Whooooohoooo! First box filled with Mel's Mix today!

Whooooohooo! The good news is I got my first box actually filled with Mel's Mix today! I've still got to make the grid for the top of it, but I'm actually making progress here! Love the feel of the Mel's Mix - wanted to squish my toes in it & lie down and roll around in it & ... sorry, got carried away there!

The not-so-good news is that I miscalculated and will have to go the 20+ miles away to get another bag of vermiculite for the second box! Well, I'll probably just try to sweet talk the hubs into going to get it for me since he's off tomorrow and I have to work. No worries, though, I'm just glad I found that elusive ole vermiculite (thanks again to the Vermiculite database here in the forum!).

Mixing the mix was quite a workout and reminded us that we're not as young as we used to be. Hopefully, I'll be able to actually get something planted this weekend - supposed to rain Monday! I'm so excited at the prospect of seeing some actual greenery in the box!

Great job!

My husband and I mixed 3 boxes today too! I am tired. We are just too stupid to mix one box at a time. Can't figure out the math so we get a good workout. Last time we didn't do such a great job mixing in the peat. This time we did much, much better. Now, I got to figure out what to put in them. I got some tomatoes: Brandywine, German Johnson and Amish paste at the farmers market along with some peppers. I am still hardening them off. They should be ready to go in soon! I can already taste them.

Heidi

Sherry Owens wrote:
Mixing the mix was quite a workout and reminded us that we're not as young as we used to be. Hopefully, I'll be able to actually get something planted this weekend - supposed to rain Monday! I'm so excited at the prospect of seeing some actual greenery in the box!

Can you please tell us what method you used to mix the ingredients?

Hi Buttaflie, we aren't too far apart. I live in Angier.

We used the tarp method. Do you have the SFG book? For 3 boxes I don't recommend it--it's back breaking but that's how we roll here .

FYI: Logan's Trading in downtown Raleigh is having a Square Foot Gardening workshop/seminar (I don't know which) tomorrow morning (Sat.) at 9. If you haven't been there it is a really nice place. They are very supportive of Mel's method. Logan's is tucked in next to Peace College.

Heidi

Hi buttaflie143,

I, too, used the tarp method - or at least my husband & one of my sons did. It's described in Mel's All New Square Foot Gardening book. You just dump all of your compost ingredients (Mel recommends 5 different kinds of bagged compost, if that's what you're using) onto a large tarp, mix them up a bit as you go, then add the peat moss, mixing it into the compost mix a bit, then add the vermiculite & mix a bit. Then two people grab opposite corners of the tarp & pull the tarp over the top of the mixture, kind of rolling it like it was in a cement mixer as you pull. It worked great and gets mixed beautifully.

If you haven't seen Mel's book, maybe your local library has a copy - it's absolutely worth checking out!

Wow!!! Yes, I have the book. I got it this past Saturday at a square foot gardening workshop at Atlantic Avenue Orchid and Garden. I went to Logan's for the very first time yesterday and purchased 8 bags of a "comparable" square foot garden blend. (Atlantic sold out of what they had in stock.) I chatted with Jim briefly. He was very nice and very knowledgeable. He also suggested I speak to Karen. I think he said she has worked there for something like 16 years. Anywho, I was very impressed with the size of Logan's, but aside from Jim and the young man at the loading dock, the staff was neither extremely friendly or helpful , two things I consistently get from everyone at Atlantic. Putting that aside, I had already planned to attend their square foot gardening class tomorrow. You can never have too much knowledge about a subject. Also, I am completely bummed that neither location carries MM.

Woo- Hoo! Me too! Just got done putting mix in 3 boxes today...Southwest Missouri had a hard freeze this week and it was humid and high 80's today. Whew! What a work out...... yep, WE done good!!

Congratulations! (Does the dance) "Woo hoo! It's your birthday! Uh huh, you go now!

I have to agree the new mix is very different from the old and feels really nice between the toes. Unfortunately the toe don't mix it up as well as one might imagine.

Buttaflie wrote: I went to Logan's for the very first time yesterday and purchased 8 bags of a "comparable" square foot garden blend

edit - I understand that Middlemama is checking this out for you. sorry if my post is causing confusion
So what is a "comparable" SFG Blend? I am really curious as to the ingredients. Unfortunately, in our area, we do not have access to pre-mixed Mel's Mix. It is available about 200 miles South in parts of California.

Since Mel's Mix is one of the most important parts of SFG, and absolutely necessary (IMHO) to healthy, well fed plants, I just wonder how this product is prepared. Does it have the ingredients in the proper proportion? 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss and the remaining 1/3 a blend of at least five sources of compost? Did it actually say SFG on the package?

I do wish that type of product was available here, I about wore myself out blending the MM in a tarp.

edit - I understand that Middlemama is checking this out for you. sorry if my post is causing confusion