Hi. I am a member whose focus is indoor houseplants and outdoor vegetable gardening. Does anyone here do Square Foot Gardening with boxes and grids--made popular by author Mel Bartholomew?
I found the book at Lowe's and find it fascinating as well as the answer to poor, depleted garden soil. In the book, Mel solves soil problems by creating his own mix--1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite.
This mix goes into wood boxes one can construct either with or without bottoms. The method totally bypasses having to use your existing soil and practically eliminates weed issues. My husband and I would like to give it a try.
Just asking.
~TJ
All New Square Foot Gardening
I just ordered the new cookbook and the new version of this book and find them fascinating. I think we all use the same principles that Mel does - i.e. interplanting, box gardens, and crop rotation, etc - and I think it would be very successful for you. My advice would be to study everything in this forum and then come up with a "hybrid" style that works best for you. I wish you many happy veggies.
Hi I just signed up for this club today. I am pretty much a novice but I just took a class with Mel a couple of weeks ago at a local nursery. It was a spontaneous thing to do. I did not even have his book yet. I loved the class and his book and the whole idea. I noticed no one has posted here since March. This is such a large website. Is there possibly another forum on this subject? In any case I will check back because I am very enthused with Mel's system. Our soil is rocky clay and it took me all summer to plant 5 shrubs last year (and I bought 6). My coworker, who is a much more experienced gardener; is also getting very enthused but I'll have to pass on her experiences as she does not have a computer. I will be setting up my first box tomorrow.
I do both square foot and container gardening in the tropics and for me it has been an adventure and now, a success. I raised my SFG onto tables and, right after I did it, Ibroke my leg (unrelated to my garden!). I could keep gardening during the recuperation period! If you like, you can see my photos and trials and tribulations at my blog. http://yearroundgardener.blogspot.com/
Ronald: What a beautiful setup you have, good job. TJ: I've been thinking and wanting to start my first above ground garden myself, what is the title of the book you are reading?
joy
Hi back to all from TJ. Yes! My husband James and I are building boxes, and we are excited.
Joy ~ The title is: All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.
You can either buy the book at Lowe's/other garden stores or go to the library and inquire. (With the lending system nowadays, most libraries will order the book if it is not on the shelf. If you are an Ebay fan, it probably can be had for just a few dollars.)
Ronald ~ Awesome! I would like to be your fan! I love your blog! (I would like to start one like that myself.)
Lion in the Garden ~ Wow! To have taken a course with the master--Awesome! My soil, since I live in Delaware and we are close to the bay--is very sandy. And the weeds are everywhere since I live surrounded by fields gone fallow out in the open where weed seeds proliferate. My garden in the ground is just miserably depleted. So my husband and I are going to do boxes. (We are in our 50's and don't feel like fighting the ground anymore).
Take care, all. Nice to see some feedback and support here.
Thanks TJ, I've been wanting to find books on above ground gardening and this sounds like a fantastic one to read.
joy
Another way to garden above ground is Strawbale Gardening. There is a Forum right here at DG:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/strawbale/all/
This is my first year trying it. We have voracious gophers and have been unsuccessful in the ground. Have read/heard recently to put chicken wire under the bales in the case of gophers. Saw that too late, hope for the best.
timmijo-from what I have read Lasagna gardening with layers to convert your soil. Not instantaneous, but sounds like it works well. This is what I came up with on DG for it:
http://davesgarden.com/search.php?q=lasagna+gardening&Search=Search