Mel's Mix questions

charkay1 2/28/2014, 12:38 pm

I have two questions:
1. I need 14 cu ft of peat moss & 14cu ft of vermiculite. I have 18 cu ft of peat moss and 12 cu ft of vermiculite. Do I need to buy another bag of vermiculite or is it close enough to substitute peat moss for the extra 2 cu ft?
2. It says that when I replant in my boxes that I should just add some compost to fill the box back up. Is that compost or mel's mix?

Thanks everybody

H_TX_2 2/28/2014, 12:46 pm

1)Is that 18 cu ft of peat that you have still in the bag or has it expanded to 18cu ft? Count on the volume listed on the bag to almost double after you open the bag and expand the peat. If I was trying to reach 14 cu ft of each ingredient and came up a 2 cu ft short on vermiculite I would add 2 extra cu ft of compost not peat. You would end up with 12 cu ft of vermiculite, 14 cu ft peat and 16 cu ft of compost. Don't short on the compost but being a bit short on the other two will not make such a big difference.

2)When you replant you only add compost not the other 2 ingredients. The compost breaks down, the nutrients get used and washed away so it needs to be replenished. The other two ingredients stay in the garden for years so they don't need to be replenished.

**sanderson** 2/28/2014, 1:13 pm

+1

If the peat moss is compressed in a squarish bag, then it will roughly double when you break it apart and fluff it. You may be taking back some of the bags for a refund!

Goosegirl 3/1/2014, 9:13 pm

sanderson wrote:+1

If the peat moss is compressed in a squarish bag, then it will roughly double when you break it apart and fluff it. You may be taking back some of the bags for a refund!

+1 more!

Or if you have more space for later, you can save the extra peat for more beds or boxes for the future. Once started on SFG, it is addicting and there always seems to be room for 'just one more box'!

GG

**jimmy cee** 3/3/2014, 8:33 am

Goosegirl wrote:
Or if you have more space for later, you can save the extra peat for more beds or boxes for the future. Once started on SFG, it is addicting and there always seems to be room for 'just one more box'!
GG

Truer words were never said..
Not only Addicting it's taken over my mind...

However that's not a difficult accomplishment.. Razz

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