Category Archives: Composting

Why use the square foot gardening soil?

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composting with leavescomposted and amended squareI’ve always commented on the importance of soil. It can make or break you. Your soil will be the most determining factor in having a successful gardening year or not. And all your friendly neighborhood gardeners? They complain bitterly throughout the year because nothing seems to grow very well back there. They keep doing the same things year after year and expect different results. I won’t tell you what the definition of that is!

But it doesn’t have to be that way! There is so much good information out there about soil. It’s not hard to learn about what it takes to have great soil Every year I see neighbors tilling their leaves into the garden during fall. Then they rototill again in spring when it’s usually still too wet and cold. They might add horse manure at this time. All this is very good except for the fact that there isn’t enough material in their amendments to substantially change the composition of their growing medium. Ten bags of steer manure covered over a plot of land that’s 30X40 feet doesn’t do much at all.

There’s no question that if you wanted to work hard at improving your soil you can get it. But it’s a lot of hard work. And knowledge. This is where your county extension folks come in. They really know their stuff! And after several years you might have that dream soil by following their direction.

My point is you can have perfect soil right away. Just three ingredients gives you that loamy, loose, and friable soil in about 15 minutes. No need to wait years to have that perfect soil. Coarse vermiculite, peat moss, and a good blended compost in equal portions(by volume not weight)are all you’ll need. And you can have that tomorrow without becoming a master gardener! No need to learn about acidity, soil composition, pH, etc. Just combine these ingredients and you’ll see just how easy it is to have that perfect soil without all the time, knowledge, and costs associated with things like limestone, ground powders, bone and blood meal, special fertilizer blends etc. Though it’s always a plus to have this extra knowledge, it’s not needed to have a great garden right now. I’ve been a square foot gardener for 15 years now and I’ve never had any soil issues. Ever. At this point my soil is 100% compost because those 3 ingredients mentioned earlier are long gone after this amount of time.

As you look around the internet at composting methods, you’ll learn about all sorts of ratio’s and formulas. While much of that is probably pretty good, why make it difficult? Coming to one of my square foot gardening workshops will prepare and teach you the simplicity of making great compost. And you’ll never be able to buy compost as good as you can make it. Not even close. So if you’re a northern Utah gardener looking for a better way to garden, think about attending my SFG workshop on April 11th. A quick email is all that’s needed to register. You’ll also learn the trick in the pictures above and what I’m doing. Good stuff Maynard[ois skin=”1″]

Square Foot Gardening-2nd class

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amended square of soilI will be having my second square foot gardening class on April 11th beginning promptly at 11:00 AM and ending at 1:00 PM. This class is conducted as a workshop. We will be doing all the basic things needed to have a successful SFG, along with the advanced techniques as well. Space is limited so if you’re interested in attending, please contact me by email at: jrt2020_2@msn.com. Price for the class is $25 per person.

In addition to the previous information, we will be spending time on how to protect your gardens in spring, summer and fall, vertical gardening, making great compost, and getting the most efficiency as possible out of your gardens. Please bring a pair of gloves.

At the time of this class you’ll see a square foot garden in full bloom. Normally at this time of year your friendly neighborhood gardeners are getting out their rototillers and working soil that is partly frozen and still wet. Come on out to see how easy it is to grow delicious, healthy food. The goal of attending this class is to leave not having to ask anybody else about how to do something in the SFG system because you’re now the newest expert in the neighborhood. There will be a small line of specialty lettuce seeds available for the summer months at $4 per pack. These varieties can’t be bought anywhere in the state of Utah and I promise you’ll be amazed at not only their taste, but also their appearance.

As the spring season comes roaring in, be sure to sign up for my free seasonal newsletter. I won’t over do it-you’ll only get 4 newsletters per year but I discuss many questions that people have and why we do things a certain way that might not make sense. For instance, look at the square in the picture of this post. Notice the deep, dark square of newly amended soil that’s ready to plant. Anything will grow in this mix. You’ll learn how easy it is to make it. After all, if you don’t get the soil right, nothing else really matters[ois skin=”1″]

4 Season gardening at it’s best

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corn salad or mache in the four season garden

compost, 4 season gardening

Things doing well in my winter garden right now.  If you’ve never tried to have a 4 season garden you should reconsider-especially you northern climate gardeners.  It’s one of the most enjoyable times of all.  You end up harvesting crops that you can’t grow in the summer months because it’s too warm for them.  It forces you to eat seasonally.  This is mache, or corn salad depending on where you’re from.  The winter garden-no work.  I’ve begun harvesting this square which will last for a week.  I’ll snip some of this, and maybe some radicchio, and a little tatsoi for a delicious salad.  To increase your chances for success for the winter garden it’s important get the soil right by amending with quality compost and the right crop selection to match the season.[ois skin=”1″]

Composting

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compost ingredients 2014Making your own compost is a very easy thing to do-much like everything else in the square foot garden.  You can make it complicated by using formulas, ratio’s, etc, but it all really boils down to just doing a few things correctly .  Gathering the right kind of material is the first step.  The greater variety of ingredients, the greater the finished product will be.  Looking at this container shows a small sampling of how easy it is to gather compost material from your kitchen.  Here’s what I see: grapes, leeks, banana peels, eggs, tomato tops, apple core, zucchini, and an egg carton.  You can bet there’s more under what we do see, but that’s 8 different things, one of which is counted as a “brown” ingredient-the egg carton.  The way I do it is to simply balance the amount of greens with browns.  Seeing this is mostly green ingredients, I’ll dump this in the compost bin, and then I’ll fill the green container with nothing but brown items-something like shredded paper.  That way you’re assured of a good balance of nitrogen(green)and carbon(brown.)  Then it’s a matter of taking care of the pile-keeping it moist and turning it as often as you can.  The more  frequently you turn it, the faster you’ll get it.  I’ve done it this way now for 15 years and I’ve never had a problem.  I’ve never spent a dime on fertilizer and everything grows in my garden.  If you don’t get the soil right nothing else will really matter.

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