In fact, I made such a bed with imported soil and compost and it worked for a couple of years but just got harder and harder
The bed did make it easy to cover with netting to keep out the carrot maggot flies, tho
Compost. I don’t till or fork or disturb the soil structure. I cut plants at ground level. Then I add a layer of compost on top. I have also used mushroom compost and my compost. Much less maintenance esp weeding. I do foilar spraying w/soluble seaweed, but sometimes a soil drench w/it. So mine is kinda a Back to Eden and Charles Dowding approach.
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I till in the mulched leaves from our trees in the fall
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The no till idea sounds great, until you realize your soile pH is 4.9, and lime doesn’t penetrate soul more than an inch unless it’s tilled or dug in.
Hmmmm. That is not the experience that people who have been actually doing this report.
The ‘compost layered on top’ every year appears to rectify the soil through microbial action as well as earthworm activity resulting in a balanced pH. In fact, Paul Gautchi reports that he grows blueberries next to lavendar, which supposedly, have much different pH requirements. The microbials are HUGE soil rectifiers.
I don’t believe that is universally true (aka internet legend). I think there are other factors such as yearly rainfall…and whether the soil is covered with living mulch. Please seek out the info and experiences offered by those I’ve mentioned.
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Like Anne, I don’t till or dig my garden. My beds are 25 to 40 years old. My experience is they’ve grown better over time. It takes awhile for the soil life to get established but then they all take care of moving things around, as does all those plant roots. Of course, when I dig potatoes and carrots and such the soil gets mixed around much more. The only “amendment” I add is hay mulch, and sometimes wood ashes. I do have a compost pile but most of it goes into potting soil for growing plants and seedlings in the greenhouse. Which, of course, all end up back in the garden. Whatever compost I have left gets distributed here and there, on this plant or that. My garden is 50 x 80 and I’ve never had enough compost to even begin to cover that area. Most plants are left to die and decay where they are unless the roots or tops are in my way the next spring.
One thing that helped in the beginning and I continue to plant now whenever I have an empty space is buckwheat. Our soil originally was very poor “farmed out” sandy-loam. Buckwheat will grow in most any soil and the bees love the flowers. Just cut it down before it seeds or you’ll be weeding out a lot of buckwheat the following years! Though I let some plants grow where they will if they aren’t in the way. There is also a lot of good “green manure” in weeds!
Your climate and soil certainly makes a difference, of course. Organic matter breaks down slower here I think because of our cooler temps. But I think if you give it time, adding whatever organic matter you have on top, you’ll find your soil structure and garden will respond in a positive way. You’ve added more amendments than I ever did! And my garden feeds us well. I use hay because we have it and I really like it for mulch but there are many other materials that work.
As far as growing this or that crop in any particular place, plants certainly have their preferences, just like people, and trees! But you might also try different varieties. Sometimes you can find a variety bred specifically for your climate that will work better. That’s certainly been the case in my garden.
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