Garden soil any good?

I've got a well developed Garden bed with like 15 years worth of broken down leaf litter. It's nice and uniform..

Would it be a good base for organic mixes? It looks nice. Im used to using peat or Coco as a base and then adding compost and ewc.

Would this go okay as a base to add compost and amendment? Was thinking it might have more life as a base. Full of worms and living beings.

Here's a bit I just dug out for reference

Sure it will work. It is preference and style of grow. How much water it will hold etc. My garden soil backs together too tight for me to consider. I need more carbon/loam/organic material.

MAK1 said:

Sure it will work. It is preference and style of grow. How much water it will hold etc. My garden soil backs together too tight for me to consider. I need more carbon/loam/organic material.

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Will be interesting to see. It seems very fine and sandy, but still has a lot of broken down organic matter.

I'll grab some pumice, throw some compost/ewc in and see how we go. I have seen some nasty compacted garden soil before, so i feel you. Last place was all sand and dust.

Mixed it up. Threw 12L yard soil in with 8L ewc/compost and 7.5L perlite. Actually looks decent...it has a really fine, fluffy texture (them again it might compact being so fine).....I might be able to save me mad money on peat and Coco if it's by good.


Might throw some Neem, kelp,coconut meal and barley in there and see how we go.

On second thought though, it might be good to run something in it and get a baseline. Might be rubbish. There seems to be a lot more sand and rock dust in their compared to my usual mixes.

Can't get much more organic than your back yard aye. I've always wanted to go full hog oldschool landrace/yard soil grow so I might yet chase down some mangy landrace to grow in it.

VincenzioVonHook said:

Can't get much more organic than your back yard aye. I've always wanted to go full hog oldschool landrace/yard soil grow so I might yet chase down some mangy landrace to grow in it.

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I need to make a new area garden. I talked with an Amish farmer who was just as excited about this concept as I am because ge did this also. Till up the soil then plant annual rye and actual clover. He told me to till this back into the soil while it is still green. The "book" says to let it die. He got very excited about this difference like it was everything for him. He does this several times to build loam and get carbon into the field to increase the C:N ratio

MAK1 said:

I need to make a new area garden. I talked with an Amish farmer who was just as excited about this concept as I am because ge did this also. Till up the soil then plant annual rye and actual clover. He told me to till this back into the soil while it is still green. The "book" says to let it die. He got very excited about this difference like it was everything for him. He does this several times to build loam and get carbon into the field to increase the C:N ratio

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The green manure is more nutrient rich than manure as it has not been robbed of vitimans by the animal.I use grain rye (winter rye) and till it in at about 2-3 inches .I can do several crops per winter .I am in zone 7.The clover is slower growing and needs a whole season.GL

The only downside I see is, you need to be careful of "Hitch-hikers" (pests). You don't want to invite any unwanted critters into your house!

T.H.Cammo said:

The only downside I see is, you need to be careful of "Hitch-hikers" (pests). You don't want to invite any unwanted critters into your house!

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Very good observation. .I was a bit worried about that considering I could see shit crawling around in it...

I should bust out the scope and see what I spy.

VincenzioVonHook said:

Very good observation. .I was a bit worried about that considering I could see shit crawling around in it...

I should bust out the scope and see what I spy.

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People typically put the soil in a pan and "bake" it in the oven, if they are using "backyard stuff".