New SFG gardener in Auckland

Hi,
After 15 years abroad, my wife and I have finally returned to our home in Albany, on Auckland's North Shore.  Our property is on a steeply sloping section which runs down to a stream, with lush forest-type vegetation on the far bank.  The only spot on the property which receives full sun all day is (unfortunately) at the bottom of the section close to the stream - which isn't ideal since it is quite far from the kitchen.  But it is what it is.

My plan is to by a single IBC (Intermediate Bulk Container), chop it in half, and have two 1200 x 1000 x 600 wicking beds.  I plan to go the SFG route, so I've been pricing the ingredients for Mel's Mix - and whoo boy - it isn't cheap.  Altogether, including the IBC's, scoria, pipe and Mel's Mix itself, it is just a little north of $1000 for both beds.  That's a lot of small change.  If there any any Kiwi gardeners here who could offer suggestions, sources, etc, I'd be very grateful.

Regards,
Duncan

Duncan, Welcome to the Forum. Kiwi is a member and was successful sourcing the ingredients. She has the traditional 4'x4' bed on the ground and is adding another bed this year. It will be a wicking table top bed. I hope she will see your post. https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t23772p200-kiwi-s-sfg-adventure#310540

No matter how deep a bed is, only 6-7" of the Mel's Mix is needed. The SFG Foundation recommends a lower fill of washed sand or well-draining top soil. The inert fill provides a foundation for the MM that will not break down and shrink. Everything the plants need is right there in those few inches.
Each time you plant a new crop, you only need to mix in enough blended compost to bring the 6-7" MM back up the original height.

I've been finding local sources for my MM, and have found a few very local suppliers at better rates, so that's good.  I have two issues at the moment:  first, we need to travel back to South Africa to spent what might prove to be the last visit with my 95 year old mum who is now exceedingly frail.  We have booked a 3-month stay, just in case.  This means, of course, that garden activity is on hold (but not the planning, of course).  The second issue is that having just relocated from Australia to NZ, we have not yet managed to buy a car - so no transporting of ingredients can take place till we do buy a car next year when we return.

All so frustrating...

But I'll be continuing to plan, and to follow posts of the forum, which is SUCH a great resource.

 From Ohio, Duncan! Time for planning is good.  Agree with sanderson, I do hope Kiwi sees you are on here!

Thanks for the welcome.  I received my mini chainsaw from Amazon yesterday, and tackled some of the trees at the bottom of the garden.  It cuts through four-inch trunks like the proverbial hot knife through butter.  Simply amazing.  I need to clear four or five sizable trees, because they cast large shadows on the only 100% sun area of the section.  Removing them will more than double the effective full sun area.

So lots to do before I leave for South Aftica in 5 week's time.

Oh, and I also bought a Ryobi garden shredder.  It eats freshly cut trees for breakfast...  LOTS of stuff the the four rotating compost bins I'm planning to build.

---

Question:
Are these shredded bits OK for the compost bin?  Or do I need to seive out the larger chunks first?

Hi,
The arborists moved in today to remove the 5-metre wall of trees which was supposed to be a hedge.  After 15 years abroad, and no-one bothering to keep it trimmed, the monstrosity had to go.

I got them to leave the two outer trees (cut off at 2m heigh) so that I could use them to anchor the wires for the espelier fruit trees (going in next season).  The ground is a chaotic mass of closely knit together Jasmine vines, which are going to need cutting up and pulling.



The mountain of chips left behind, with a couple of close-ups.
Question:  how do I get the most use from these chips?  Are they OK as-is, or do I need to leave them like that for a year or two?  Can I systematically add them to my tumbler compost bins?

This is my first bag of spent coffee grounds picked up from my local barista this morning.  This is the first of a never-ending supply.

Question 1:
Can one have too much of this good thing?

Question 2:
Coffee is a "green", no?  What about the pile of woodchips/leaves?  Green or brown?

I go to pick up 10 bags of compost/manure (mainly sheep & chickens) which I can get for $10/bag.  I'm assuming I can just mix this into the compost tumblers?

Hi,
Aerating a cubic metre compost bin is a daunting task, and looking at the mountain of wood chips left behind by the arborists, I'm thinking I might build three compost bins out of free pallets, and fill them up with the pile.  But aerating the pile every week or so is probably more physically demanding that I can manage.  So I was thinking of getting a cordless auger, like this one.


Would plunging a 150mm auger repeatedly into the compost mix/aerate it sufficiently?

Hi,
My plan is all about compost at the moment.  So coffee grounds and manure are both going to be layered into the compost bins.  I don't even have a raised bed yet - that will come next year.  The plan is to end up with three compost bins (built from four pallets each with a hinged front door), and three tumblers.  I understand the bins themselves (containing the wood chips and a bit of layered manure/coffee grounds) will take longer.  I plan to use them in the '26 growing season.  I will also have three tumblers for the '25 growing season.  These will be filled with grass clippings, coffee, manure and whatever else I can find.

I have watered down the chip mountain with a robust manure tea mixture.  That aught to give it plenty of moisture as well as a good start on composting.  I think I need now to cover the mound with a tarpaulin.

I merged your 2 threads so you can have a personal thread about your SFG journey.

Hi,
After many days of online research, I have finally got myself a comprehensive list of everything I need to start two wicking SFG.  I will get one Intermediate Bulk Container, chop it in half and use each half as a wicking SFG.  I'll be placing perforated pipe in the bottom, and covering that with scoria.  Then MM for the rest.  It works out quite expensive, but if it lasts me (with some annual (free) compost 10 years or so, that's only about $100/year.

Hi Duncan,

My goodness you have been busy!  I thought I'd just check in on your thread and found all of the above.  I'm sorry to hear your mother is not doing well; I hope your visit goes as well as can be expected.

Just to add support to what sanderson said a few weeks ago about not needing to fill your IBCs with MM.  (although I'm not sure what they measure depth-wise, so I can't tell from looking at your figures whether perhaps you've already taken this into account)

MM is jolly hard stuff to make.  I know it doesn't seem that way in the books, and I guess Mel wants everyone to be very enthusiastic about SFG (and there's no way I regret going SFG).  But really, don't make more of it than you have to.  To fill my beds (which are depth 280mm and MM all the way down) I made a batch of about 60 litres every day for 8 days and my back really did not thank me!  I got through that week by sheer determination -- I had plants which were getting crazy big and needed to go into the bed!

If your maths works out that 6-7" on top of the scoria does not fill the beds, then do yourself (and your wallet) a favour and put something between the scoria and the MM top layer.  If you want to grow e.g. carrots you can always do top-hats -- search here, I remember being pointed in that direction when I was planning my bed.

Also bear in mind that MM will not last 10 years.  As well as replenishing with compost, which I know you'll have for free, from about year 6 or 7 you'll need to start adding peat and vermiculite, as they both break down.  The advice I got here last summer was that basically, once you notice the texture of the bed has changed a fair bit you add peat one year and vermiculite the next -- so it's not a huge deal.  But you can't expect that your initial $1,000 is going to last you for 10 years.

Good luck! -- and go well