How to Amend Garden Bed Soil: Organic Fertilizer, Compost and More
Out with the old, in with the new! Come learn how to refresh and amend garden soil, with tips to prepare a new or established raised garden bed for planting.
This article explores the the best way to remove old plants from the garden, when and how often to add fertilizer, our favorite organic fertilizer and compost options (and other natural amendments), and the step-by-step process we use to amend our garden beds before planting.
Soil health is KEY to the success of a garden, and should never be ignored! With these tips, your plants will grow bigger, stronger, and more productive than ever.
Starting with a brand new bed? Come learn how to fill a raised garden bed with organic soil and compost.
Note: This post was originally published in October 2019 but significantly refreshed in 2025.
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Removing Old Plants from the Garden
When it is time to remove old plants from a garden bed, we prefer to follow a “no-till” or no-dig method most of the time. Rather than pulling plants out by their roots, we cut them out at the soil line or just below and leave the roots to decompose in place.
To cut out old plants, we use sharp pruners or a small hand saw, depending on the size and toughness of the stem. The roots will break down over time, providing food and nutrients to the plants, along with the worms and other beneficial microorganisms in the soil!
No-till farming offers numerous benefits to soil, such as improved biological diversity, fertility, resiliency, water retention, organic matter, and nutrient cycling. In contrast, tilling soil increases erosion and disrupts the natural soil structure and beneficial life within.
If the spent plants aren’t diseased, we add them to our compost bin (or share some with our backyard chickens, when edible and appropriate). Otherwise, they go in the green waste.
RELATED: Learn more about no-till gardening here, including when it may be a GOOD idea to lightly till your soil too (such as to combat root-knot nematodes).
Why Amend Soil?
As plants grow, they draw up essential nutrients from the soil, leaving it low or even depleted by the end of the growing season. So, it’s important to replenish nutrients so the next round of plants can thrive! To do so, gardeners typically apply fertilizer and/or compost each year (or more often).
Some amendments are also used to improve soil texture or drainage, not just nutrients. For example, you can add compost and/or potting soil to fluff up dense clay soil or to improve moisture retention in sandy soil.
Crop rotation and cover crops can also be used to enhance organic soil health and nutrition.
When To Amend Garden Soil
Most gardeners amend their soil in spring, just before planting time. Ideally, plan to add fertilizer a week or two prior to planting, giving it time to mellow out before the plants go in. (This is especially true with strong fertilizers like bone or blood meal that pose a risk of burning plants. Since we use more gentle options, we sometimes fertilize immediately before planting without issue.)
However, amending too early can be wasteful. For example, if you apply fertilizer in the fall and leave the beds empty all winter, rain will wash away much of the added nutrients.
We live in a temperate climate and garden year-round, so we amend our beds twice per year – once in early spring and again late summer before planting fall crops.
It can also be helpful to offer heavy-feeder crops additional fertilizer once or twice during their growing season. We’ll discuss ways to feed soil mid-season in the “fertilizer options” section to follow.
How to Amend Garden Soil Before Planting
- If you haven’t already, clear out old plants from the bed. Also remove any weeds or other debris as needed. Again, we avoid tilling or digging unless necessary. If your garden beds are mulched, you may want to pull back the mulch before applying amendments and then put it back on top afterwards.
- Again, we generally avoid turning or tilling soil. Yet if the soil level has sunk significantly in the bed (common in newer raised garden beds), we sometimes add more fresh soil before the next compost layer.
- Next, add a slow-release organic fertilizer of choice. (See discussion about various fertilizer and compost options below.) Sprinkle it evenly across the soil surface, and then scratch or lightly work it into the top couple inches of soil with your fingers. I recommend wearing gloves, and use just slightly less than the suggested amount on the package.
- Now, we top off our raised garden beds with 1 to 2 inches of well-aged compost, which also doubles as our mulch of choice.
- Finally, water the soil thoroughly to help the fertilizer seep in. It will continue to break down and release nutrients over time.
- Ideally, wait several days to a couple weeks before planting.
