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Helena, MT

i am thinking on doing about 850 sq ft raised bed for giant pumpkins. since will be filling with new materials and thr ground soil should i wait to test after i construct and fill/mix the raised bed? also any recomendations on what to fill with? on a light budget and my firat year. doing this with my daughter and hope to grow a pumpking worthy of making the trip to be weighed with her. the location i have to ise will be maxed out at 850 sq ft and also would be better as a raised bed for drainage and driveway hazard reasons. :) want to do a very simple raised bed. I also have access to as much aged cow, pig, and horse manure as i want. Benefits of living in montana. looking to hopefully grow two plants. i know i am getring a late start but giant pumpkins came to mind this month so patch will be brand new. also the patch was a dumping ground for cow manure years ago dont know if that matters or not. tnx again

3/8/2014 1:02:03 AM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

I would test after filling up the raised bed. Mixing the manure with native soil is a good idea. If you have drainage problems, do you know what the cause is? Could be heavy clay, a hard pan layer in the subsoil, in a depressional area, etc. I suggest going to nrcs.usda.gov web soil survey and looking up the soil type of your patch. You can check on the various tables to learn the soil texture and other properties of the soil. Then you can decide of you need to add other materials such as sand to improve the soil structure. Cow manure is probably the best. Horse manure could have more weed seeds unless it was composted at high temperatures. Pig manure can work, one of our local growers uses it composted with corn stalks and won the Anamosa weighoff a few years ago. But pig manure can have extra salt in it, so don't over apply it.

3/8/2014 7:21:37 AM

Going Green

Last year I grew three Giant Pumpkin in my raised beds which are 56 inches wide and 60 feet long. One of them took second place at our GPC weigh-off. I took first place in Pumpkins as well but grew that in another area. My raise beds are 5 years old. I had amended soil from the garden for two years before I filled the raised beds with the soil. Each year since I have added 6-8 inches of Rabbit poop after taking a soil test. Then throughout the winter I make further amendments. Compost is your friend. I compost using rabbit manure, hay, grass clippings and leaves. Each fall I add all composted and fresh rabbit manure to my 6 gardens. This year I used over 20 tons of rabbit manure and 6 tons of compost from the state fair. I have won numerous ribbons and plaques over the years but 2013 (7 years of growing giants) was my best. My wife and I took 1st and 2nd place in pumpkins, 1st and 2nd place in squash and 1st and 2nd place in Cantaloupe.

3/8/2014 10:19:35 PM

Going Green

Raised beds are perfect for Lasagna gardening. After you have made all amendments and have determined your planting sites, cover every inch of your raised beds with a single layer of newspaper and cover the newspaper with 1-2 inches of sand. You will have no weeds. Nada on the weed count! As your vines reach out the root and they can do so by pushing the roots through the sand and single layer of newspaper but the weeds are getting no sun and will not grow from under the newspaper. No weeds means more nutrients for your pumpkins! Hope this helps. Oh...by the way add an extra 3 inches of sand under pumpkins you are going to keep and harvest.

3/8/2014 10:29:20 PM

Helena, MT

lots of helpful info guys thanks so much. the bed will be raised about 1' off the existing ground. the ground is very dense about 8-12" down and this spot is a low lying spot beside my driveway but its the only place i have to grow. i really like the news paper and sand idea. I am so new to this lol. When i grew gardens before i would just add manure and till it in then plant and water. Seemed to work well for a large variety of veggies but these giant pumpkins sound like they need special attention lol. with the newspaper would you leave the mound area with your plant uncovered for watering? I will just go with cow manure as my landlord has as much as i want for free. i am still unsure of what exactly to fill the bed with besides soil and manure. i have a huge pile of saw dust from a tree that was cut this year. Well maybe 300-500 lbs anyway. willow i think. i also plan to make some simple hoop houses so i can get the plants out a bit early for montana standards that is. Would i add peatmoss, manure, sand, and topsoil for a filler? Probably sounds really amature but again completely new lol. I love gardening but usually have went extremely low tech in the past.

3/9/2014 11:56:58 AM

Helena, MT

also would it be better to line the bottom of the bed with something or just leave it open bottom?

3/9/2014 12:00:01 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

I would leave the bottom un-lined to encourage deeper rooting. If your climate allows for a fall cover crop, a tillage radish will help break up the subsoil compaction. I would not use the sawdust right away, as it would tie up a lot of nitrogen while it breaks down. Mix it with some manure and grass clippings in a pile, turn it a few times to get it to break down into compost. Then add it to the patch in the fall.

3/9/2014 2:34:26 PM

Helena, MT

ok tnx iowegian

3/10/2014 2:01:00 AM