Talk to Living Earth for compost; I am a little out of their range, but have heard them spoken of highly by many. With sand present in your existing compost, go short on adding vermiculite. There is a partial substitution effect with the sand facilitating percolation. No clue on where to get coir in these parts; my "substitute" has been leaf litter / leaf mold mixed with some peat along with whatever is in the mushroom compost that is my primary bed fill material. Since I am growing over sand, I have not had issues with needing better drainage. I am sure growing over black gumbo would be a completely different experience in a raised bed setting.

This is not too much variety. If the trellis goes through the middle of squares 1-2-3-4 rather than along the back edge of the box, you can plant the peas on both sides of the trellis. If the trellis is on the back edge, you could plant the peas along the back edge of the square and then front half of those squares with something else ... good small plants for a spring garden are leaf lettuces, spinach, radish, beets, green onion. Read the package on your peas, they don't mind being squashed together. My sugar snap peas say they can be planted 1" apart from each other, so that could be 10-12 in a row one foot long (your square) with room at the front of that square for other small things. Or, it could be 2 rows of 10-12 (a row on each side of the trellis if the trellis straddles the square). I have heard some people plant their peas almost touching. The zucchini will get very large. It could take up 4+ squares all by itself. I suggest moving it to square 4 and tying it to the trellis to keep it vertical (IF there is enough room for the leaves to go thru and stick out the back side of the trellis and room for leaves to grow out over side of box). This way, much of the leaves are growing out over the side and back of the box and not taking up your interior room. I have used pieces of pantyhose to tie zucchini and yellow straight or crookneck summer squash to a stake, which is similar to tying it to a trellis. Here are a couple threads on growing the bush squashes vertically ... http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/sqfoot/msg0514444811976.html http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/sqfoot/msg0310241914233.html P.S. I think most 'winter squash' are vining and can be trellised Cucumber is good and grows great up the trellis. It or the peas can go next to the zucchini as they will get much taller much faster. I would prob recommend peas in squares 1 and 2, then cuke in 3. Once the peas are done, it will be easier to replace them with something else if they are together in squares 1 & 2. Lettuce could be good in square 7 and Spinach in square 8 as they will appreciate the shade provided by the zucchini leaves once it starts getting hotter and it could extend your season some. Of course, that may not be a problem at all in San Francisco. Here in NC, we can have *average* highs of 80 in May & Sep with 90 average and records 100+ in June July Aug. It's a completely different climate here than there !! The California Gardening forum may be able to help you more with what to plant and when. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/calif/ Typically, your peas, carrots, and spinach are spring veggies and do not like the heat (as well as lettuces, radish, beets, green onion). Once they are done, you could fill those holes with green beans ... there are 2 types, those that grow up a vine (trellis) and those that are 'bush' beans that stay compact. Your summer veggies are pepper, tomato, okra, cuke, melons, squash, beans, eggplant. Be sure to read the FAQ section (linked at the top of the Square Foot Garden forum home page) ... http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/sqfoot/. Every forum will have a different set of FAQs so there could also be FAQs on the California forum. Also, do lots of searches using the search box at the bottom of each forum's home page. 1-Snow Peas (8-12) replace when done with Vining Beans 2-Snow Peas (8-12) replace when done with Vining Beans 3-Cucumber (1) 4-Zuccini (1) 5-Carrots (16) replace when done with Bush Beans 6-Strawberry (3) 7-Lettuces?(4) 8-Spinach (9)