- We also incorporate a few additional soil amendments at planting time, such as adding worm castings and mycorrhizae sprinkled right in each planting hole. Both help to reduce transplant shock, increase nutrient uptake, and encourage fast healthy root development!
- After planting seedlings, be sure to mulch the top of your soil! Mulch helps soil retain even moisture levels, suppress weeds, and protect plant roots from temperature extremes. About 2 to 4 inches of mulch is (ideal depending on the type).
RELATED: Don’t miss our top tips for transplanting seedlings, or learn more about the pros and cons of 8 popular types of garden mulch here.
Fertilizer Options
There a number of ways to fertilize garden soil, and every gardener has their preferences! We like to use natural amendments, compost, and gentle, slow-release, well-balanced organic fertilizer (e.g. 4-4-4) instead of stronger options like blood meal.
It’s better to go light than accidentally overdo it and “burn” or shock young sensitive plants! You can always add more, but it’s difficult to take excess away. Plus, fertilizer isn’t the only way we maintain soil health.
With our gentle fertilizing methods, we treat the soil in all of our raised beds the same from the start. Then, we provide heavy-feeding plants (e.g. tomatoes, corn, squash, melon, garlic) additional nutrients throughout the growing season as needed with homemade compost tea, dilute seaweed extract, alfalfa meal tea, or a side dressing of more slow-release dry fertilizer.
TIP: When looking at fertilizers, you’ll notice three numbers (such as 6-3-1). This is the NPK ratio, which shows the respective level of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the fertilizer.
Compost Options
Compost is dark, crumbly, nutrient-rich material derived from decomposed organic matter such as food scraps, yard or garden waste, leaves, straw, cardboard, or certain animal manures. When added to soil, compost improves soil structure, fertility, moisture retention, and promotes healthy plant growth. We’ve used a wide variety of compost options over the years: bagged, bulk, homemade, worming castings, and more.
Worm castings (aka “black gold”) is a top favorite, which you can make at home with an easy DIY worm bin or purchase in bags. A little goes a long way! If you add worm castings to amend garden beds, you’ll only need a light sprinkle over the soil (not inches deep like other compost). Or, simply add a little handful to each planting hole like we do. It’s best to use worm castings in addition to other forms of compost, not as the sole amendment.
In addition to our worm bin, our current main source of homemade compost is well-rotted manure from our mini donkeys, mixed with some garden waste and chicken manure. It all sits to decompose in our DIY compost bin for over a year. If you do choose an animal manure-based compost, make sure that it is thoroughly aged! Many types of fresh animal manure can burn your plants.
If you can’t make your own, you should be able to find some good compost locally – either in bags or bulk. Often available through local landscape supply companies, bulk is most affordable for large projects. For bagged, I generally prefer the quality compost options at local nurseries or “grow shops” over big box stores.
Our favorite bagged compost is California-based Malibu’s Compost, made from certified organic dairy cow manure and biodynamic plants. (Yet it’s fairly spendy so we’ll usually add just a bag or two per bed in addition to another compost option.) Coast of Maine is a similar premium option for the east coast.
RELATED: Learn composting basics along with six different ways to compost at home here, including compost tumblers, worm bins, hot or passive piles, and more!
And that is how we turn over our garden beds and amend soil between seasons.
I hope you found this article useful and learned something new! Always feel free to reach out in the comments with questions, feedback, or just to say hi. Thanks for tuning in, and happy planting!
You may also enjoy:
- How to Plant Tomatoes: When, How Deep, Fertilizer, Pots & More
- Garden Companion Planting Chart, Plans, and Benefits
- Vermicomposting 101: How to Make a Simple Worm Compost Bin
- How to Practice Crop Rotation (Garden Benefits Explained)
- How to Build a DIY Compost Bin: Step-by-Step Guide with Photos
Deanna Talerico
Deanna Talerico (aka DeannaCat) is a garden educator and writer with over 15 years experience in organic gardening. She is a retired Senior Environmental Health Specialist, and holds a M.A. in Environmental Studies and B.S. in Sustainability and Natural Resources.
