Soil Amendments

Before I learned about SFG I had already created a raised bed with organic soil. Now that I am preparing for spring, should I add compost only to amend my soil? I bought some Black Kow, since I am unable to make my own compost. Also for further fertilizer, do I just continue to add compost throughout the growing season to fertilize? TIA!

Square Foot Gardening uses 6-7" of Mel's Mix as the bed fill. One-third of the mix is a variety of composts and it is the composts that feeds the plants throughout the growing season through the action of the microbes and roots. No fertilizer needed. So, for that bed, add 2" of Black Kow and one other non-manure compost.

Thank you so much for your response! Makes total sense now.

Scartozzo, I want to explain my answer to you a little bit more. Normally, we are to find as many sources of different composts as possible, like 5, limiting manure-based composts to 20% of the blend. But you stated you found Black Kow and last night I assumed that was the only one you had found. I encouraged you to find one more (meaning at least one more) compost not made from manure. We were talking about the NON-SFG bed you built previous to starting the SFG method.

This morning, reading your post again, it seemed like I was saying 2 composts and you're good to go. I don't want others to think that 2 composts is fine in the long run with their SFG beds. You should continue searching for other sources, like mushroom compost, cotton burr, food wastes, green wastes, etc. Using only manure compost can lead to phosphorus build up, as it moves very slowly through the soil and can build up to the point where it interferes with the uptake of other nutrients.