Welcome to Day 3 of my 30 Day Challenge!

So far, we've discussed how to design your garden and how to build a raised bed for your garden. Today we're getting down and dirty. Today we're talking soil.

Research

I do a lot of research before I move forward in every step of my garden. Perhaps you've noticed!

In this case, I wanted to find out what type of garden soil I should buy to put into my raised bed garden. I knew that I would need a lot of soil to fill a 6' x 8' bed and I was a little concerned over how much this might cost me.

So, I started reading and the more I read, the more confused I became. Depending on which gardening website I read gave me advice from the most extreme organic options to the 6 ingredients I needed to place in my soil prior to inserting my tomato plant for optimal growth.

I was confused. And my head hurt. This research was not what I had anticipated.

Time for a Visit

So, I took a ride to a few of my mom and pop garden centers and started asking questions. And I learned A LOT. But the most important thing I learned wasn't about the soil, it was about the price! But let me get to that in a minute.

What I learned was since I was placing soil into a new raised bed garden, my garden soil should be a mixture of quality top soil, compost, and peat moss.

Compost?

I didn't have a compost pile and I became concerned. How do I get compost?

I learned that compost can be purchased from local suppliers and was given the name of a local rock and soil company that had the best quality at the best price locally.

Time for the Dirt

A phone call to the local supplier and we arranged for a delivery of a yard of premixed garden soil to be delivered - 50/50 top soil and compost. And the price was half what I was expecting, so I was excited!

We were advised to purchase 6 cubic feet of peat moss to mix in with the garden soil in order to give it better drainage.

Many wheel barrel loads later, all of our garden soil was distributed in our new 6' x 8' raised bed garden. It took every ounce of the soil to fill the bed, and we could probably have used a few more cubic feet, but I think it looks perfect!

30 Day Challenge

How are you doing with your garden challenge? I'd love to hear about your progress. Feel free to share it here as well as on my website, where I am tracking my progress of my personal 30 day garden challenge. I hope to see you there!