[Grubbypaws]

Over concrete; the last bit of space I have available to me. The other raised beds are over earth. I had to bargain hard with the hub to be allowed to put a bed on top of his garage!!

[Benandbill]

Sorry if I'm perhaps going off topic just slightly but I have a question about 'soil on top'.  When I dug a big bit of ground that was nearly all grass last year, I was grabbing the grass bits, giving them a good old shake to get as much soil as possible off and back into the ground and giving abay the big clumps left for peoples' chickens to gnaw on when it dries.  I was told at the time this was a big waste as a lot of soil was still on the clumps and that as a result of this, I'd be losing a lot of bulk in my growing area.

This weekend just gone, I widened my bed, but instead of doing the above, I just turned the clumps upside down. Now any grass roots are sticking in the air and should hopefully die, and hopefully the upside down grass will not survive with it's face in the mud and will also rot down.

I know this might seem like a daft question, but have I done this right?  Sorry  

[mumofstig]

Over concrete; the last bit of space I have available to me. The other raised beds are over earth. I had to bargain hard with the hub to be allowed to put a bed on top of his garage!!

The thing is home-made compost is really good as a soil conditioner, but on it's own it has very little in the way of food for plant growth. Could you swap some of the compost with some soil from the other beds?
It would make watering easier as well

[richyrich7]

Sorry if I'm perhaps going off topic just slightly but I have a question about 'soil on top'.  When I dug a big bit of ground that was nearly all grass last year, I was grabbing the grass bits, giving them a good old shake to get as much soil as possible off and back into the ground and giving abay the big clumps left for peoples' chickens to gnaw on when it dries.  I was told at the time this was a big waste as a lot of soil was still on the clumps and that as a result of this, I'd be losing a lot of bulk in my growing area.

This weekend just gone, I widened my bed, but instead of doing the above, I just turned the clumps upside down. Now any grass roots are sticking in the air and should hopefully die, and hopefully the upside down grass will not survive with it's face in the mud and will also rot down.

I know this might seem like a daft question, but have I done this right?  Sorry  

Yep as long as the grass is the annual types you should have little problems, you may get a little regrowth but that can be easily sorted out. I've done the same with my new plot.

[richyrich7]

Over concrete; the last bit of space I have available to me. The other raised beds are over earth. I had to bargain hard with the hub to be allowed to put a bed on top of his garage!!

The thing is home-made compost is really good as a soil conditioner, but on it's own it has very little in the way of food for plant growth. Could you swap some of the compost with some soil from the other beds?
It would make watering easier as well

Sorry to disagree MOS, but home made compost is a valuable plant food. Very similar in it's make up to some animal manures. Fine compost sifted & mixed with horticultural sand 1:1 makes lovely sowing medium.
I'd still mix the soil & compost if you can, spread all that goodness about a bit

Nutrient value of compost and manures  http://www.allotment-garden.org/fertilizer/npk-manures-compost.php

[mumofstig]

I didn't think that homemade compost had enough goodness in it for growing veg, without any soil? Great mixed with soil, but on it's own   

I've seen it used as a sowing medium, but then plants are potted on, or planted out into soil 

[viettaclark]

I suppose it depends on what you put into your compost. Mine has a high percentage of chicken poo so must have a good level of nutrients.
 I never use just compost for this reason (too strong) and because I find that combining with top soil gives a more stable and balanced mix due to the sand and clay content.
Although brassicas, lettuce etc might be ok on concrete there will be problems with drainage and it will be impossible to grow long parsnips or even carrots......
Can't you sneak a Kanga hammer past the OH?

[sunshineband]

Bearing in mind that some people grow a pumpkin plant or two in the top of their compost heap, there must be somehting in there for it to grow with 

[Grubbypaws]

I have added well rotted horse manure and will sprinkle some growmore about when the time comes.
Drainage may well be a problem so I was going to use it for early pak choi, turnips, spinach and lettuce. I have a PVC cover for it so it should get toasty come spring. Should I go and buy some top soil?

Can't you sneak a Kanga hammer past the OH?

     Image of raised bed sitting on roof of OH's Audi (AKA his pride and joy)

[bigben]

I didn't think that homemade compost had enough goodness in it for growing veg, without any soil? Great mixed with soil, but on it's own   

I have four compost bins at home and aim to have at least two of them full by the end of the winter. I then use the contents to grow new spuds in big pots and they seem to do ok. I do also feed every couple of weeks with either chicken pellet "tea" or comfrey "tea" so perhaps this helps but there does seem to be enough in the compost to get them growing. I also used a big pot to grow french beans in and they did reasonably well but I did need to top them up with chicken pellets once they started podding.

[JayG]

The "perfect loam" is an approximately equal mixture of clay, silt, sand and organic matter plus small amounts of nitrogen-containing and other salts essential to plant nutrition.

Compost is almost entirely organic material with a few salts in it (plus whatever you might choose to add to boost its nutrient content.)

You can't expect compost to have the same properties as a loam soil when it comes to drainage, pH buffering, micro-organism content and "staying power" (a bed of compost will eventually disappear completely if not topped up as it has no mineral content) but that doesn't mean it's useless as a growing medium - it just needs more care and won't suit everything (and of course there never seems to be many folk on here boasting about their "perfect loam" soil!)  

[heygrow]

Well thanks, there's a lot of useful infomation in all the posts here.
I just emptied out my well matured compost pile onto the patch I dug out the other week. Four barrows of this seem to have covered the patch quite well, so I'm going to see how the worms mix it all up with the earth thats there over the next few months and then if need be add some top soil and sand.

[Benandbill]

richyrich7 I'm not sure what you mean when you say 'as long as the grass is the annual types' ??

I suppose it's what I'd call normal turf   Are you able to elaborate a little on this?

[LilacSandy]

Hi Grubbypaws,  I filled my raised beds with home made compost but this was on top of my heavy clay soil.  It works great and plants love it BUT, because it is home made it is full of weed seeds.

[someoneorother]

richyrich7 I'm not sure what you mean when you say 'as long as the grass is the annual types' ??

I suppose it's what I'd call normal turf   Are you able to elaborate a little on this?

I assume he meant 'as long as it's not couch'.