Recipe for the Perfect Vegetable Gardening Soil for Organic Gardening
We have created the perfect vegetable gardening soil mix called “Flick-A-Seed” (the idea being that it is soil so rich that all you have to do is flick a seed into it and it will grow), but we don’t have mass distribution yet. We are selling it in Arizona right now, and online in the very near future, but we want as many people as possible to have as successful a harvest as possible.
So to that end, here is an easy and economical recipe you can do yourself. Quite honestly, it's not going to be as rich as our Flick-A-Seed, but this soil will provide a good base soil for your organic vegetable garden beds:
Recipe for Soil for Your Organic Garden Beds:
3 bags of organic mulch (2 cubic feet each)
2 bags composted steer manure (1.5 cubic feet each)
1 bag finished compost (1 cubic feet each)
1 lb. MegaVeggie
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Mix mulch, composted manure and finished compost together very well, then spread on top of your garden beds 3 inches deep. Sprinkle 1 lb. of MegaVeggie on top of the soil, then till this mix into the first 4-5" of your native soil.
If you find bags in different sizes than listed above, simply do the math to make the ratios equivalent. The total number of bags you will need of each component will depend on how much area your vegetable beds will cover, but the above recipe will amend approximately 100 square feet.
Make sure your manure is fully composted and washed (meaning the salt has been taken out). When it is fully composted it is in a finished state so the nutrients are available to the plants. This is important for your compost too — make sure it is “finished” compost. Otherwise, if it is still decomposing, it will rob nutrients from your plants to continue to break itself down. So, VERY IMPORTANT, make sure you use fully-composted manure and finished compost. If you are not sure they are fully composted, then do this process early enough in the season that you can let the soil rest for 3 weeks prior to planting. This will help give it time to break down further and ensure nitrogen won't be stolen from your plants.
Also, one thing to note is that vegetable gardens don’t need to be deeper than 6”. While it’s great to till the soil below that for aeration and to allow longer root crops like carrots to easily penetrate, 90% of the feeder roots of most vegetable plants are found within the first 3” of soil. So, you don’t need to waste your money by creating the perfect soil a foot deep or more.
We hope this helps you get started on your way to a bountiful, organic harvest!
Good luck and Happy Gardening!
Kim and Bryan