how to get enough fertile soil in your garden

Hi everyone,

I've been interested in permaculture and food forests for many years. Since 6 years I own my own home and garden. Unfortunately the soil, which is mainly clay, has a lot of demolition debris, which makes it difficult to stick a shovel in. That's why I came up with the idea of creating a mini food "forest", although the surface area is limited. I used to plant vegetables on a small part of the garden, and I would like to do this again. I have some neighbours who use pesticides that made me hesitate to grow my own food. Also debris in my own garden from a previous owner made me hesitate.

That's why I came up with the idea of using raised beds and fill these with clean soil. Maybe I'm too afraid of my soil in my garden, but after digging up debris like batteries and a nail poilish bottle, and seeing my neighbour using pesticides, I prefer using soil of which I am certain that it's clean.

I had a long term wish to have my own compost toilet, so I built one in my garden. It has been in use for almost one year now and the compost pile is about 1 cubic meter in volume. I put the compost toilet content together with the organic material from cooking / kitchen in my compost pile. Ideally, I use this compost to built my raised beds. But it will take one extra year before it is safe to use it as garden soil. When using a height of 20 cm for the raised beds, the compost pile produces about 5 square meters per year of new clean soil.

The "problem" is that I would like to start this spring with a vegetable garden, but if I have to wait until I have enough self produced compost, it will take at least one more year.

I am wondering if you have any ideas how to be able to start this year instead of waiting another year? If I buy commercially produced compost, it takes a car (truck) to deliver it, which burns fuel, and oftentimes I'm not convinced about the origin of the ingredients of the compost, although there are a few companies that state their compost is made from organic ingredients.

My suggestion would be to add as much organic matter as possible.

Cover the area with dry leaves, branches, sticks, etc, then cover the area in wood chips would be a great start.

Start making compost as compost is pure gold.

Hmm, pity you mixed the compost pile in, as that compost would have been OK to use without the 'nightsoil'.

Some ideas may or maynot work depending on your climate (maybe sharing your climate zone would be useful, but many people do go for growing in raised beds if they are not happy with the soil (or lack of) they have.

One idea is straw bale gardening. If you can get hold of reasonable straw (beware persistent toxic gick) you can use just a small amount of compost and liquid gold (urine) to turn those into container beds. Richard has a clip of his garden here - that thread has some other ideas of starting garden beds too.
More about strawbale gardening here

Some suggestions:

1) plant deep-rooted legumes like crimson clover or hairy vetch.  There are numerous variations on this theme.

2) plant a deep-rooted crop that likes to take up the nitrogen.  Daikon radish, Buckwheat, certain grains come to mind.  Again, numerous variations

These are two very easy options.

3) pile on wood chips and plant into the chips.  Technically the plants will need to be planted under the wood chips, but the chips will break down surprisingly quickly

                                OR

4) Since you have those wood chips, try inoculating them with mushrooms--specifically Wine Caps.  Nothing will turn woody mass into fertile garden bedding faster than Wine Caps

5) Make compost piles on the beds over winter.  Don't get too concerned about getting browns & greens correctly balanced--just get the stuff piled up on the bed.  As it  slowly rots over winter, all the leachate will be drawn down by gravity into the soil beneath.  In the Spring, maybe take whatever is left and pile up into a more properly constructed pile, but who cares a this point (you could also just chip the stuff in).  All that leachate will do wonders for all over fertility.

6)  If you feel industrious, you could make biochar and that in.


There are just a few easy-to-do steps that can work miracles on your garden bed.  I can't speak highly enough for the Wine Caps or the impromptu compost pile that is just left to sit.  And if you can get that pile a bit on the green side of things--that's actually pretty great as all of that green juice will work its way right into the soil beneath.


Good luck and please let us know how things work out.


Eric