101 Comments
Ian
We bought a new puppy a week ago and I’m concerned that he will be all over the garden in the spring time. We have already had 6 years of garden so I’m thinking it might be a good opportunity to do either a cover crop or leave it fallow. With the puppy leaving it fallow would be muddy and he’d be making a mess every day. What would a fast growing pet friendly cover crop be that we could seed in the spring time and leave till fall.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Ian, unfortunately we don’t have a ton of experience in that topic. Most of what I have seen only discusses ground cover that is safe or durable for dogs, however, ground cover will be much harder to remove than a lot of cover crop. You may have to research a little more to see what works best for you and your new pet.
Cami Lewton
If I am leaving my raised bed fallow over the winter, am I supposed to choose to do the EITHER the mulch OR the cover crop? Or is it both?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Cami, it really depends on what you feel like doing. If you are up for it, I would spread cover crop seeds in the beds and let them grow for awhile (depending on the cover crop used, don’t let it go to seed if you don’t want cover crop spreading throughout your yard). As it gets close when your area starts to freeze or once the plants start to fade, cut down your cover crops at the soil line and leave the plants in place. From there you can apply a thin layer of compost and or mulch on top and it should be good to go until spring time. Hope that helps and good luck!
Barry Sherwood
i always enjoy your posts and articles many of which i would like to save for future reference – for this soil article my regular method is to right click from which i would get 42 pages double sided – have i missed a print function you include or is my only recourse to save the web posting?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Barry, sorry we do not feature a “Print” function for our articles, however, our food recipes do include a condensed printable recipe section. Thank for reading and know that we appreciate your support.
Justina Lindquist
Hi Deanna,
Thanks for another great article and all your knowledge. In this article you mention adding worms to the beds as part of the process but can you advise which/how much? I am looking to start a worm bin so that I have worm casings by fall time to help amend the beds but just curious as to the addition of actual worms.
Thanks so much!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Justina, worms readily repopulate if conditions are good but If you are going to start a worm bin, even adding fresh castings from your bin into the garden will likely contain cocoons (worm eggs) which will hatch into compost worms. If you want to add some directly to your beds, we usually don’t throw more than 5 or 10 in a raised garden bed to start, they will eat compost, broken down wood/bark, soil etc. and turn it into castings. Hope that helps and thanks for reading!
Sarah
What an informative article!! I keep looking back at it. I’d love to do the no till method you recommend. We had a compost/ topsoil mix brought in by a local place last spring. They assured us we didn’t need to do anything, but our garden was awful and lots of things didnt grow or the “fruit” was tiny. Thought maybe we need to add something to make it not so dense and surely other things. What would you recommend in this scenario? I started a compost last year too so we have that. We have lots of pine needles, could we use that to mix in the beds to make them less compact? Or would no till still be best? I didn’t know this mix they brought could possibly be too dense.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Sarah, pine needles can be used as mulch as well as mixed into the soil itself, they may take awhile to break down but it will eventually turn into organic matter. Also adding quality compost with an inch or two of mulch (leaves, compost, fine shredded wood) will start helping with compaction along with the addition of worms. Planting cover crops such as fava beans, oats, buckwheat, clover, rye, peas etc. will help bring your soil to life and you can cut the plants down before they seed, leaving the plant material to decompose on the top of your soil. The use of compost tea can also greatly increase the health of your soil fairly quickly. Hope these few ideas help and let us know if you have any other questions, you can do it!
Ian
This year will be the 6th year for our small 12×12 garden. Every fall I have added approximately 150gallons of compost that we make with ALL kitchen waste, grass clippings, and wood ashes.I also gather as many coffee grinds from Starbucks as I can and a few bags of dead leaves as able. To reduce the smell of the compost, improve appearance, and reduce mice I do get the garden Rototilled in the fall. We have tried without tilling in the spring but find that results are better with a spring tilling as well. I have also started using a broad fork before tilling to dig as deep as possible.
I was thinking of letting the garden go fallow after this year. Thought would be to not plant anything on it and throughout the summer add grass clippings and coffee grinds. Pick the weeds or rototill a few times to keep them controlled. Doing this would give the soil a break but also make sure that the empty garden looks neat and tidy.
