Newbie question on my mix/help!

Am ready to bang my head against a wall trying to figure out my Mel's Mix

I'm attaching a picture of my "plan" so I can refer to it as I sort through this mess...



Okay so I need a total of 20 cubic feet of Mel's Mix which equals to 6.67cuft of peat moss, vermiculite and compost. That will be for my middle bed and the bed on the right (half has a 12" riser).

Then I need a total of 8 cubic feet of compost for the bed on the left.

We've found the vermiculite easily - but I'm having a hard time with the 5 types of compost. Here's what I've found, can you tell me if I can use these as a good mixture??

Mushroom Compost (1cu ft bag/40lbs) $3.97
Organic Blend Compost w/manure (1cu ft bag/40lbs) $1.67 (.05-.05-.05)
Dairy Cow Manure (1cu ft bag) $1.47 (.45-.3-.1)
Plant Based Compost (from local nursery)

Also have access to Chickity Doo-Doo, worm castings and sheep manure if needed (though these are all more $$).

I'm hoping to use just the compost from the local nursery in the corn bed. Will that suffice? Or do I need to do the compost mix in that bed too?

Other places to look for compost: dairy farms, horse farms, llama, rabbit or goat farms. Place an ad on Freecycle and Craigslist. Go to your Farmer's Market and ask any and all farmers if they have any composted manure they wouldn't mind parting with for a nominal fee. Check the bulletin board at the local grain and farm store.
As to the corn, it kind of depends on what your soil is like now. If you don't want to do the MM you can just amend the soil, but usually that requires all the ingredients of the MM.
Good Luck!!

So do you not think what we found is adequate? I've looked on craigslist for weeks, unfortunately there is nothing around us besides bagged stuff or plain manure (not composted).

I spent the extra money and bought the worm castings, and so far my plants are really happy. I only bought a little of the castings to mix into the MM, and will probably do the same next year, even though I am making my own compost. Everything that I read says that the worm castings are fabulous, so I decided that a little of that would be worth the extra money...I have nothing to compare it to, but this year's SFG has germinated every single seed that I have sown directly into the SFG, and everything is growing strong, green, and tall. I give credit to the MM.

Are you planning to get the raw manure to compost yourself for next year?

Good luck, it sounds like you are on the right track!

~Amanda

asilcox wrote:

Are you planning to get the raw manure to compost yourself for next year?

Good luck, it sounds like you are on the right track!

~Amanda

I wasn't going to. I won't have the extra time to do it this summer with a baby (#3) on the way end of July I'll be lucky if our two kids and the husband pitch in with the gardens to help like they promised to!

I think I'll grab a bag of the worm castings then and just use a little bit in each box. Thanks!!