Best soil for the garden bed

Credit: Flickr / Daveeza

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Q: I am planning a small vegetable garden this year. The bed was created last year but we didn’t have very good results, possibly we had way too many plants. It is a raised bed and gets at least six hours of sun a day. I want to know how to prepare the soil.

Vegetables grow best in pH neutral, fertile garden loam, with good tilth and free drainage. If compaction occurs it is hard for plants to establish. If you add aged manure, leaves and seaweed to this bed it will feed the soil and change the texture and give your plants a better chance to succeed.