Tales From The Dirt: The Dirt on The Dirt (and Grids)

I suppose I can't call my blog Tales From The Dirt without talking about The Dirt. If you've read Square Foot Gardening you've heard of something called Mel's Mix. Mel's Mix is a mixture of 1/3 part blended compost, 1/3 part peat moss and 1/3 part coarse vermiculite. This can be quite expensive - especially if you're doing a lot of boxes. Since I made 10 boxes, I knew I couldn't afford Mel's Mix for my raised beds. After much thought and consideration, I ended up with plain old top soil and compost - a 50/50 mix. I used 4 yards of each and had some left over for my potatoes. I think next year I will add some peat moss to the mix just to keep the soil light and easier for the seeds to sprout. I will probably add some cow manure to the mix also (since I have unlimited access to it) but I need to do more research on that first.

Topsoil & Compost right after delivery.

If you decide to go with topsoil, make sure you get it already screened. Screening will remove some (not all) of the debris. I still found pieces of wire and glass in mine, so be careful. I bought mine from a local landscaping company and thought it looked wonderful when it arrived but upon further inspection, realized there was a lot of clay and very large, hard clumps in it. The compost I used is called Leafgro, 100% organic compost and it cost the same as the topsoil. This stuff is gorgeous, I can't say enough good things about Leafgro. It has a wonderful rich, dark brown color, it's easy to work with and great for your plants.

Before I started putting the topsoil/compost mix into my boxes I lined them with 3-4 layers of newspaper to kill the grass and block weeds. I didn't use the slippery, colored advertisement pages - I'm not sure if they're safe for the garden and I didn't want to take any chances. The colored inks and coated paper could contain something that will hurt my sweet peas! Plus I want the paper to break down quickly so my roots can grow deep. I just laid the paper out and piled my 50/50 mix on top, worked like a charm. It's also nice to have extra hands for this job, especially if it's a windy day.

While on the subject of dirt, I'm also going to cover grids. Square foot gardening uses a grid so you get nice even placement of your plants.

I didn't want to make a grid so I just used fishing line and nails. My dear husband measured along the sides of the boxes and placed marks for me to put the nails. In a 4' x 8' box you will have 32 - 12" x 12" squares. I placed nails every 12" (or so, my boxes aren't exactly 4' x 8'), then wrapped the fishing line around the nails, like so:

Small nail with fishing line wrapped around, notice the nice large
dot my hubby put there for me.

I did the length of the bed first, then went across the width with the fishing line until it was complete. You will have to put a nail in the opposite corner of where you start so you have a place to hook the fishing line when you transition from length of box to width of box (may sound confusing but you will know what I mean when you do it).