Square Foot _ Raised Bed

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Comment by McPete on January 26, 2009 at 1:52am

Joy, thanks for your comprehensive answer, I have and use worm castings, have access to composted cow manure (young cows, no rbgh, steroids, etc...) that has been composted for months, and I will check on our local soil mix for the 5-5-5 numbers, NPK. Also, I appreciate the tips about PH for different plants.

Dead Weed, thanks for the warning on heavy vertical plants, I'll keep some steaks at the ready

Comment by Joy Williams on January 26, 2009 at 12:53am

Pema, with tomatoes, the deeper you can plant them, the better. They will grow a healthier root system with more "stem" in the ground. I suggest a 2 foot deep hole OR make a trench and plant the tomato along it's stem so that most of the stem is in the ground with only the very top leaves sticking out. Cut off any leaves that are not going to be above the soil.

this is the best way to plant a tomato plant.

I know, it's deeper than SFG, but if you really want terrific tomato plants, SFG is best left to other plants.

Comment by Joy Williams on January 26, 2009 at 12:41am

McPete: well it depends on what you are planting to a degree, winter vegetables need a lower PH than others, but all plants benefit from an all purpose fertilizer with the three numbers as close together as you can find, like 5-5-5 or 4-6-4, and that's the levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium reflectively. A very good product, if you can find it is "Sustane" and that's not a typo. All plants benefit from worm castings, and if you can find a good organic soil and some fluffy aged horse manure, and if you are really lucky, some alpaca manure (come on to my house, I can provide you some!), this provides a great soil mix. Of course the most IMPORTANT thing in your soil is good compost, so it's important to compost your veggies and plant material -- oh you can throw fish heads in that too.

Here is a website that has really good advice for the soil in terms of growing tomatoes, but remember, different plants have different needs. Plants like Blueberries require more acidic soil, cabbages more alkaline. So it really depends on what you want to plant.

Save your eggshells, which are really good to put three or four under a plant you are going to plant, use fish emulsion, or even better get fish parts that aren't going to be eaten, try and find organic fertilizers, and learn what kind of soil your plants like.

One of the best things you can put in the hole of every plant you plant is worm casings. You can buy this, but it usually costs around $20 a lb, but you can also raise your own worms and make it yourself, though it may take a while. This stuff is fantastic for microbes that create a healthy root system, and when mixed with water makes an excellent foliant spray, that will work on EVERY kind of plant. Worm composting or vermiculture also uses your kitchen scraps, the worms like to dine on the bacteria that creates the rotting of the vegetables, and is a good addition to a home composting regime. If you aren't familiar with home composting that same site I posted above has a good page on it.

Hope this helps some!

Comment by Dead Weed on January 26, 2009 at 12:32am

I'm using SFG mix in 12''. Why wouldn't it work deeper?
The thing is that it's so friable and loose that anything you plant in it that grows heavy as it goes up will not have much root support. I've had to stake my brussel sprouts, but not my corn.

Comment by McPete on January 26, 2009 at 12:27am

I saw Ann G's comment below about the 18" bed and am wondering if the Bartholomew 1/3 ratio is good for beds of any depth?

Comment by McPete on January 26, 2009 at 12:21am

Hi all, McPete here, does any one have suggestions for a specific healthy, yet affordable, soil mix for a 23 inch raised bed that will provide good drainage, nutrients, etc...?

Comment by Joy Williams on January 24, 2009 at 6:11am

HI, I've done bio-intensive square foot type gardening for years, hop I can add to the discussion!

Comment by Dead Weed on January 17, 2009 at 11:56pm

Awesome. We had some frost that killed off my tomatoes. Had that not happened I might have had two crops from them.
I'll start them again soon.
I'm still learning that grabbing a pouch of seeds because the picture looks like what I want is not as good as research.

Comment by Pema on January 17, 2009 at 8:14pm

Hi DW. I have grown carrots of the 'Nantes Half Long' variety and the mini "Little Finger" variety with good success in 6-8" soil depth. They are very sweet and little to no core. My new bed is 12" boards so I think I'll be OK with most of what I want to grow. In my 12" high tomato bed I filled it to the top and the soil settled to about 9". Tomatoes doing well.

Comment by Dead Weed on January 17, 2009 at 1:55pm

Go deeper than the book says to on SFG. Carrots grow stunted and there is no room for additional compost. I've gone with 10'' boards and wish I had gone deeper.
I added screws every 12'' inches, about 1'' below the top of my bed, on the inside, and ran string across the raised bed. My grid is easily removed and plants grow on, over and around it. It's cheaper than anything else.

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