Your natual soil is short on Nitrogen, SO, if your compost and soil are both short on Nitrogen you are going to have to add some thing to -- which ever - soil is going to support the roots of what you put in the raised beds.

Cattle manure would be better to add to your future compost piles than horse manure; I use sheep manure (with all the weeds it brings) as I see fit, OR, when my corn does not look like it should.
I grow mostly corn and potatoes in naturally acidic soil so I do not have the lacking your soil is showing but at that, as long as I have been alive, same house, same garden, the one side of the garden simply does not grow potatoes as well as the other.

Not sure why and simply have not gotten around to a soil test, but the way I judge my gardens needs is by how well what I grow looks when it comes up.

Dad told me that , I still tried it, and he was right, and I tried it twice 20 years apart with all kinds of natural and gardens shop additions add in the twenty years since the first.
Corn grows well all over the garden including the bad potato side so addressing soil problems can be a hemorrhoid.

RpR said: Cattle manure would be better to add to your future compost piles than horse manure...

My reading would disagree.
Apparently, cow / horse are nearly the same.

Where there is a difference... horses generally get better feed... meaning a higher nutrient poop.

Milk cows apparently produce a lower nutrient poop than feeder cattle...

To Bryon's issue... re Nitrogen...
Those soil tests... leave something to be desired...

I don't even bother with them.

There's literature that suggests going by what plants we see growing well in the soil as a baseline of what to expect...

Try searching "weeds as indicators of soil conditions".

As far as your boxes go... your plan sounds fine... Compost makes a good seed starting medium in my experience... Helps prevent soil from crusting, and retains enough moisture that you aren't out there constantly misting to get those stubborn seeds to germinate.

Sorry to hear about the hogs... I love pecans... even those small ones with the thick shells...

A neighbor here has wildlife feeders that he keeps stocked with corn... he wants the deer to be in his yard... anyway... when he shot a wild boar in the middle of the night... he gave me a call... I put that hog in the freezer... and ate most of it right away... Fresh ham n beans... fresh pork chops!

And you know those wild hogs are going to be better eatin' than those "farm raised" in those crowded unhealthy conditions!

https://www.homebiogas.com/blo...

2. Cow manure

Cow manure increases the diversity of soil bacteria and efficiently regulates the structure of the bacterial community. It's rich in nutrients like sulfur, calcium, and magnesium and contains about 3% nitrogen, 2% phosphorus, and 1% potassium. However, it includes significant levels of ammonia and potentially harmful microorganisms. As a result, it must be composted before being used in the fields.

When combined with straw and bedding, manure provides a good source of organic matter for the soil, as it also includes a significant amount of carbon.

Cow manure has a balanced composition and can be applied to any plant. It is also ideal for providing structure and promoting aeration to the soil. Moreover, earthworms will thrive in soil that has been amended with cow manure.

3. Horse manure

Horse manure has a higher nitrogen and nutrient content than cow dung. Moreover, ​​horse waste contains significantly less water than cow manure; therefore, it can include up to twice as much nitrogen when dried.

Horse manure requires composting or aging to kill weed seeds, larvae, and pathogens.

Horse manure is best used for nurturing nitrogen-hungry plants like corn, potatoes, garlic, and lettuce, being also an excellent resource for keeping the grass lawn healthy. It's not recommended for flowers, tomatoes, or peppers.

Either way, she needs to add Nitrogen beyond the manure.

Hey Stone and Dr D!
Being rank newbies, we've been reading as much as we can so we eventually understand the knowledge y'all are kind enough to share with us. So imagine our interest when early this morning we stumbled across an article discussing the availability of nitrogen and other nutrients in a high pH soil environment. The point of the article was that if the pH is unusually high - and ours is at 7.6 for the pecan bottom soil and 8.2 for the compost - no matter how much nitrogen is there, it isn't chemically/biologically available. Could that be the case here? And if so, wouldn't it be better to treat for pH before adding more expensive nitrogen that still wouldn't be biologically available?

And Stone, we have an ongoing Holy War with our local wild boar population that we are losing slowly but surely. So we have resorted to trying to change the hogs into a financial resource center by converting them into authentic Italian Sopressata de Calabria sausage. It's still aging in the aging chamber, but it already smells amazing!

Some plants are suited to acidic soil... like ph 5...

some plants are more suited to an alkaline soil... like ph 7+...
Ph 7 is considered "basic" Your soil doesn't sound that bad.

adding lots of organic materials to raise the humus helps plants to grow outside of their desired ph range.

Treating acid soil requires wood ash or limestone.

Treating alkaline soil? I've read to add sulphur.
In the east, we don't see alkaline soils much... being on limestone outcrops... I can see the issue.

I think I'd look at veggies that wanted the higher alkaline range and see how they performed before attempting to treat the ph...

