Got the boxes now what??

now you pay down some cardboard or landscape fabric, mix your MM, and plant some vege's!!! I'd suggest buying the book if you don't already have it, it made life much easier for me...

Remember, 1/3 compost (5 different types), 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite

Don't put down landscape fabric. You want your roots to be able to penetrate down through that grass after it decomposes from lack of light.

Congratulations on the first brave step , have you got & read Mel's " All New Square Foot Gardening " book 2006 editiion .

If not you'll be needing it , if you have it the steps for sorting the boxes are in it starting at page one of the book moving right through to page 272.

Honest , I know it sounds cheeky and gobby but reading the book several times and being here on site will fill in all the blanks far quicker than us giving you short answers as everything is interlinked from start to finish .

Well said plantiod. I dedided to do a SFG and knew I needed 1/3 of each of the different elements and I had heard something about 5 different types. I happened to see the book at lowes when I was buying the lumber for my boxes and thought to myself I should go ahead and pick it up if might have something useful in it. I had already bought my materials for MM but didn't really know anything about the 5 types. I had 2 brands of peat, 2 different brands of composted cow manure and vermiculite. I felt pretty good since I had 5 different types. Reading the book before hand would have given me a better start.

I also found lots of other helpful information in the book. For best results read the book before buying and preparing your beds.

philct wrote:now you pay down some cardboard or landscape fabric, mix your MM, and plant some vege's!!! I'd suggest buying the book if you don't already have it, it made life much easier for me...

Remember, 1/3 compost (5 different types), 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite

+1.

RoOsTeR wrote:

philct wrote:now you pay down some cardboard or landscape fabric, mix your MM, and plant some vege's!!! I'd suggest buying the book if you don't already have it, it made life much easier for me...

Remember, 1/3 compost (5 different types), 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite

+1.

+ + 1 ! You are almost there! Maybe the local library has the book you can borrow if you cannot buy one.

"H_TX_2"-----I had 2 brands of peat, 2 different brands of composted cow manure and vermiculite. I felt pretty good since I had 5 different types. Reading the book before hand would have given me a better start.

Sorry, H_TX_2, you only have one type of compost, the cow manure. peat and vermiculite are not compost. Please rethink your compost.

And welcome to the forum, where we fall over to help you before you do something that it hard to correct. We have all been through the learning process.

Oops!. I am repolying to H_TX_2, but it is Ladyblu I am welcoming.

CharlesB wrote:Don't put down landscape fabric. You want your roots to be able to penetrate down through that grass after it decomposes from lack of light.

Please note that if you have a crab grass problem the landscape fabric is necessary!

You don't have to mix various kinds of peat. The cheapest you can get will do just fine. The key is to fluff it up, take out all the chunks so that the peat is completely loose.
Mix 5 different kinds of store bought compost from various places. For example, you could get composted manure, mushroom compost, leaf compost, etc, etc. Getting the various kinds takes some legwork.
By going to the box stores, PLUS the independent nurseries, landscapers and hardware stores, you will have a better appreciation for the strengths and weaknesses of each retailer, and a good feel for a fair market price. In addition, you will find that not all compost is created equal.
Each brand brings different composition, different strengths and weaknesses. An example of a strength is the compost sold by Walmart here in NJ. Every bag has a dozen or so red compost worms, aka red wigglers, that get culled before I mix and blend the store bought compost. The worms go right into my own compost pile, where they will do their own good work.
It pays to read the label of each bag to see what it is composed of.

Tom

Amazon has the book for $12.41 (eligible for free shipping) and used 9.96.

I got mine from Amazon, had a voucher to use up. Took about 7 days to arrive.

I got mine through Amazon as well. It was the cheapest place by far.