Hello.
Today I built a raised ginseng bed right by my house in a nice area to grow ginseng ,all besides the soil. I built it with 2x6x10 treated boards. My purpose of doing this is to speed up the growth of the ginseng plants in this bed just to collect seeds in order to plant in my wood cultivated area. I want to have controlled plants by my house so that I could keep a close eye on them and protect them better from critters that like to eat the berries.
HOWEVER, I need suggestions on what soil to put in these beds. I want to stay CHEAP and would like to get soil from the woods where I currently have ginseng growing. I dont know if this is a good idea though and need others thoughts. I would go and buy peat and sand and mix that together, which I hear works well, but a bale of peat is 15.00 and Id need a good bit of it, at least 6 bales. I live on a cow farm and have a lot of cow manure that I could use and could get some wood chips and mix that together. Would that work well? Like I said I want rapid growth with these plants, Im not worried about selling the roots, I just want the seeds from this bed. Suggestions? PLEASE help me come up with a solution and what you all have had good luck with in the past. Thanks!