Hey guys,

I have a raised bed garden box and I need a little bit of basic gardening advice. I've been told that it all starts with good dirt and well draining soil. So I created my own dirt mix, using what I had: pine mulch, topsoil, potting soil, peat, and perlite.

The garden box is located in a shady spot in the yard and I kind of leave it alone with an occasional watering and liquid fertilizer (water about 1x/ week, fertilize 1x/ month). I'm mostly growing easy to grow herbs and lettuce: cilantro, basil, oregano, cabbage, sage, tomato... but nothing seems to be growing.

Could the pine bark have made the soil to acidic? How do I fix this without digging it all up?

I'm not sure it is the pine bark, but you can buy powdered lime to raise Ph. I would google it first though. Never had to apply lime.

.

Edited: 04/11/2017 at 05:16 AM by SurferMic

I put lime and Epsom salts in my mix and my stuff grows good.

Got a pool test kit?

Grab a handful of soil,

shake it in a bottle with an approx equal amount of distilled water,

let it settle,

pour the water (no mud) into the pool kit tube

and check pH like you would pool water.

It works and is close enough.  

 

 

-------------------------
add a signature since I'm here in profile anyway

I've never seen anything grow underneath a pine tree....

I hear that there's something in the bark/needles that hinders other plant growth.

I'd research it more before planting anything with pine... JMHO

-------------------------
GOP:

Gaslight
Obstruct
Project

Plant a ground cover such as California strawberries (Frageria Californica) for a carpet of short greenery approximating a lawn. These native, drought-resistant plants produce excellent berries and thrive under pine trees. Alternatively, plant Yerba Buena (Satureja douglasii) for a dense, low carpet of itch-free foliage. Both of these plants grow well in Mediterranean climates.

I have blueberrys growing in pine bark but blueberries like full sun not shade.

Google to find out what grows in pine needle mulch and shade and plant that...

I have raised beds and I water at least every other day. a raised bed may dry out, watering 1X a week doesn't seem often enough to grow anything

-------------------------

I agree. If I don't water my raised bed almost every day, my squash and zucchini plants wilt.