Mending soil in Container Garden

Well, now it is February 2010. I really hadn't done anything to my Container Garden soil since I put it in in 2007. Last year nothing grew that well. Late planting and I just really didn't do much to it. Just planted and let it grow on it's own. Also, my compost has just now broken down enough to use.

I did some yard work today and the cool weather kept me working. So I decided to mend the soil in my containers.

First I took out all the stakes and hoses and ties out of container.

Pulled and removed anything growing.

Taking the pitch fork, I turned the compost to mix and remove twigs and trash not broken down. Then I put two large pitchfork loads of compost and put in each container.

Then I put two large shovel full of peat moss in each container.

I also had some rabbit manure that had cured in a bucket. This I added proportionally to each container. Our rabbit died so I will have to find someone with rabbits to get more. This is great organic fertilizer. It doesn't burn and it greens up everything grown in it.

Using the shovel turn backward use this to chop up the clumps and fibers in the compost. This aids in the breakdown
and mixing in amendments.

Now turn shovel over and reach down deep into the container pulling up and turning over as much as possible. Also chop the soil with shovel, turning and chopping until all the added items are mixed well. Remove any twigs or pine cones and trash that might be noticed while mixing.

Hopefully doing this early before planting it will give the new amendments time to break down and aid in adding nutrients and minerals back into the container soil to reinvigorate.

Also I fertilized and added compost to the blueberry bushes. The compost has a large amount of pine straw in the mix. This helps add acid to the soil and bring down the pH level in the soil. This is important to growing blueberries.