I probably would not try to grow taters... and... avoid using the fireplace ashes...

That hog... looks like a decent solution.... lemonade from lemons.

Unless you re growing Alfalfa or Soybeans, slightly acidic soil is preferred.

Neutral is 7, your soil is base to way too base, add an acidifying compound, including High Nitrogen fertilizer, BEFORE you plant (I would use a tractor to spread out the pile , a bit and mix it in with a roto-tiller.)
Do not worry about Aluminum toxicity, only applicable in areas with very acidic soil and greatly over stated. (I still cook with bare aluminum -- Oh look little green men are sittying on my computer.)

https://www.epicgardening.com/...
https://nrcca.cals.cornell.edu...

https://www.google.com/search?...

Or... just research the vegetables that naturally do well in the soil that you got:

https://farmfromhome.com/35-gr...

I prefer doing things the easy way...

bwbarton said:
As a recovering engineer I wish we all thought in metric! It would eliminate a lot of math errors...
BW--

Unless you need to divide by 3 or 7

Three children inherit a million dollars dividededed equally and none want to give another the problem solver.

---
At 8.2 they can grow Beech trees fairly well and nothing else nothing is simple but if they take a foot cubed on one soil at 7.6 and a foot cubed of the other at 8.2 they will get two feet cubed of soil at 7.9 theoretically or thereabouts.
Most plants grow better closer to the acidic number.

So they can kinda-sorta grow these:


These Plants Grow in High pH Soils

If you know your soil is high pH, you may be wondering what you can grow. High pH soils are excellent for a variety of vegetables, plants, and flowers. Take a look at the chart below, which tells you the growing plant and its pH level.

Type of Plant/Vegetable/Root/Tree pH level
Black-Eyed Susans 6.-7.7
Candy Tuft Above 7.5
Daylilies Mums Asparagus 6.0 to 8.0
Lavender 6.7-7.3
Lenten Rose 6.5-8
Winter Jasmine Pole Beans Beets Brussel Sprouts Kale Spinach Crookneck Squash Pea, Sweet 6.0-7.5
Beech Tree 3.5-8.5
Cauliflower Pumpkin Tomato 5.5-7.5
Garlic 5.5-8.0

You will notice that most of these plants grow at a range of levels, and there are very few that grow in high levels of alkaline soil. This is because high alkaline can have fewer nutrients that plants need to grow.
Why is the pH of Soil Important?

A soil's pH is the amount of hydrogen in the soil compared to all the other nutrients. If the pH is low, there is a more considerable amount of hydrogen in the soil, meaning it is more acidic. If the pH is seven, there is an even balance of nutrients, and the ground is neutral. A higher pH means the soil is more alkaline and has less amount of hydrogen.

The soil's pH is essential to pay attention to due to the nutrients needed by plants. If a plant is placed in the wrong type of soil, the roots may not gather the necessary nutrients and limit plant growth.

When choosing where to place your plant, it is essential to know what the pH level is to ensure enough nutrients and a beneficial soil structure are available to your plant.

https://backyardsidekick.com/w...

Now vermin turkeys are my equivalent of their hogs, which can destroy and garden over night.
Now I have been looking at on-line reports, but at that, look at a LOT before using one as an authority.

RpR said: add an acidifying compound, including High Nitrogen fertilizer, BEFORE you plant...

This needs context.

A lot of us garden strictly organically...

There's some evidence that timing is far more critical when dealing with chemical vs organic.

Nitrogen fertilizers don't stay where you put them.

So... putting out Nitrogen when the plants aren't in active growth isn't just wasted $... It may actually harm the local ecology as that expensive chemical Nitrogen migrates out of the field or garden... and washes into the streams, rivers, and eventually into the delta... creating death and destruction during the trip.

Alternatives include the above mentioned poop and urine... and the planting of legumes that have a bargain with some specialized fungus to magically transform atmospheric nitrogen into a form that the plants can use... and sequester it underground!

As far as RPR's harping on the importance of treating the soil for the desired PH#...

Yep... that's what they teach in traditional ag classes...

But... you'll notice in those ag classes that very little consideration is given to alternatives.

And.... by adding a lot of compost, we help our plants to grow well outside of their usual preference.

And... as we add plant materials... the soil will naturally become balanced... it just takes a little longer.

But I still wouldn't try to grow blueberries...

Friends!

We're most grateful to each of you who has taken the time to give us the benefit of your collective knowledge. We're truly appreciative.

But in a way, the recommendations are confusing to us as they range over a wide spectrum of suggestions, especially with timing....

So, if we understand what you are all saying, our plan would be:
1- Treat for pH with elemental sulphur, hoping that there is enough time before spring planting season (early April) for the sulphur to have its effect, then,
2- Treat for nitrogen with feather meal soon after the sulphur treatment, knowing that feather meal is slow acting as well.

