Square Foot Gardening With Mel's Mix?

[jhook1997]

I switched from traditional gardening to the square foot method this past season. I didn't use "Mel's mix" but had great success with my own cheaper version. I used my own top soil (minus rocks), plus well-seasoned horse manure, and a mix that I bought at a nursary. I asked a friend that works at a local nursary what they plant most everything in and then purchased that mix. It has top soil, vermiculite, peat, etc. I figured there must be a good reason for them using it. It is costly but was well worth it! I have all raised beds and the dirt looks and smells nice and is never packed down (b/c I never have to walk on it) I've never heard of anyone trying it but I put 15 year landscape fabric under everything, every bed and all the walkways. It was wonderful! What few weeds I had were very easy to pull. Anyway, if you haven't tried the s.f. method.....try to keep an open mind....and give it a go. My husband, who grew up with traditional gardens calls it a "citified" garden but he sure did enjoy all the veggies!

 

[gloriapetersenn]

If you cannot do it on your own, find someone who is learned and skillful in carpentry and designing storage sheds. Look for highly qualified individuals who can construct your garden storage shed. This does not only entail a sturdy garden storage shed output, but also a saving from time and materials used.

 

[ducks4you]

WOW, OLD THREAD!!!
I suggest that anybody reading this consider learning to mix your own. Since most of us live north of the equator, (with apologies to @Trish Stretton,) it's time to compost leaves, etc. for next year and THAT is the compost that you should put into a 4 x 4' bed. Even a mountain cabin with a postage stamp lawn creates enough for THIS sized raised bed. Use your mower and mulch the fall leaves, so that they will break down faster.
Put cardboard down first, then the frame. Put down a tarp, or use a wheelbarrow, and mix your own compost and other ingredients for next Spring Now.
These pre-packaged "mixes" are great, probably work, but you have NO idea about the quality of their compost. Since compost contains living things that need to breathe, and it's probably packaged in plastic, who knows what microbes have perished. Certainly the worms aren't doing well!
Just some fyi.
Gardening is NO fun for me if my wallet suffers.
And, home grown compost continues to give back for Years. Just sayin...

 

[Trish Stretton]

My big avocado tree is the middle of its flowering and as per usual, is dropping a ton of leaves. These will be collected soon and used as mulch.
Hopefully, they will again keep the beds from drying out too fast over the next few months of summer and into fall.

I love how our seasons are so opposite! lol.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I think I mentioned somewhere else on here that the city picks up our huge black plastic bags of leaves in Dec. I refuse to put one bag out, since it takes decades for the plastic to decompose. For my piles of leaves, do I cover with a tarp?

 

[ducks4you]

Yep, but first run your mower over them to mulch, so that the worms can work on decomposition, just like dead composers.