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Mon, Feb 28, 11 at 17:13
| I've never done a raised bed (or square foot gardening either). Is Mel Bartholomews book, All New Square Foot Gardening an improvement over his older Square Foot Gardening?
Is this new Square Foot Gardening book one that I should buy? Thank you. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I love the new Square Foot Gardening book. If you're planning to try a square foot garden you'll definitely want it. I'm constantly referring back to mine. Good Luck! |
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| Lots of goo info for you to use. Good tips for planning and starting out. Yep, get it. Stan |
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| His new book pretty much makes the original obsolete. You should be able to find it at the library if you want to look through it first. I have been a Square Foot Gardener for over 20 years but I refer to the new book often so I took it to a print shop and had a spiral binding put on it. You may want to check the Square Foot Garden Foundation website http://www.squarefootgardening.org and see if there is a teacher in your area so you could attend a class or at least have someone nearby to answer questions. |
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- Posted by gardener_mary 6 MA (My Page) on Sun, Mar 6, 11 at 21:15
| Others may not agree with me, but I like the original book much better than the new. I don't use Mel's mix and I'm not looking for instant gardening. I bought a copy of the original book close to 20 yrs ago, and still use it as a refernce. I got a copy of the new book from the library years back, but I didn't find it useful to me. If you can borrow a copy from your local library take a look at it and decide if it's useful to you. Thats one of the great things about gardening, there are so many ways to adjust it to your needs. Good gardening, Mary |
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- Posted by ribsyhuggins none (My Page) on Mon, Mar 7, 11 at 13:56
| mary well did you use Mel's original mix as listed in the original book. |
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- Posted by gardener_mary 6 MA (My Page) on Mon, Mar 28, 11 at 21:11
| I amend my garden soil with as much organic matter as I can, I add some peat and vermiculite but no where close to 1/3 of the mix. I also add lime and fertilizer (from the recipe in the book). My gardens are not all raised beds. I follow most of the principles from the original book. I have fairly small (18 x 22 ft) fenced in garden space. I use most of the sq ft spacing but I don't put down any markers. I don't walk or lean on the soil, I mulch, I compost (and never have as much as I would like). I companion plant, interplant, succession plant and try to rotate crops. I grow tomatoes using the trench method, 1 sq ft spacing, pruned to 1 main stem and trained up a string. I also use some intensive plant spacing, do some container gardening and have built a layered (lasagna) bed. I read lots of garden books and use lots of bits and pieces as needed. Good gardening, Mary |
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| I've got the new one and it's fine, though half the book is trying to convince me to do what I already WANT to do. That said, I've heard most old-time gardeners say the new book is trash compared to the old book. I may just have to pick it up to read it, hehe. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's Garden Adventure
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