SFG in Amsterdam Nieuw West

Prince,  You are right.  No matter what the guy at the garden center says, buy the plain peat moss.  It's purpose is "making the mix lighter, more friable, and water retentive" (once wet).  Chapter 5.

The compost provides all the nutrients your plants need.

And the vermiculite provides __________?  Test question!  

PS The photo really helped understand what you will be using. If it is compressed, break it up and fluff before measuring.

Well, we made it to the local newspaper. The picture is quite nice. Ofcourse the language is dutch but i was quoted a couple of times. I talked with the journalist about our reasons to start a community garden, the method of SFG and the biological way of gardening

We ordered the goods and start making the SFG Boxes next thursday april 17th

         

  

Richard, I'm so happy for you and the others (?) who have worked so hard to make this happen. Sig

GG - I agree wholeheartedly!

So glad for you, Princezoe!

Richard ..
Get the no chalk peat.
If you make Mel's Mix along the lines of his book  the end material will be slightly acidic which is what most vegetables like ..
The chalk mix will neutralize the acid and cause the plants to suffer .

Chalk is usually added to soils to release locked up nutrients in heavy clay .

Mel's Mix ( MM  ) has no soil , sand or clay in it ,  it is a man made growth medium that you keep in good state by adding a trowel full of well made compost (to a square each time you take the crop out the individual square foot bed.

If you haven't done so already,  see how Mel makes his quality compost ( book details in my strap lines )   & also check out , " The Berkley 18 day hot composting method for an in depth way of doing it & finding about  the various things  you can use as composting material .

Today we started with making our community garden, that is 18 big (4x4) and 14 small (3x2) boxes.
We started with about 8 adults and some children and each one of them had his or her specific task
One was drilling holes in the wood, the other one attachted the wood, put plastic on the inside of the box and 4 other people were mixing Mel's mix
So, at the end of the day we made 19 boxes.
Tomorrow and/or sunday we continue making the other 13 boxes

Everyone was very excited about making the boxes and we had a lot op people in our neighbourhood who want a box after they what we made.
So, we have some decision making to do about who receives a box, on which conditions and which kind of veggies are we going to grow.
I include 2 pics

One is in the morning, the other one is a pic of me between the boxes
I wished for rain at the end of the day and we got it, so we were very lucky today

Whole day we had sun, Rain at 8pm so we were very lucky

Wow that looks wonderful! How great that everybody came together to do something for the community.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Are you going to have fencing? Even just so local dogs or bouncing basketballs and kids toys don't come crashing into the garden and wreck things?

2. Are you going to have some sort of guidelines so someone doesn't grow tall crops somewhere that shades out other people's boxes so the other people get no sun and can't grow anything? I'm thinking tomatoes, beans, and corn are among the crops that can get so tall they will shade out other plants.

Congratulations on a job well done, young man!

Your community spirit and active participation and vision are great attributes.

WELL DONE!!

Hello Marc,

thanks for your replay.

We certainly make a small fence, we have a subsidy for that. For now we are not using that because we still donot exactly know what the size will be for the whole Garden.
The sign in the pic with the dog means that dogs are not allowed, but hey, a dog cannot read so we are dependent on the dog's boss... Balls are a weakness, that is correct. I hope we can buy fences asap

As i am a certified SFG teacher, i have already teached 5 people in SFG, but as more people want to join we planned a larger meeting at an office on May 8th... and of course i am the presenter.
I translated an english SFG presentation in dutch

Thanks rabbit hutch..eehmm young man..
I felt young today, but now i am resting on the couch as an oldtimer

princezoe wrote:Thanks rabbit hutch..eehmm young man..
I felt young today, but now i am resting on the couch as an oldtimer

Trust me!  You are a young man.  I am 72 and just starting as an SFG're.  It has taken all of my strength and energy over the last 8 or 10 weeks to build by TTs and they are not yet complete.

Enjoy your (relative) youth and vigor.  Father time will, too soon, intervene.

princezoe, it is wonderful what you are doing for your community.

There is one comment I would like to make. At first you will be overwhelmed with enthusiastic would-be gardeners. As the season progresses there will be drop-outs, it happens all the time with any project so do not be too disappointed with that.
With SFGing, I think there will be a smaller rate because it is so easy and it gives quick results and hopefully you will still have people on a waiting list ready to take over.

All the best to you and your group. I know we will all look forward to pictures, and more pictures.  

Richard, You did it! It looks so nice and so big. How many boxes do YOU get? If every one puts a trellis on the north side of the big boxes and only shorter cages (like tomato cages) or short containing fences on the small ones, there should be plenty of sunshine. Yes??

@ kelejan: if less people want a box, the more boxes for the initiators of the Community garden hehehe... We will take care that the participants take care of their boxes.

@ sanderson: i think that not every box can have a trellis.. from south to north there is about 2.5 feet space between the boxes. I am not sure if that is enough for sun and shadow issues. What do you think ? For this season i only want the northern boxes to make a trellis, the other ones can grow enough other vegetables. As we have to make 13 boxes we can decide to make some boxes on the side so that more boxes can make trellis

princezoe wrote:@ kelejan: if less people want a box, the more boxes for the initiators of the Community garden hehehe... We will take care that the participants take care of their boxes.

@ sanderson: i think that not every box can have a trellis.. from south to north there is about 2.5 feet space between the boxes. I am not sure if that is enough for sun and shadow issues. What do you think ? For this season i only want the northern boxes to make a trellis, the other ones can grow enough other vegetables. As we have to make 13 boxes we can decide to make some boxes on the side so that more boxes can make trellis

That's good, you do most of the work so I hope you get your rewards of an extra box or two for your efforts. I know none of them will be wasted.

You are right about the trellises.  You know what you are doing.  

Princezoe, it looks fantastic!  Congratulations on a job well started.  Even though Kelejan is right about folks dropping out, I don't think it will be a problem for finding replacements.  And as people see how well their veggies, etc. grow, you'll probably end up with a waiting list.

Can't wait to see your progress!

Looking great!!!

GG

Well guys, some nice things happened the last months and i am sorry that i did not make some improvement pics on the SFG in the community of Amsterdam Nieuw West.
We started in april and it was done in may and we put the seeds and seedlings in by the end of may.
In juni 14 i emigrated to Italy, where i live now. I want to make some steps in making SFG known in Italy but I will tell you about that later this year

[url=https://www.dropbox.com/lightbox/home/SFG Bokrijk]https://www.dropbox.com/lightbox/home/SFG%20Bokrijk[/url]
https://www.dropbox.com/lightbox/home/SFG%20Bokrijk

Unfortunately i did not manage to post pics, therefore i posted some links

Hi Prince, It has been a while since we heard from you, but it looks like you have been busy. All that work to get the gardens built and then you have to leave them. However, they are a a nice legacy for you to leave behind.

There is another newer member in Italy, Alanlu. She had an interesting time finding the ingredients for Mel's Mix so maybe she will be able to help you locate them.

Keep in touch