Hopefully, both treatments will have at least some effect by the time we transplant in the first or second week in April. We are going to grow common household vegetables and have little interest in plants that grow in an alkaline environment.

So let's vote on this plan. Do you approve or disapprove? Does it even make a difference. Speak now or forever hold your peace - the feathers and sulphur are on their way!

BW--
Bowie, Texas.

I think it should help. Don't know if that's long enough for the elemental sulfur to help to its full potential, but it will still work thru the spring and summer.
I think it's a good plan. Let us know how things do for you.

Kenny,

Thank you for your encouragement. I'll definitely keep you updated as all this unfolds. That first meal of off-the-vine fresh cantaloupe will be on you! It'll be interesting to see what the others think.

Bryon--

bwbarton said:
the recommendations are confusing to us as they range over a wide spectrum of suggestions, especially with timing....

We are going to grow common household vegetables and have little interest in plants that grow in an alkaline environment.

I can't tell that you visited the link that I found for you that detailed a number of commonly grown vegetables that would grow fine with your existing conditions.

If the discussion is confusing...

Maybe consider it this way...

I'm of the 'run what you brung' camp. Which means trying to see what success you might have before investing too much in "conventional" practices. This requires maybe a bit more observation for success.

RPR is in the camp of spend tons of money "fixing" the soil to grow as much as possible... even if you have to keep spending large sums of money each time you plant. This method is well mapped out by your local extension.

You seem to have made a choice... Be sure to keep us posted.

You said...
"I can't tell that you visited the link that I found for you that detailed a number of commonly grown vegetables that would grow fine with your existing conditions."

Hey Stone!
Thanks for your clarifying comments. We understand your post better now.

We want to assure you that we did read the article you sent us on alkaline loving vegetables. In fact, we read it twice. One of the big take-aways that first struck us, was the writer's comment;

"If you want to grow plants other than those on our list, you should do your own research into which soil those particular plants grow best in.
However, it is common that many vegetables and most fruits grow best in more neutral to acidic soils. There are ways that you can change your soil temporarily or working on changing it long term to grow a larger variety of plants."

In our case, we can't see having a garden without tomatoes and potatoes - it wouldn't be much of a garden without them! And we'll have three raised beds and numerous grow bags, so there is no reason why they all have to have the same pH.

And so, although you seem to think this option would be prohibitively expensive, we ran the numbers and it didn't seem to be too bad at all. Besides, we're having the time of our lives, and can't wait for that first Caprese sandwich made from the produce of our own garden! That's going to be priceless...

Thank you for taking our questions seriously, and following up on our progress. We'll be absolutely sure to keep you posted....

Bryon-
Bowie, Texas.

Drive around the countryside in your area and spot a nice garden being tended by an oldtimer. Introduce yourself, and start talking gardening. Ask them what grows well in the area and how they do it. This will be a better investment than blowing money on raised beds, soil tests, and hugelkultur. Social media/YouTube makes gardening way more complicated and expensive than it needs to be.

Hey Rubi!

Sorry, too late!

We've always taken the stance that if we're going to do something, we better do it all the way, and learn as much as we can about it. YouTube, and this website helps us do that. Besides, my home sits on top of a limestone ridge with little or no soil at all. Raised beds and our own compost were matters of necessity. You can see in the second photo that weeds won't even grow, let alone a garden! The deer and rabbits necessitated an enclosure for obvious reasons - and if we had planted our garden down by the creek, the wild hogs would have it destroyed before the week is out. We just wish we had a small greenhouse for our seedlings.

And lastly, we have no neighbors, and certainly none that garden.

We are taking the position that this first year is purely experimental, with a few plants of a wide variety of vegetables so we can find out for ourselves what works well here - we are focusing on plants that store well for the winter. And because we only have a small clearing in a hardwood forest, space is limited, necessitating high intensity gardening.

So far,
2 varieties of peas,
beets
Texas sweet onions
garlic
giant spinach
Swiss chard
two varieties of tomatoes (2 more to come)
2 varieties of winter squash
cantaloupe
summer squash
radishes
okra
Russet potatoes
Yukon potatoes
sweet potatoes
four varieties of hot peppers
green peppers

So far it's not going badly at all, but the harvest is still a long way off...

BW--

Impressive! Best luck with your first harvests, Byron!

BWBARTON
Reading thru the post and would suggest you take a look at straight rabbit poop to add to your beds. Is a very high source of N and does not require composting before adding to beds and will not burn plants that are already growing. If you dont know anyone who has lots of rabbit's it's only 85 miles to Burleson and I will introduce you to my source who has about 1,000. I grow all my garden in containers also and the rabbit poop really makes a difference