Tag Archives: soil

Almost There…

The beds are almost ready for planting! This weekend I finished buying and mixing the soil, the composition of which is based on the mix in Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. I wandered around town the last month or so looking for vermiculite, peat moss, and compost. The difficult part was finding compost from different sources as the big home improvement stores only seem to carry the types based on manure. I ended up using cotton burr, humus and manure, grass, and mushroom based compost found mostly at smaller garden and grocery stores. I might actually plant something this week!

Soil - Early Mix

Adding the different materials for the soil mix.

Soil - Final Mix

The final mix of vermiculite, peat, and compost.

Almost Here

The schedule says I should be planting the broccoli, spinach, and peas this weekend. I think the weather might say something else. This week, I have been cutting, bending, and placing the conduit for holding the trellis netting and deer net. More on that tomorrow.

 I have also been adjusting the plant locations under the grow light to keep each set in the optimum location. I start the seeds in the kitchen using a warming mat, and move them to the basement under a grow light once they germinate. The grow light is a basic shop light with one “warm” and one “cool” bulb. Underneath, I have a few trays sitting on various boxes and tubs, which I use to adjust the height to keep each plant within about two inches from the bulbs. I am planning on mixing the soil tomorrow so I can plant on Sunday, but we will see what happens.

Grow Light

The light for growing the seedlings