Topsoil/mushroom compost too heavy, poor drainage

My husband built a 4x12 raised flowerbed for me. The soil that is in it is half topsoil and half mushroom compost. It is entirely too heavy and muddy. What should I put in it to make it lighter and more well-drained for bulbs and such? As soon as I get it the way I want it, it will be mulched with pine straw.
Thanks so much!

Turface is a fairly inexpensive product that lasts indefinitely. It holds nutrients and moisture well (it is hi-fired clay granules that won't break down) and is excellent (far superior to sand) for drainage. It is used extensively in building athletic fields because of the properties I described. It should be about $8-9 for a 40 lb bag. I use it in combination with pine bark and peat in my raised beds (about 300 sq ft @ 8" deep) several years ago. I can still run my hands many inches into the soil w/o effort. It will not compact. I also use it extensively in bonsai and container soils. It may take some looking to locate, but the effort would be time well spent.

Al

Coconut coir retains water and lightens the tilth of the soil much like peat moss, but unlike peat moss, it's renewable. I had great luck with it in my raised beds this year... and I've got very dense clay soil.

Talpa, never heard of turface. Tell us more?

I'm not sure how to post pics here, but if you send me an e-mail, I'll return a close-up photo of it in one of my favorite soils.

I have studied soils for a good long while & most of my knowledge comes as an outgrowth of my pursuit of bonsai. The raised beds I described have dozens of plants growing as pre-bonsai, but I also have lots of other interesting things there.

This is the approximate mix I used to fill the beds:

5 parts partially composted pine bark
1 part sphagnum peat
1 part Turface
*1 part very coarse sand or grower grit

* By coarse sand, I mean BB size or a little smaller. Very coarse silica (such as swimming pool filter sand) is very good. The grower grit is available at animal feed stores in 50 lb bags at about $5 each. It is screened crushed granite. This has proven to be a spectacular soil. It drains very well & is highly aerated (which makes extremely healthy roots & a vigorous plant), but be ready to water a little more than you normally would a slower soil.

Read a little more about Turface MVP here: http://www.protimelawnseed.com/turface_mvp.htm
I use it in all my bonsai soils & it makes up about 1/3 of all my houseplant soils. Some plants, like pines, junipers, and some succulents (portulaca afra et. al.) are growing in pure (or almost pure) Turface. That means there is no organic component in the soil whatsoever.


No disrespect intended, but I'm sorry - not buying the non-renewable peat story. In Canada alone, there are more than 270 million acres of harvestable peat bogs. If we make the conservative guess that the harvestable portions of these bogs are 10 feet deep, that means there are probably more than 900 billion cu ft available for harvest, just in Canada! That doesn't even take into consideration whats available in Europe, Asia, or places like New Zealand where they also mine peat. Canada currently has mining/harvesting operations underway on approximately 40 thousand acres or about .014% (that reads "14 one thousandths of 1 percent") of harvestable bogs.

Cheers.

Al