Want to cut costs in your garden? Potting mix and compost is arguably a gardener’s biggest yearly expense. in this week’s episode, Ben treats us to some money saving tricks and tips for filling pots and raised beds for a fraction of the price, if not entirely for free. Better get collecting now! Off you go, but not until you’ve watched this!
Minimum soil depths for common crops
Min. 6in/15cm deep Min. 8in/20cm deep Min. 12in/30cm deep
Basil Beets/beetroot Broccoli
Cilantro/coriander Cabbage Carrots
Endive Chard Cauliflower
Lettuce Cucumber Chinese cabbage
Mustard greens Garlic Corn
Radishes Peas and beans Eggplant/aubergine
Scallions/spring onions Peppers Kale
Spinach Summer squash Onions
Strawberries Turnip Pumpkin and winter squash
Zucchini/courgette Tomatoes
For more videos on potting mixes, compost and all things soil-related, see this playlist:
For more videos on composting, watch these next:
How to Make a Compost Bin from Pallets
Supercharge Your Compost Heap
If you love growing your own food, why not take a look at our online Garden Planner which is available from several major websites and seed suppliers:
https://www.GrowVeg.com
https://gardenplanner.almanac.com
https://gardenplanner.motherearthnews…
and many more…
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If you’ve noticed any pests or beneficial insects in your garden lately please report them to us at https://BigBugHunt.com
31 Comments
Someone is being told that IF they have a compost pile it will attract roaches. Is that even true? This is from the state of south Carolina.
I also use my old mail added as my brown material.
Always great advice! Thank you!
Thank you for great video
very informational.
I throw old potting mix on top of raised beds or use them as a layer to start a new lasagna bed
Howdy Ben and Rosie! 👋 This one is loaded with info that's gonna help a lot of folks. 😃 I have always reused soil…amending it for the next crop. I haven't had a problem with disease spreading. I use all the methods you shared plus growing in other mediums such as straw or leaves. I grow my potatoes in leaf mold or leaves…just a few inches of soil beneath them. Next year I plan to grow my sweet potatoes in leaf mold…using the soil I usually grow them in for another crop.👩🏾🌾
Way back in the fifties my dad used to dig out a trench before Christmas and this got gradually filled with kitchen and hen house waste and then back filled . He called it his bean trench and this what I have done ever since.
I was recently told that if I put un-rotted stuff in the ground it would use up more goodness to break down than it would ultimately add. Still doing it though!
Another great Video, full of useful info. Thanks so much. Happy holidays from Queenstown, New Zealand.
I love your greenhouse.
How is it heated?
Here in the country in America, I'd have animals digging up scraps. We have opposums, squirrels, armadillos, & neighbor's dogs that would dig it up.
But I like the idea. I may try it. Let's see what happens.
Thank you for your ingenious ideas.
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Thank you
Always great information and cheerfully explained. Your garden looks so cold! Thank you.
God Bless you …thanks x
😃😃 Ben, again, perfect timing! I'm about to move my entire garden, and I have been pondering HOW will I do this? The answer is YES, I can do every single thing you taught, today…and I don't need to buy anything to do it… Worry -FREE-…Merry Christmas Ben, family, and the Grow Veg gang! 🙂
Good shereing big like
Great tips Ben 👍 your scarf 🧣 is awesome!
Yes, the cost of items to garden are crazy. The onion plants I paid $8 last year are $15+ this year!! Now that’s crazy!
My FIL use to take potting mix at end of season and create a mini compost area and the worms and scraps did the rest.
I have 4 legged compost snoops that have been perusing my new lasagna beds. They would make some tasty sausage or canned venison. Sigh, I have to fence Everything!! They kill plants at this salad bar.
To cut costs I decided last year to go back to in ground gardening using 3 foot wide long rows. I piled the heaps of whatever I could find and wasn’t picky. I dug down the paths and threw that dirt on the heaps. Filled the 12+ inch paths with bark. Some of the rows already had hugelkulture incorporated and maybe I should have done all, but it’s a lot of work. What I’m thinking is in a few years I may just shift the rows to land over the paths 😀
Reasons to return to in ground:
—Easy to irrigate. I fight the hose annually and it returns by smashing plants. We got some scraps of PEX line being thrown away and will fashion a system of drip irrigation so we can easily connect and water using our cattle tanks of rainwater and a sump pump. Aiming at finding a BCS holding tank—we need a lot of water lately as it’s been dry/drought.
—The raised beds dry out too quick.
—Composting right in beds and using a core system. No more turning compost. Mainly will add at end of growing.
—To retain moisture.
—To save space.
I have sand and wildlife. It calls for water even though I have a lot of organic material it still dries out. The wildlife calls for Mega fencing and that is a huge cost. It’s a one time cost, but as I enlarge garden it’s still adding more cost.
To hold the rows in place, sand likes to wander, I will outline them with found items as I go (bricks, logs, etc)
I have 4 raised beds and do find them productive and useful as mini greenhouses in fall/early winter. It’s the cost of filling and steel/wood for framing and the paths and irrigation that I think low/wide/long rows is best.
I am a night owl and watch the deer come in lately. I was hoping they wouldn’t try to hop the 7’ new orchard fence. I had some old hay that I used for mulching and apparently they found that. I have a few seeded grapes that I used that hay on and they are outside of fence, if they find that the grapes may take a hit.
Nice video as we all need to shift gears to garden.
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Great advice Ben I'm in the process of making some raised beds this will save me a fortune also being disabled this will be so much lighter for me to deal with 👍
Great Video Ben. Well Done.
Good Intel Ben. T u
Which brand of blood fish and bone do you use?
Could you use shreeded paper?
Wow..thank you..I have lots of comfrey..
Fantastic as always Ben, thank you for a wonderful year of top tips, have a wonderful Holiday, and a wonderful New Year 😀
Great advice thank you
Yeeeeeeesssss
Bring on the spring
I wish this video came out before I planted garlic in all the raised beds 🤦🤣
We had to build raised beds waist high because I am a wheelchair user. So we used hügelkultur principles like you described starting off with logs, etc. The levels dropped as much as 15-20 cm (6–8 inches) the first year, though! One perk of having such deep raised beds is we sunk multiple 20L (5 gallon) buckets that we use as inground garden worm towers. That's another option to the trench feeding you demonstrated.
~ Sandra
If you're gardening entirely in containers within a limited space and don't fancy buying one of those 300L+ compost bins, I've found that composting in a 80L black plastic outdoor refuse bin with a few holes drilled in it works incredibly well. B&M sell ones with secured lids for £14 if you're in the UK.
I love it here.
I used my dead heads from my limelight hydrangeas to fill my Birdies bed. Cardboard, autumn leaves, logs, & hydrangeas. Topped off with potting soil & (FREE) compost!
I have a compost bin that is filled with layers of green and brown, making compost for later in the year. Between growing seasons, I try to return biology to the soil by leaving the plant roots in the raised beds and grow pots, and covering open areas with a thick layer of leaves. I also practice chop and drop when I can. Everything else goes into the compost bin. I just ordered a 10×12 foot greenhouse kit that will be here in a few days, and am in the process of battening down the hatches ( clamping low tunnel greenhouse plastic, 6 mil, in place), for a coming hard freeze with temps forecasted down to 13F, or -10.5C. Will my garden survive? I expect some loses from unprotected plants, but I expect most plants under the low tunnel protection, and my unprotected cold hardy plants to survive. This will be the ultimate test of my gardening skills and preparation. My ultimate goal is to keep my garden producing year round.