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Square Foot Gardening

Where did I go wrong?

18 years ago

Today I mixed a 40lb. bag of 'humus/manure' mixture with a bag of potting soil of the same weight and a bag of mushroom compost. To that I added a few shovels full of peat moss. I added this to containers and put a tomato plant into each. I noticed that when I watered the containers it took a long time for the water to soak into the mixture. Now the containers look like they are filled with mud, for lack of a better description. When I've used just plain potting soil in the past the water usually drained right through it. The mushroom compost and manure mixture were purchased at HD and seemed a little 'heavy'- there were chunks of clay like material in each bag. I'm planning on filling a 12'x4' raised (12") bed next weekend to try my first square foot garden and don't want the same problem. Unfortunately, I'm limited to where I can purchase composted materials (HD, Wal-Mart). Any ideas? BTW, I've enjoyed reading the posts on this forum and am excited about getting my own square foot garden started! Thanks.

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Comments (3)

Ray Scheel
18 years ago
Are these open bottom or some sort of container with a limited number of drain holes? If the drain holes were limited I'm betting they got mostly clogged, fresh mushroom compost loves to do that on me. You may try poking at any drain holes to see if water runs out, I've taken to placing a broken chunk of brick next to each drain hole in large containers to keep the hole from getting jammed up.

You've got a mix that is oging to retain a big more watter than straight potting mix, though taking a while for the water to soak in is normal enough, as is losing some of the initial soaking as the contents settle. I forsee absolutely no problem with that mix in an open bottom bed.
griley
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks, Ray! This is good news for my raised bed (which is open bottomed) since these are the most readily available 'ingredients' for me right now. Probably not the best choice for containers with just a few drain holes but since I've only planted a couple of plants so far I'll see how they do. I wasn't taking into consideration that this was the first soaking and the peat was dry- probably should've moistened it while I was mixing. Keeping my fingers crossed!
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magnolias4ever
18 years ago
I think you need to add the vermiculite also to your mixture with more peat moss. The humus/compost to way to heavy and when wet will turn to mud. I suggest using 1/3 vermiculite; 1/3 humus/compost; and 1/3 spagnum peat (as per Mel's formula) for the best draining yet moisture reserving soil. When mixed in this way, you wouldn't believe how light the soil mixture can be and how well it drains too. Don't forget, your roots need air as well as moisture.

HD has the really big bags of vermiculite in the garden section. At my store it was located right across from the containers (empty pots) and right above the Miracle Gro potting soil. The vermiculite bags were a brown Kraft paper color. This worked very well for me. The vermiculite was about $10 for one of these really big bags. I made 2 - 2x8' beds and each bed took 1.5 bags of vermiculite. Also, instead of buying the compressed peat spagnum moss, I purchased the MiracleGro spagnum moss that was bagged. No clumps to deal with and it already has a little fertilizer mixed in with it and doesn't repell the water like the compressed spagnum moss does.

Good luck next weekend with your beds!

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