Planting Schedule

peas	carrots (12/16) Mar. 25	parsnips (1 long row of 8) Mar. 25	peas/peppers Mar. 17
peas/peppers Mar. 10	green beans	parsnips (1 long row of 8) carrots Apr. 25	green beans
strawberries Mar. 8	lettuce Mar. 10 Mar. 25 Apr. 6	peas Mar. 19	green beans
peas Mar. 8	strawberries Mar 8	green beans	peas/peppers Mar. 19

Mel's Mix

I finally got all the pieces together to mix up my 'magic' Mel's Mix soil. It was way more work than I wanted. He has an ingenious way to mix the three ingredients (vermiculite, peat moss, and compost)—with a tarp: dump all the stuff and then move the tarp to roll it all together.

Well, my tarp turned out to be too small. And, it is definitely a two adult persons job. I ended up using Ian's little plastic shovels (so as not to tear the tarp) to stir things together.

After I lugged the stuff up to the garden spot, I was disappointed to find that I only have enough for just over two boxes. I think that I must not have gotten enough compost. I went to the city and filled up two garbage bags.

To save the day, Ryan was enthusiastically impressed with the soil. Hopefully the cats won't invade the one box that I left uncovered tonight and we'll actually get seeds in the ground tomorrow.

Strawberry Shock

While I was out and about looking for vermiculite and compost on Saturday, I was also half-heartedly looking for strawberries. I didn't find any. I am almost unable to believe this, as my research shows this is the time to plant them. I saw starts of tomatoes, but no strawberries.

Compost and other soil matters

So, who knew that compost would be the Mel's Mix component that I would have the most difficult time obtaining. I am still very pleased with my pile, but I tried to "screen" it on Saturday to determine how much more I'd need to buy and there was only a negligible bit that would pass through the screen I was using. Possibly I need a screen with bigger holes, but still I'm going to need to add some. I had not given it much thought as I assumed that I could just pick some up wherever I found the vermiculite or at the least from Lowes. But, the nursery that stocked vermiculite, had very expensive compost. I did get a good tip from a friend about getting compost from the city. It is cheap ($3 for any size load) and relatively close. But it doesn't come in bags and from the website I think that the operation favors truck loads—of course, it would since that's how most people will want it.

I am pleased with having locate vermiculite, it's not very common around here. When I talked to mom, she said that is because Mel is a Westerner. And the peat moss was easy as they stock it at Lowes.

I had hoped to go get the compost from the city today, but didn't make it. I'm not sure when I'll be able to do it. There is supposed to be some very nasty stormy weather moving in. I would kind of like to have it before then, so that the rain can wet it for me, but it might just blow away before the rain comes.

Compost

There is a worm in my compost pile. Yipee! (I understand that means that I have a good pile.)

Multi-Vegetable Square

peas/peppers	parsnips	carrots	lettuce
peas/peppers	carrots	peas	strawberries
peas	green beans	green beans	strawberries
peas	green beans	green beans	peas/peppers

Boxes

Last week Ian helped me to paint the boards for one of our garden boxes. He loves to paint, especially when his dad is working on painting project around the house. (Ryan has been painting the shutters.) I expected Ian to be sloppy and messy. But he wasn't. I gave him a paint brush and a little bit of paint in a cup and he very carefully spread the paint over the board. He spread it fairly smoothly, very little unevenness. He spread the paint over the whole board. He didn't leave any board showing and only dripped a little paint down the side. He is constantly surprising me about what he is able to do.

Ryan helped me put the boxes together and now I have 3 4'x4' boxes waiting to be filled and planted. If I figure right then we need about 48 square feet of "soil" mix. I'm pretty sure I haven't figured right. But I'm hoping that the growing medium won't break the bank. I finally found some peat moss at Lowes $10 for 4 cubic feet. I'm still looking for some vermiculite.