Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Mikesgardn 5/1/2020, 5:05 pm

I was reading a raised box garden article, and the author doesn't mix new compost into his beds, he just top dresses his boxes every year. He believes that tilling it in just brings weed seeds up to the surface. I've always mixed it in with a shovel, and yeah I get weeds. I'm wondering what the SFG community thinks about this.

OhioGardener 5/1/2020, 6:40 pm

I do no-till gardening, Mike, so I don't dig it in. I spread the compost on top, and use a hand cultivator and blend it with the top inch or so of the soil under it. It works its way into the bed as I'm digging holes to transplant seedlings, etc.. If there are weed seeds in the bed, I let them lie where they are and try not to disturb them.

BTW, I call this tool a Hand Cultivator - don't know if that is its real name, or not.

Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top? Hand_c10

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**Scorpio Rising** 5/1/2020, 10:01 pm

I just top dress and rake it in. After each crop, I add a handful per square.

CitizenKate 5/1/2020, 10:43 pm

I've been tilling my amended compost in at full depth of my beds, but also reading about no-till gardening, and wondering if I should adopt that practice in my own gardening. In my beds where worms have moved in, I hate to disrupt their lives significantly, and I'm sure the same happens with other organisms living in my beds.

On the other hand, my beds were severely neglected last year and needed badly to have weeds and crabgrass cleaned out. The seeds from the unwanted plants were mostly on the surface in this case, so I think it helped to till them down to the bottom. We'll see how my theory holds up.

**sanderson** 5/2/2020, 5:13 am

I roughly turn new compost in by flipping a hand spade worth of MM up side down here and there. I found the older material on the bottom was super fine so I like to get some coarser compost down in it. I call it a compromise.

Kiwidave 5/12/2020, 6:23 am

Hi Mike
I've only been gardening for 2 years so I'm no expert. My first raised bed I dug in compost and fertilizer for about 18 months. I did this to add structure and life to the soil. Now I dig way less. Most of the time now I top dress with compost. Living in Sydney it can get hot so I always add a good layer of mulch. The watering and the worms will take the nutrients down into the soil where the fungi and bacteria helps break it down further or the plant roots. I am adopting the no till method as I am basically a bit lazy Very Happy

. Mainly though I don't want to interfere with mother nature. She is much wiser than us.
Hope this helps.
Happy Gardening

OhioGardener 5/12/2020, 9:07 am

Kiwidave wrote: I am adopting the no till method as I am basically a bit lazy . Mainly though I don't want to interfere with mother nature. She is much wiser than us.

Amazing how those two things go hand-in-hand, isn't it? The less the soil is disturbed, the more earthworms there will be. The more earthworms there are, the more the soil is tilled and the richer the soil is. "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." ~ Lao Tzu

**sanderson** 5/12/2020, 5:18 pm

CitizenKate 5/13/2020, 11:45 pm

OhioGardener wrote:
Amazing how those two things go hand-in-hand, isn't it? The less the soil is disturbed, the more earthworms there will be. The more earthworms there are, the more the soil is tilled and the richer the soil is. "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." ~ Lao Tzu

Okay, you convinced me to try it, but there's a process involved in getting there.

My older beds are lined with landscape fabric, and the worms have trouble getting into it, anyway, though a few have succeeded, despite it all. My newer beds are unlined, and I've been finding worms in them. I'm planning to replace the older beds next spring, and I might line the bottoms of the new beds with cardboard, but not with landscape fabric. I hate that stuff as a bed liner.

I also have a problem getting the Mel's Mix re-hydrated if it gets dried out. I've noticed I can't just pour a lot of water over all of it and expect it to soak in throughout evenly. The top gets wet, but an inch or two below stubbornly remains dry. I've always used tilling to work the water into the mix. Anyone got any solutions for that?

**Kelejan** 5/14/2020, 2:46 am

OhioGardener wrote:I do no-till gardening, Mike, so I don't dig it in. I spread the compost on top, and use a hand cultivator and blend it with the top inch or so of the soil under it. It works its way into the bed as I'm digging holes to transplant seedlings, etc.. If there are weed seeds in the bed, I let them lie where they are and try not to disturb them.

BTW, I call this tool a Hand Cultivator - don't know if that is its real name, or not.
d

One of my favourite tools, O.G.

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Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Re: Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Re: Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Re: Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Re: Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

RE Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top

Re: Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Re: Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Re: Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Re: Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?

Re: Mix new compost into the soil, or just spread it on top?


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