raised beds

hello i am from NY moved here in june - in NY we had 12 raised beds growing everything however here in PINEBLUFF there is nothing but sand i am trying to find out what to mix my sand with to make a great soil for my beds - some say cow manure with lime and just till it all in some top soil - just wanna hear what you guys think THANKS

I like to use good compost. Just put it on top and don't mix it in with the sand.

Hi standaman, what a bummer to have to leave the soil you built up and became so used to handling it and confidently gardening with it..

Where I am in UK, (Scotland) where I live on the west coast, I have very sandy soil that is also very acidic in areas, this means I grow loads of plants, shrubs and tree's that require acidic soil like beautiful Camelia's Rhododendrons and many more acid loving plants,
I also like other plants that require soil that is richer, higher PH and have spent many years adding horse manure, home made compost and store bought compost that adds plenty of humus to the soil allowing food, air, water retention, bulk and everything that most other plants, fruit and Veg require, ir also allows a much wider choice of plants to grow well and have less diseases and weakness from bug attacks, as we all know, healthy plants still get attacked BUT, they can fight off or recover OK when growing in good fertile soil.

If I were you, I would make the raised beds to the size you want and the width you require too for ease of weeding, planting and for veg, for ease of gathering, picking,
My method of gardening on fertile soil is to try NOT to stand / compact the soil after I weed and clear the soil end of growing season. compacted soil means less air, less water as it runs OFF the compacted soil, it's also easier to pick the weeds as you can feel and remove all the roots, some weeds as you know have large tap roots and they are easy removed from an open soil than compacted soil.
IF you have to walk along the soil, use a long board as this spreads the weight and the soil is then easy to fork back up into a nice open growing medium.

Dont know about the area you live now BUT, most stables or horse places welcome people to remove the heap of manure they clean from the stable areas, it is full of goodness great humus for building up soil condition and helps you grow a wider range of plants.
The right type of manure is stuff thats NOR FRESH dropped by the horses, it must be well rotted down, should look like good quality compost, no horrible odour and when you pick it up in your hand, it should break up into small bits that feels like the texture of shop bought compost you get in large bags, for potting or enhancing your soil.
IF you can only get fresh manure, sticks I know but you can store it on the ground, in a heap, cover with black plastic held in place by bricks or large stones to keep it covered, after several months you can remove the plastic, fork the heap and turn it over, bring the stuff at the bottom up to the top, this helps the heap to break down to make the fresh looking compost that you need to amend the sandy soil you have.
IT will take a few years to get your soil to a stage where its fully fertile and able to grow strong plants full of health and veg you can be proud off.

Even though it takes a while to get sandy soil fertile, you can add any humus compost you can get now, this will allow you to get started and over the years, build up the texture, fertility, and help hold onto moisture better, even hold onto nutrients instead of everything you try to help just gets lost through the grains of sand.

Hope this helps get you started while making your new garden, BUT please remember that it wont happen in a few weeks, it's a true saying that "a garden was not made in a day, week or even a season" a garden grows with you and you will get the results out of it the more you put into it.
Try enjoy making your new garden as that's what gardening is supposed to be, healthy, peaceful and enjoyable so take your time and just enjoy.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

Hi standaman, when I moved to this home 7 years ago I have to deal with clay soil.I amended my beds with peat moss ,compost and garden soil and I mix even amounts in my wheelbarrow and then dump it in the bed . I have done that for a couple of years and I use mulch on top , so together with the peat moss it retains moisture. I started of with one compost bin and then two , so I have one ready to use every year.I usually add the compost to the garden in fall so the beds are ready for spring planting. Hope this helps and enjoy your gardening.

Organic matter is the best stuff to add to sandy or clay soils. Not 'organic' in the trendy meaning of 'non chemical', but 'organic' as in 'derived from once living material' such as leaves, twigs, lawn clippings, kitchen stuff like vegetable and fruit trimmings, animal manures and bedding... and as much of it as you can manage to add.

If I had sandy soil I would be really happy- it is easy to work year round and has superb drainage.
All its drawbacks can be corrected with compost.

To fill raised boxes I would go with something close to 50/50 sand and soil amendment.
Yes, that much organic matter might make a more acidic reaction that your vegetables want, so a dusting of lime as you build up the soil level will help. You can add other plant nutrients as you build up the soil, too. Look into the longest lasting materials. Certain minerals that are naturally rich in nutrients, such as greensand, and other 'organic' (trendy meaning) fertilizers are generally slower release than the salts often used by agriculture.

There is no one organic material that is 'best'.
I happen to like 'free', so I use leaves, lawn trimmings and horse manure with stall bedding.
If there are no free materials available, then look into buying bulk soil amendments at places that may also sell rock, bark and similar materials.

Lets say you made a dozen beds 4' x 8' x 1' deep.
Each bed would need over 1 cubic yard of material to fill it, but 50/50 means half the material is on hand- your sandy soil. So you would need roughly 6 cubic yards of organic matter.
Start a compost pile with any sort of plant based matter you can, and top off all the beds as often as you can. Some of the benefits to the organic matter happen because the matter is breaking down. You need to add to it, replace the material that is breaking down.

Have you heard of straw bale gardening? It may be the easiest way to grow a wonderful garden without the work of amending your sand

http://modernfarmer.com/2013/07/straw-bale-gardening/