Soil Requirements for Veggies Gardens

Veggie gardens are a gift that keeps on giving. Especially if gardening is your hobby, but turning your sights on edible gardening, you will consume your own produce! 

Why start a vegetable garden? 

If you’re anything like us, you make switches to organic produce as much as you can to avoid nasty pesticides and chemicals. Did you know it is most nutritionally beneficial to eat fruits and veggies as soon as they are picked? Produce from the supermarket travels a long way from harvesting before sitting on our shelves. Buy growing your own veggies, you are cutting out the middle man and know exactly what / if any chemicals were used. 

It’s also a great way to show kids where their food comes from, too many children these days think food appears on the shelf or milk comes from a carton! By growing your own veggies, you are taking it back to basics and developing a greater appreciation for your foods. 

What soil do I need for a veggie garden?

The best kind of soil will consist of lots of compost as well as organic matter. 

We recommend starting with nutrient-rich garden soil as a base. Combine this with compost and organic matter like dried leaves to aerate the mixture for a thriving vegetable garden. We recommend mixing your compost and organic matter at least a week or two before you plant your vegetable to ensure enough time for the elements to combine. 

What’s in the soil?

When our customers are looking to start their veggie garden, we recommend our veggie mix as the best soil for the job. 

Our veggie mix garden soil is a blend of 

  • Topsoil
  • Gingin loam
  • Chicken manure
  • Peat 
  • Compost
  • Sawdust 
  • Karri bark fines. 

Gingin loam is a type of soil with high clay content, adding nutrients to an existing soil profile and helping it retain water. Peat is also used for water retention and is made up of partially decaying vegetation or organic matter. 

Why is chicken manure good for growing veggies? Manure compost is naturally nutrient-dense. Chicken manure specifically contains including potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen to help your produce thrive. 

Sawdust or woodchips is a cost-effective way to improve your garden mix and get the most out of your soil. We include sawdust in our mix because it keeps the roots cooler, prevents weeds, and aids water retention. This is also what karri bark fines do! We choose the best ingredients in our soil mixes to achieve the best growth possible for your garden. 

How many inches of soil do I need for a vegetable garden?

Most vegetables require 15-20 centimetres of soil for their roots to develop. Vegetables like carrots and potatoes with deeper roots will need up to 30 centimetres for their roots to grow. 

We hope this has helped you understand exactly what type of soil you need for your vegetable garden. So please visit us in-store to check out our range of garden soils and supplies, or give us a call on (08) 9274 6244 if you have any questions! We would love to help you with your veggie garden project!

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