australia

Any suggestions/info about SFG in Australia.
Geomon

Welcome!
We have a regional forum just for Australia:
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/f19-australia

Welcome, Geomon.
You are heading into spring, I am heading into winter. Brhh!

hi Geomon!

Nice to see another Aussie in here, I'm on the other side of the country to you but have been SFGing in Sydney since February this year.

I had to do a bit of research to find all the SFG ingredients but it has been well worth it, as a first time SFGer and a first time veggie gardener I have found the SFG method really easy and this site is a wonderful resource, full of lots of info and lots of wonderful people who are happy to answer every silly question.

Do your research for prices on vermiculite and peat moss, I found that there was a big variation in prices depending on who you talked to. Hydroponics places are a good place to try for vermiculite also garden supply centres. I found a place near me that is primarily sells bulk plastic garden pots but they also keep the vermiculite and peat moss along with fertilisers (which we don't need) etc. Google really is your friend on this one, I found lots of places that I wouldn't have even thought of except that they turned up on a Google search.

For things like planting times in your area I have the app from these people on my iPad but you can also access the same info from their website here... http://www.gardenate.com/

I found that I needed something like this as Mel's book wasn't too helpful for this kind of info as most things are talked about with reference to first/last frost dates. I don't know about you, but I don't have any frosts, so that didn't help me too much!

There are lots of options for making your grids but I bought those plastic coated tomato stakes, tied them together with wire and spray painted them white so they were nice and visible.

I'm still working on the best way to make a trellis, Mel's book talks about using metal electrical conduit but of course that isn't something we use here. You can get steel tube but it is a bit exxy. There are lots of other ideas on this site though, just use the site search feature on the left of the page and you will find heaps of ideas.

I have used Diggers www.diggers.com.au and also Eden Seeds www.edenseeds.com.au so far for my seeds as both companies have a focus on heirloom seeds and refuse to sell any GM seeds which is important to me. You might need to look for a WA based company though because I know there are a lot of seeds on those sites that can't be shipped to WA or Tas.

If you haven't already got Mel's book The All New Square Foot Gardening, I would recommend The Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ they have good prices, free shipping and they are pretty quick. I think I got mine through Fishpond because it was slightly cheaper but they were really slow.

That's all I can think of for now but if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them!

Thanks, for taking the time to reply to my query. Today I have started my first attempt at SFG, ran out of stuff for Mel's Mix. Bunnings is expensive. Just wondering if someone in WA would know where one can buy inexpensive, Vermiculite, Peat Moss & Blended Compost.

Geomon

As far as I know, I'm the only Aussie regularly posting on the forum. Have seen a few east coasters post but I'm not aware of any WA people posting at all so I don't think you're going to find much help with that one. I did just have a look at the vermiculite database on the forum but the only Aussie suppliers listed are Vic, NSW and Qld. Maybe once you have found a supplier you could enter them in the database for the next WA person to come along.

As I said before, your best option is to use google, I did a quick search for "vermiculite WA" and came up with quite a few entries but not knowing exactly where you are in WA I haven't linked them.

Re the compost, just be careful using only a blended compost, you won't get all the nutrients you need. I ended up using a mixture of blended compost, sheep manure, cow manure, chicken manure and mushroom compost. If I could have gotten more options I would have, one day I would like a worm farm so that I could have worm castings too but that hasn't happened yet.

Can't stress enough the importance of using a minimum of 5 types of compost, it really is essential or your garden will have problems, there are plenty of threads on this forum that attest to that!

If you haven't already read it, I would recommend finding the "how strong is your backbone?" Thread and having a read through that to get all the info on compost.

The research is painful when you just want to get on with it but it really will pay off!

Geomon wrote:Thanks, for taking the time to reply to my query. Today I have started my first attempt at SFG, ran out of stuff for Mel's Mix. Bunnings is expensive. Just wondering if someone in WA would know where one can buy inexpensive, Vermiculite, Peat Moss & Blended Compost.

Geomon

I'd check out builders merchants for the vermiculite it is used for back filling the void behind a fire box in a chimney or for a blown insulation / sound proofing betwen walls or floors as it is inert and does not burn .

It might also be used in places that make thermal insulation blocks, as it is often used with fine sand and cement to make super light high insulation blocks or when mixed with gypsum plaster it makes a thermal plaster that you slather on & smooth out to get good walls before putting on the final hard thin top coats.

Perhaps also look at the idea of using or even making your own composted coir / copra from coconut dehusking instead of peat . The chances are it will be cheaper for you to obtain than it is for us up on this side of the world where we don't /can't grow them .

plantoid wrote:

Geomon wrote:Thanks, for taking the time to reply to my query. Today I have started my first attempt at SFG, ran out of stuff for Mel's Mix. Bunnings is expensive. Just wondering if someone in WA would know where one can buy inexpensive, Vermiculite, Peat Moss & Blended Compost.

Geomon

I'd check out builders merchants for the vermiculite it is used for back filling the void behind a fire box in a chimney or for a blown insulation / sound proofing betwen walls or floors as it is inert and does not burn .

It might also be used in places that make thermal insulation blocks, as it is often used with fine sand and cement to make super light high insulation blocks or when mixed with gypsum plaster it makes a thermal plaster that you slather on & smooth out to get good walls before putting on the final hard thin top coats.

Perhaps also look at the idea of using or even making your own composted coir / copra from coconut dehusking instead of peat . The chances are it will be cheaper for you to obtain than it is for us up on this side of the world where we don't /can't grow them .

I think in ground swimming pool installers also use vermiculite. For what, I am not sure.

camprn wrote:

plantoid wrote:

Geomon wrote:Thanks, for taking the time to reply to my query. Today I have started my first attempt at SFG, ran out of stuff for Mel's Mix. Bunnings is expensive. Just wondering if someone in WA would know where one can buy inexpensive, Vermiculite, Peat Moss & Blended Compost.

Geomon

I'd check out builders merchants for the vermiculite it is used for back filling the void behind a fire box in a chimney or for a blown insulation / sound proofing betwen walls or floors as it is inert and does not burn .

It might also be used in places that make thermal insulation blocks, as it is often used with fine sand and cement to make super light high insulation blocks or when mixed with gypsum plaster it makes a thermal plaster that you slather on & smooth out to get good walls before putting on the final hard thin top coats.

Perhaps also look at the idea of using or even making your own composted coir / copra from coconut dehusking instead of peat . The chances are it will be cheaper for you to obtain than it is for us up on this side of the world where we don't /can't grow them .

I think in ground swimming pool installers also use vermiculite. For what, I am not sure.

I believe it is for insulation, to help keep that concrete from cracking when the ground freezes solid several feet down - may not be an issue in WA! Some of the old buildings in my area still have vermiculite insulation in the walls and ceilings - found when remodeling or demolition takes place!

GG