One of the participants in our SFG workshop today asked about putting together a SFG garden box that will be placed on cement. We talked about how to put plywood on the bottom of the box and then to screw(not nail)it down. Then fill it with soil,add a grid and start planting. “What about earthworms? How will I get earthworms in my box if it’s got a bottom and its on cement?” It’s a good question. Regardless of folks claiming that yard worms are different than garden worms, or that red worms are different that brown worms, the thing to look at is this: what’s the purpose of earthworms? Easy-they do two things that are important. First, they aerate the soil. Second, they leave behind their castings which act as a fertilizer. When this new box is built, there will certainly be no earthworms in the soil. However, the benefits of earthworms are already met with Mel’s mix. We already have a light and very fluffy soil(takes care of issue one), and we have 33% or organic growing medium(takes care of issue two.) Earthworms aren’t a necessary part of a SFG because of these two points. But, as you add your own homemade compost when amending soil throughout the year, you’ll end up with earthworms in your Mel’s mix anyway. It will just take some time. This is an example of how simple and easy the SFG system is. You don’t need to know the first thing about gardening to make it work. No need to make thing complex, after all, it’s soil, a seed, water, and sun. Build a box, fill it with soil, add a grid, start planting. Spacing is 1, 4, 9, 16. Rotation is any combination of fruit/root/leaf crops. How simple can it get? Anybody can do it when it’s this easy. Picture is megaton leeks and black seeded simpson lettuce. All looking good and getting close to harvest….yum, yum.
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I’ve been able to plant 5 or 6 squares of poc choi this spring. It’s too many-I probably only needed 3. Being planted at 4 per square foot, I’m not sure what I’ll do with 24 of them. About the only saving grace is they won’t come up all at the same time. You can see that there’s more than 4 in this picture. I was able to carefully lift out the extra plants and place them in other squares. I should have done it right from the beginning and only planted 1 or 2 seeds in each hole instead of what I ended up doing. This particular variety is a favorite of ours-Joy Choi. It’s a little more slender than the early variety I’ve grown before but just as delicious. These stir-fry’s with poc choi in them are just the best. My first spring harvest deliver season starts in less than 2 weeks. It looks pretty close to being ready.
