Hey everyone! I've just started a new garden that's about 75 m² and I'm planning to use a no-dig method. I'm considering putting down about 9 cm of compost over some cardboard. The layout will be three beds, each one 120 cm wide and 13 meters long. The garden administrators told me that 20 wheelbarrows of compost should do the trick for the whole 75 m². However, I forgot to check the capacity of the wheelbarrows. Could you help me figure out if that's enough compost?
2 Answers
Typically, a standard wheelbarrow holds about 100 liters. If you're using an average-sized one, base your calculations on that. You could start with about 5 cm of compost if you're clearing the beds of weeds first, but if you want to stick with the 9 cm, just keep in mind it might settle a bit. More is usually better, though!
From what I calculated, you need around 1.4 m³ (or 1400 liters) per bed, and I really doubt that's equivalent to 20 wheelbarrows, no matter how large they are! By the way, if you're in the Netherlands, some local councils do a 'landelijke compostdag,' and you might get a cubic meter for free. Just a thought!
Actually, it's not free here, but the price is between 1 and 1.5 euros per wheelbarrow, depending on the total order from people in the complex.
If I'm putting cardboard underneath, is it alright to only use 5 cm of compost?