Dirt and Ammendments

Once your boxes are built you need to fill them with dirt that plants actually want to grow in, dirt that welcomes a diverse biological ecosystem. It is simple:

• Lay down newspapers 3-4 sheets thick or use cardboard boxes. This will kill the grass and weeds in the bottom of your raised bed and significantly decrease any weeding needs.
• Add 3-4 inches of compost. You can also use a garden mix, but I prefer straight compost. You can get it at New Earth or Living Earth in Conroe. Dirt Cheap only sells a garden mix and that is fine for the first year but you'll need to add more organic matter the following year so it's best to start with straight compost.
• Sprinkle heavily a poultry litter fertilizer. I like to use the stuff in the green and white bag at Houston Garden Center. It smells like chicken poop. You want to use this over the traditional Nitro-Phos fertilizers because organic fertilizers take time to break down and release nutrients. That means it keeps feeding. It also improves the soil rather than washing out and imparting nothing to the ecosystem. We're building a home for fungi and worms and microorganisms.
• Add 3 inches hardwood mulch. Don't use the dyed stuff, you just need the plain jane wood mulch. The best stuff you can get is from a tree trimming service where they chip up all the branches. Many places if you call will deliver a truck to your doorstep for free since they usually have to pay to dump. Though it could be 10-15 cubic feet of material in a truck, so bagged mulch or bulk from a mulch company works just fine too.

That's it. Every 6-12 months you'll add a new layer of poultry litter fertilizer and another 2-3 inches of mulch. If weeds are becoming a problem. Add the chicken fertilizer then another layer of newspaper and then your mulch. Never till.