags of steer manure every other year.

Yes, Viragrow has bagged steer manure
but compost is better for raised beds
2 cubic foot bag is $2.00

A. You can use steer manure but compost is more effective because it has already been broken down and the nutrients readily available to plants. It also helps the chemistry of the soil benefit plants.

When you apply steer manure it has to break down in the soil first before it can be used by plants. It can be effective but it takes longer. Compost is a better product because it is a combination of animal and/or green manures and plant products that have fully rotted or composted.

Composting releases a lot of humic and fulvic acids that are considered the "black gold" of gardening. It is an improved product over using uncomposted manures. Compost is also a safer product than untreated manure because commercial compost must be free of human pathogens because of the heat generated in commercial composting.

            I am using a calculator for determining eating how much compost you would need on a 500 ft.² raised bed garden. You can find this calculator on the landing page at the Viragrow website http://www.viragrow.com/ .

Viragrow has bagged and bulk compost.
1 cubic foot bag is $2.50. I cubic yard is  $43

For raised beds that were productive last year, I would recommend a 1 inch layer of compost applied to the surface of the raised bed and mixed into the raised bed as deep as you can, at least 8 to 10 inches.

You should do this to a garden area every year since compost breaks down and totally disappears in about three years. In the first year of actively gardening about 40% of the compost content of a raised bed is used up.

If it has been three years or longer since you've added compost, I would suggest you consider a 2 inch layer of compost and mix it into the raised bed. You can tell how much compost you need by how easily the soil in the garden digs.

If it has been a year but your raised bed digs fairly easily, put down a 1 inch layer. If it has been longer and the soil is pretty compact and harder to dig, then put down a 2 inch layer and mix it in. Be careful, because you can add too much compost to a raised bed.

Viragrow has phosphorus fertilizer.
20 lb is $18.20

            A 1-inch layer of compost applied to 500 ft.² would require about 1 1/2 yd.³ of compost which is about 40, one cubic foot bags.

But remember, if you are using good quality compost this compost application will substitute for several months of fertilizer applications. Once you put compost into your existing raised bed, very little fertilizer is needed for the next 3 to 4 months.

After about three months, side dress or dribble a high nitrogen fertilizer 3 to 4 inches from a row of vegetables and water it in. When putting in transplants or planting from seed, always add a small amount of phosphorus to the soil around the seeds or the soil used when planting the transplants.

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