Hi mom2sld; Reading your list I think you know what you need, but Ill summarize it for you and try to give you prices for what I know, I was just at Home Depot pricing out stuff for this season. Material Description ______ Quantity _ Cost Each _ Total Cost ------------------------------------------------------------- 2"x6"x8 (cut in half) ...... 4 ....... $6 ea. .... $24 1" blind slats (4" long) .... 12 ...... Free ...... 0 Peat Moss ................... 6 cu.ft. ............ $23 Compost, Various ............ 6 cu.ft. .$5-7 ...... $30 Vermiculite ................. ~6 cu.ft. ........... $30 Box 3-3.5" deck screws ...... 24 min. ............. ~$5 ...................................................------ ........................................ TOTAL ....$97 + tax Your prices will vary. Peat Moss  This stuff come in dry compressed bails usually in 2 cu ft ($9 ea), and 4-5 ($14 ea.), so youÂll need a 2cu. ft. bail and a 4cu. ft. bail. The large bail is heavy so get someone to help you with it. Compost ($5/per cubic foot of composted manure 6 bags ($7 for dehydrated 4 bags)- get yourself a nice selection if you can of composts, get some cow manure compost, some compost mixes, and maybe some sheep pooh too. Chicken manure is too strong and should be used judiciously. I also like seafood compost and you can typically get in New England. I recommend buying dehydrated compost manures when available, they cost a little more but you arenÂt paying for water, and you need less of it by 1/3rd I would say. My advice it to get someone nice at the store to help you and answer your questions, HD/Lowes tends to be hectic, so try a nice garden center. Vermiculite ($20 for 4 cu. ft.) - (not Perlite it is different) call ahead and find out what they have, HomeDept here in the Boston area doesnÂt carry it. I checked to see if LoweÂs website says they carry it and they donÂt say. I have to go to Mahoney in Woburn, MA to find it. Try a real garden center or farm stores in your area. Deck screws  buy a box they will be cheaper then buying them individually, and get a few extras. Have you ever looked for a screw in a lawn? Lumber  Douglas Fir sound great. Just avoid pressure treated stuff, you donÂt want it near your food. Have the folks their cut it in half for you, it depends on the place but often the 1st cut is free, each following cut it 50 cents to a buck. Might I suggest you call around to Home Dept, Lowes, or your local home/garden/building center and see what their prices are and find out what they carry. Also once you decide where youÂre going call ahead and see if they will put the order together for you and have it waiting. It will make it easier for you and the toddler. Then you can just pay for it, chat a little and have some nice person that works there bring it out to your car for you. How big is your car anyhow? Will it fit 16 to 18 cubic feet of garden supplies plus 8 x 2x6x4ft in it? I ask because you might need to make a couple of trips. If you end up doing this you can go shopping at different places and get the best price possible. Other nice places to get gardening materials that I know exist in New England is Agway & Blue Seal and they will have the stuff waiting for you and load it for you too. Plus, you should bring a tarp to put all this stuff on if you have anything other than a truck. These bags seem to always leak and having the car/SUV/van smell like manure all summer well youÂve been warned.. I would like to suggest that you just stick to MelÂs methods & formulas for a couple years until you get the hang of it. The SFG method is really designed for you to succeed so donÂt look for formulas other than what he recommends for now. If your garden succeeds you will probably be garden the rest of your life and will be able to make changes in the decades to come. To answer your other questions more directly: "As for the mix, can someone please tell me exactly what to get and about what it will cost?" : See list above. Are there names/brands to look for or avoid? : IMHO not really, itÂs all composted animal pooh. Get dehydrated if you have a choice more volume for the buck. "Will I be able to get everything at Lowes/Home Depot? If not, where?" : You will be able to get almost everything from either. I suggest you let you fingers do the walking, and as I suggested see if they can have the order ready for you when you arrive. Call them the day before to give them some time to put it together. IMHO: you might like to buy from a local business too such as Agway, Blue Seal, a local green house, and hardware/home builder store, this will get you started in being part of your local community. Also when you need advice or help the small places tend to have less turnover in staff, so next year you can talk to Bill the Garden guy because he still works there. The smaller places will put your order together for you and are happy to have your business. To get the Vermiculite you will have to go to a specialty place since I donÂt think HD or Lowes has it. "I haven't started composting yet, so I will have to purchase that too. Is it sold in these stores? " : Yes composted manure is sold at HD & Lowes although their selection is not as broad as a garden center. They usually only have cow and one other compost mixture. "Has anyone not used Mel's mix, but a different mixture with great results?" : as I said earlier stick to MelÂs method for a couple of years before you use something someone else has developed. SFG is designed to help you succeed. More experienced gardeners develop there own formulas for there own reasons, which they donÂt always remember the reasons why. Backyard gardening is more an art form then a science. MelÂs method reduces it to a science that you can learn the art form from. "For the two 4x4 gardens I described above, about how much will it cost to start? $50? More, less?" : It will run you just over 100 bucks, see list above. Since you say you are so busy and canÂt take the time to scrounge materials youÂll have to pay retail. Composting: you seem to express and interest in composting, which will be essential to keep your garden going in the years to come. There is a nice composting forum here at GardenWeb, but I suggest you get a little book that teaches you a method too. Mel does a good job getting you started. Composting is not hard but it CAN take a little trial and error. ItÂs not rocket science, but be careful what you put in your pile. If you are not sure if something belongs in the pile leave it out until you know it is safe. Your local town Parks/Recreational or Trash department might actually have compost bins for sale at a discount. Or a friend of yours might live in a town that can get it for you cheaper. A simple bin cost is $25 ea, better bins about $50 ea. Let me say, "Welcome to the wonderful world of gardening." I hope we can help you succeed at your first attempt. CloneZero PS Sorry the list is not very readable but the forums editor software ripped all my space formatting out.

Ribbit, I haven't seen the guy's beds, but I have a feeling I know what you're talking about. To give myself a little instant gratification, I bought a couple beds from a company based out of New Zealand that sells pre-made raised beds (they call them collars). They have these special hinges on them so that you just connect two pieces together, drop a pin in, and your bed is built. I wish I knew what the hinges were called or where to buy some because it'd make raised bed building a cinch. Anyway, the beds are made out of lumber that's kind of crappy and probably won't last too many seasons, but they were only (heh only) around $35 each, so I thought it was a decent deal. If they're the same type of beds, they are most definitely not as nice and pretty as the ones made from the landscaping timbers, which I find to be really, really attractive. I'd thought about building a bed out of stacked pavers, but my front yard is teeny tiny, like maaaaybe 6' or 7' wide, so losing out on a couple feet of space just for the walls of the bed would be a bad idea. As far as pressure treated lumber, I'm currently growing some veggies in a couple terraced areas in the backyard that are made with PT lumber, and I haven't worried much about it.