Boxes and Soil

Well, we can now easily see where the veggies will grow, and we have a well-designated path. We also have a small amount of soil suitable for growing vegetables, and it's actually in the garden. It's a start.

Before the community gardeners came over Saturday, my husband and I got boxes set up in the main garden and the Georgia clay rearranged. Below are pictures of what the boxes looked like before the gardeners arrived.

The back garden is made of 2"x12"s, so we could fill it with 12" of soil. However, this would be costly, twice as costly than having the 6" of soil that Mel says we need.

Because we planted the root veggies in the strawberry planter, I don't need the back garden for root vegetables. So I filled the back garden half full of Georgia clay. Before putting in the garden soil this week, I'll put down a weed barrier.

Once the community gardeners and I made Mel's Mix (which is 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 peat moss) we filled a small portion of the front garden.

The next picture shows how little space has gardening soil in it!

This first batch of Mel's Mix was expensive because I only found small 8 oz bags of vermiculite at one store. But today I found a nursery that sells vermiculite in bags of 4 cubic feet, so I'm waiting for the next delivery (the store was out of it) so that I can buy some.

The other option is to have top soil delivered. However, we would still need to add compost because that's the source of nutrition for the plants and ultimately for those of us who eat them. We would also need to add either peat moss or vermiculite or something similar in order to be sure there's plenty of air in the soil as well as drainage.

I could setup an experiment whereby I plant the same things in Mel's Mix as I do in another type of soil. Maybe we'll have a section with purchased organic soil that has compost, vermiculite, perlite, and peat moss (among other things), but I really don't want to invest in top soil.

That's what it is--an investment! With Mel's Mix, I should be able to just add compost from my own composter from now on. At least that's what his book says.

With the increase in gas prices, we may not have the money next year to switch to Mel's Mix if the top soil doesn't work well. I really want to do it right this year.

Somehow I think I'll be making more Mel's Mix later this week...