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Square Foot Gardening

Should I convert my raised beds from soil to Mel's mix?

15 years ago

I just discovered SFG last week and am thrilled at the prospect of gardening with such ease. I've been growing veggies and herbs for years. I never seemed to mind the digging and weeding but, now that I have kids, I just can't find time for it.

But, nonetheless, last fall I converted my traditional, flat garden into raised beds but filled them with soil. I now have 2 long beds (4w x 12d x 1h ). I suppose somehow I thought it would be easier with raised beds.

But now I've been enlightened by SFG! I can see just how much easier it will be. And perhaps I can get the kids to help, too!

So..... what would do you? Would you remove the soil and replace with Mel's mix? Or simply build a separate SFG box or 2?

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Comments (5)

gumby_ct
15 years ago
Why? Do you have extra money you want to bury in the yard? Or is your soil deficient in something? Either case the ONLY thing in Mel's Mix that adds any nutrients is compost. If your soil is deficient just add the compost.

When I converted, I simply placed my frames on top of the row garden soil. NO Voodoo required. Been working fine for me.

Good Luck
ps. You can send your extra money or any savings to Gumby.
gardener_mary
15 years ago
I agree with Gumby, if you already have good soil don't worry about it. If you feel that your soil could use more organic matter then add more of any of the components of Mel's mix that you can get. I don't worry about the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 mix, I started SFG before he came out with the new book. In the older book you start w/ garden soil and just add to it.

Good gardening, Mary
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Let me chime in here, if I may(you know I love to talk). You don't have to build all of it in the first year. You can use your native soil and then build it from there as you have material available at little or no cost. Results can still be very good without spending a lot of money. When you start by spading you raise the level by about 2 to 3 inches, depending on the soil. Then throw in a little more soil from the path areas of your garden, where you may want to lay down some pavers or flat stones or mulch to walk on. Then add some ucg's, leaves, dried grass clippings, steer or other manure...well you get the idea as to how fast it can build up. Of course, every year it will settle and a certain amount of the organic material will actually disappear into thin air, but you will be adding more and more all the time cause by the end of the first year you will probably become a compost wacko, like a lot of us here are. Then you will get all excited about When you score anything, from anywhere, to add to your soil and compost. Then people start to look at you strangely as you carry around used coffee grounds and other peoples garbage and little childrens used jack'olanterns. Its not always a pretty sight..steve
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Compaction is probably not the main worry about the vermiculite, especially in a light mix like Mel's Mix made "by the book." It will eventually "break down" into smaller particles, which is why Mel says to start with the coarsest grade you can find. Over all it will last a long time and make a major contribution to your soil quality. Not only will perlite not do the same task, but perlite will add its nasty texture to your soil, making it unpleasant to handle (which is a very un-SFG thing, as one of the fundamentals of SFG is that you work on your SFG and handle your soil some every day). Perlite will also float to the top of your bed, at which point it will either wash away or sit there not providing any benefit at all to the consistency of your soil. I have no idea about the bark, I would wonder if it is even more acidic than the peat, which wouldn't be a good thing. I don't have any especial love for peat either (although it is worth noting that it is being generated in Canada faster than it is being harvested, and is indeed a renewable resource) but it does seem to result in a soil mix, built by Mel's formula, that was excellent from the very start for growing vegetables and flowers. If I were to make any changes in future boxes I might cut down on or leave out the peat, but my soil formula would alway contain at least 1/3 vermiculite if possible, due to my experience in the pre-raised bed days of the first SFG book, where vermiculite was by far the best addition I made to my native soil, producing better results, that showed quickly and lasted longer, than any of the other stuff we added over the course of many years. In my raised SFG I plan to add a little vermiculite and a lot of fresh compost every year.
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cinnamon_girl4
Original Author
15 years ago
Sure Gumby! Please email me a link to your paypal account. :-)
Yeah I suppose my question sounded kind of silly; I was thinking that Mel's mix had some miraculous properties that would prevent weeds from growing. But I'm relieved there's no Voodoo involved!

Thanks for the advice Mary. I actually have alot of bare spots on the lawn (from my big golden retriever) that need to be filled so I'll use some of the existing soil from one of the beds for that. Then I'll add Mel's mix to the one bed. The other bed will be regular soil. Maybe I can get the kids to do a science project to see if the Mel's mix works better than the soil.
carolynp
15 years ago
I would be torn, personally. I have a box in the front with four squares of peas in compost only. I have a box in my backyard with six squares of the same varieties in mel's mix. These were planted at exactly the same time. I know there are too many variables to count, but the mel's mix peas are definitely taller and more mature by several inches. The compost only peas are all around four inches tall. The Mel's mix peas are almost all more than a foot tall trellising nicely. I'm a bit surprised because the leaves in the back are also larger. It could be anything: sun, placement, or garden gnomes, but the most obvious difference is the mel's mix.
Just my 2 cents.
sinfonian
15 years ago
If your soil drains poorly or is weed infested beyond belief, replace it. If it works, add some compost and be happy you don't need to spend the money.

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