Square Foot Gardening - Soil - Help!!!!

Georgey Burgess

My wife has always been saying how much she'd love an allotment and to grow her own vegetables.

So after a bit of research I've built her a table top bed using the Square Foot Garden Method and plan to give it to her for Christmas.

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

The one I've built (with a lot of help from my carpenter friend) is 6foot x 3foot and will sit on a garden table that's sitting idle in my back garden. This way it's at a manageable height and the kids can join in too.

Now I know absolutely nothing about gardening and my next dilemma is what to fill this raised bed with.

The Square Foot Method recommends a mix of 1/3 compost 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite.

Vermiculite seems quite difficult to get hold of but do I really need it?

Would 1/2 compost and 1/2 peat moss be suitable?

I was going to just pick up a few bags from B&Q or Homebase or Woodies but from what I've read in some internet pages are that the compost in these garden centers is not real compost. Will this make a difference? They're usually called things like 'Mulitpurpose Compost with added John Innes'!!! Whatever that is?

I do have a compost bin in my back garden. Its been there for about 7/8 years now and has mainly been filled with grass cuttings from when I've been doing the lawn. The odd occasion, but very rarely, vegetable waste has been added. I've never taken anything out of it and never added anything to it. Is this suitable as my compost or should I be treating this in some way before using it in the Square Foot Garden?

Any help or advice on the soil would be much appreciated. I'm based in Dublin so if theres any good garden centers or the like I should be picking up ingredients please let me know.

Thanks

Qwerty?

You should be able to get Vermicullite in a builders providers. Its used around chimney flues as an insulation.

treesireland

hi, this is whare it all begines ( compost ) now ask your self what dose that meen, it simpily meens a growing media or in my words " something you wish to sow seeds in or expect plants to root in to "
i wish you every joy in the world in your atemt to start gardening,
keep it simpel and lital and often.:)

Georgey Burgess

thanks for the advice. it's all on hold at the minute as i dislocated my shoulder this morning when i brought them ice skating.


leave it to the kids is my advice

treesireland

thats bad:(. ouch i did that 2 times same side. it will get beter:).
hav a nice xmas. start agin in the new year:)

The Sweeper

Georgey B - take some time while you're out of action and read up about 'lasagne layer' beds. These are garden beds that are built up by layering materials thinly - e.g. a layer of shredded newspaper, then a layer of grass clippings, then a layer of dry straw, then a layer of choppped up vegetable peelings, then maybe a layer of something half-composted out of your own composter - and on each layer you can throw a dusting of lime, or a handful of blood and bone fertiliser. You use the layers to build up the level of the bed, and then spread soil over the top six inches of the bed.

Over time, the layers compost down - the worms travel up into the beds and chomp their way through your layers. This is similar to cold composting in that you're not going to toss the compost heap, and there's little oxygen in it, but it breaks down more quickly. This method is a good way to increase the depth of the levels in the garden bed without having to pay for soil.

In terms of what to fill the bed with otherwise, call around your local nurseries and garden centres and hardware stores, and see who will deliver soil. You can get good garden soil delivered to your house by the ton or cubic metre.

For vegetable beds, I'd ask for three deliveries: garden soil, mushroom compost and sharp sand. Mushroom compost is just compost that's been used to grow mushrooms - it's good stuff. Mushrooms are grown in large controlled warehouse environments, and they use the growing compost once for each batch I believe, after sterilising it to kill bacteria. It's very rich compost and is great for the garden. Some garden centres and nurseries sell 'mushroom compost' that has never seen a mushroom warehouse - that's not necessarily a bad thing, it can still be excellent compost, it's just never been used.

Garden soil is a much varied substance - some companies try to resell you the rubble-strewn crap from where they're cleared topsoil from a building site; others sell dark brown, loamy marvellousness that you'd normally use to top a levelled patch where you wanted to sow a new lawn that'll come up like a billiard table. It's not a bad idea to go to the supplier in question and examine the bays where they keep their sand and soil, and when the truck arrives at your house, don't let them tip it without seeing what's in it first!!

I ask for the three substances because I like to mix my own soils depending what I'm planting.

Herb gardens, for instance, can benefit from the addition of sand and lime to plain soil - no mushroom compost for them. Green leafy veg loves nitrogen, so the more mushroom compost in that bed the better. For carrots I'd mix the garden soil with some sand - soil that's too rich, with too much mushroom compost for instance, can make the carrots split in the ground. (As will soil that's full of rocks and stones.)

I've tried vegetable beds in the past where I've just planted straight into mushroom compost, and to be honest I think it's a little excessive. Better to have a soil / compost mix. Not that you'll necessarily have this problem in Ireland, but raised beds can get quite dry sometimes - mushroom compost dries out quite quickly in a raised bed, and holds moisture better if its mixed with some loamy soil.

Anyway - that's just something to think about. One tip if you DO get something delivered: it's a hell of a lot of shovelling, fillng raised beds. When I get a delivery, I lay down that super-thick decorators plastic and have the truck tip the load onto the plastic - saves having to sweep away the remains of whatever pile got delivered. I also make sure I get the truck to tip as close as humanely possible to the destination for the soil. You don't want to be carting it any further than necessary - especially if your shoulder's still raggy.

Anyway - get well soon!

Georgey Burgess

cheers sweeper, plenty to think about. i think the fun part will be trial and error but we'll soon learn.

fair play to you

BlancheSparks

Have u thought about the method where u just grow the plants in nutrients dissolved in water... forgotten what its called

The Sweeper

It's called hydroponics. It's an excellent method, but can be extremely expensive to set up initially.