I know looks are not priority but I do value neatness. I know rototilling is not ideal but it’s faster than picking each individual weed. I will keep this to a minimum and instead try to choke out with coffee grinds, but will rototill if they get out of hand.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Congrats on making compost, it sounds like it is good stuff, good luck to you. Instead of letting your space lay fallow for a season, you could also plant cover crops such as fava beans, other legumes, rye, oat, clover etc. to enrich your soil even more and mow it down before they flower and let it decompose into your soil. Although this method would likely not be as neat looking as your prefer.
Katie
Greetings from Santa Cruz! After a great summer growing season last year, I never got around to amending, mulching, or otherwise tending to my raised veggie beds in the fall… oops. I’m now prepping for this season’s transplants, and am wondering… should I still stick with the same amendments and portions you recommend above? Is there anything you’d do differently after the beds sat barren and ignored all fall/winter? Thanks—you both rock!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Katie, we usually just amend the raised beds before or during our planting out process so no worries if you let them lay fallow overwinter. Good luck and happy gardening!
Karlene
This is my deck d year with 3 raised garden beds. I followed your great article on how to start a raised bed last year and we had a great crop of husk cherries and other goodies! This year I’m going to try adding the soaker hoses, and perhaps the netting (although I’m not sure about the netting)…how long do you keep it on for? Any other tips about the netting? Thanks so much!!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Karlene, congratulations on your successful crop and harvest! Have you checked out the article about Using Hoops and Row Covers for Garden Pest Control, Shade & Frost Protection? We usually leave on the netting until the plants get large enough past the seedling stage where they won’t be destroyed by birds. You can leave it on to deter cabbage white butterflies if you have them in your area and are growing brassicas. They really are quite simple to use as long as you have hoops to support them over your beds. Hope that helps and good luck!
Melissa K
Do you have another link for the row cover netting that you use? The one in the article goes to a page not found. Love your website – so much great information!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Melissa, thanks for letting us know! We use this one. Thanks for reading and good luck!
delia
You suggested, like others have, to leave the root systems of the previous year plants in the soil (cutting at the base or just below the surface) to conserve the microbial community associated with the roots of the old plant. I try to rotate my brassicas each year because the bed could get infested with root maggots/cutworm (our main pest in interior Alaska soils). So if I leave the roots of the the brassicas in the soil am I predisposing that bed to future root maggot damage? The other thing is cabbage, broccoli plants have extensive root systems; if I plant my veggie starts (non brassicas) through a hole in the plastic weed cover. Will the new plants/starts have enough room to establish their root system if the old root is still in place? Thanks! and thanks for all the great content!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Delia, we don’t find that our newly planted seedlings ever have issues with remaining root material being present as long as there isn’t a main root directly where you want to plant a new seedling (in that case we just remove the old root ball to make things easier). As far as cutworms are concerned, we see them on occasion around here and it seems the best mode for prevention is applying beneficial nematodes to your garden soil. Just be sure to seek out the nematodes that work for cutworms. You can also make collars for your plants so the cutworms can’t crawl up the stalks and eat the foliage. Let us know how it works out for you and good luck!
Susan Ellsberry
Good Morning,
I love this and so many of your posts as well as the whole site! It has been a consistent source of very good information and tasty too! So, my question is this, I, like you, do not make enough compost and have to supplement. I’m on the East Coast and am having trouble sourcing Malibu and G&B which I’d like to incorporate into my soil amendment process. Do you have a second choice for those things or a good online source ? (I’m not an Amazon customer).
Thanks!
Susan Ellsberry
Baltimore, MD
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Susan, I would look into the brand Coast of Maine for high quality compost, I believe they also offer different potting soils as well. I would check out your local garden centers and see what is most available to you. A lot of times “grow shops” that specialize in growing cannabis have higher quality compost for a good price than what you can find in big box stores. Around here we can get a bag of Malibu Compost for $15 where a bag at a larger hardware store or garden center may have it for $22. Hope that helps and good luck on your hunt for quality compost and soil. Let us know if you have any other questions.