Garden soil?

[hoggs222]

I am looking to fill my (2) 4x8 beds. I can get filtered compost from Anoka County compost site for $8/cu. yard. Would this work good for a garden?

[eurolarva]

That is where I got mine last year and it worked real well. The only problem with it was the weeds were real bad. It would not hurt to get it early and put black landscape plastic down over the top for a couple of weeks to help kill all the weed seeds inside it.

[hoggs222]

Euro,

Did you add anything to the compost like peat moss or vermiculite?

Also, did you get the filtered compost?

[Quetico]

Vermiculite is illegal as a soil additive in MN as of last year. Its a carcinogen. Go with the filtered compost without any soil additives. Compost already has all of the benefits you would get from the peat moss.

[hoggs222]

Do you think that "straight compost" will be too rich? Should I mix in some topsoil with it?

[eurolarva]

I used mine without anything added except fertilizer. I also did the screened stuff. For 6 bucks loaded in the truck with a bob cat you cant go wrong. That stuff holds moisture real well so you should not have to add any peat to it. I used a chemical fertilizer which I believe was like 20-20-0 and when I followed the directions it was too strong. This year I am going to buy composted manure to add to it instead of regular fertilizers. Walmart had it for less then two bucks a bag and for the size of my garden I figured I would need about 15 bags of it.

I did tomatoes, squash, watermelon, sweet peas and peppers (japalerno and bell) and some green beans and cukes. The only thing I had problems was with the cukes. Everything else did real well the the Anoka compost.