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Re: Greetings/Into

Welcome Joel,
To answer your questions:

>    (1) In Mel's book "Cash from Square Foot Gardening" he recommends pre-
>mixed peat moss/vermiculite, purchased in large bales from garden suppliers,
>for building up raised beds from scratch. In his earlier book "Square Foot
>Gardening", he recommends mixing your own soil (he decided later that this was
>too much work). What advice can people on this list give me? I plan on doing 2
>or 3 4x4 raised beds with pipe/tomato cage wire trellises on the north side of
>each.

I use this mix in each bed--shredded leaves, peat moss, bagged composted
manure, bagged shredded pine bark and bagged compost--all (expect the
leaves) available at Wal-Mart, K-mart or home improvement centers.  Then I
add compost as I make it.  The soil is loose and fluffy, and oxygen can get
to the roots easily.  I never use vermiculite, because it's too expensive in
my region.  Others on the list have said that they can find it at feed
stores in bulk for a small price.
>
>  (2) Since I decided to do a SFG this winter, I do not have a good built-up
>supply of compost. But I do have about ten large bags of uncomposted leaves
>which I forgot to get to the dump on time. Is there a way that I can compost
>these leaves fast enough to be useful in my garden this spring.

See above about the leaves.  I just add the leaves and mix into the soil.
You may want to run a lawn mower over the leaves to cut them into smaller
pieces.  I do this every fall before I rake. They break down naturally, and
I've never had any problems with nitrogen deficiency, because the soil is
loaded with compost and manure.
Hope this helps you to get started.  And, please, ask all the questions you
have.  There are many very knowledgeable square foot gardeners on this list.
Doreen Howard

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