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kristimama

Mel's Mix, Al's Mix, is it a 'container' or a 'raised bed'

kristimama
15 years ago

Hi all,

I'm new here and getting really excited about the SFG approach for my 15'x15'-ish plot.

I've been hanging out a lot over on the "container" forums because I have potted citrus and blueberries... and I'm trying to make sense of the Mel's Mix. I realize he says to use it EXACTLY as he says, but I also realize he's writing for the beginner to get them started... and I figure that some of you who have been doing this for a while may have adapted things that work for you.

Have people tinkered with the mix? What were the results?

I'm not a big fan of peat, and so I'm wondering if composted redwood or fir bark might be a good substitute for the peat component?

I'm going to be planting them 12" deep, so I am also a little concerned about compaction. Can you substitute perlite for vermiculite to make the soil stay aerated?

Or have any of you just done a compost & perlite mix?

Thanks,

kristi

Comments (9)

  • arjo_reich
    15 years ago

    perlite and vermiculite are completely different products and accomplish completely different tasks.

    Vermiculite is a puffed mica that kind of looks like little accordians that can hold up to 200x it's weight in water. Perlite is a hard crystalline structure that has millions of divets on it to which pica-liter sized pockets of air and water can attach.

    As for the peat, I don't know, I'm not a fan of it either but for this purpose it works well...

  • timewind
    15 years ago

    Compaction is probably not the main worry about the vermiculite, especially in a light mix like Mel's Mix made "by the book." It will eventually "break down" into smaller particles, which is why Mel says to start with the coarsest grade you can find. Over all it will last a long time and make a major contribution to your soil quality. Not only will perlite not do the same task, but perlite will add its nasty texture to your soil, making it unpleasant to handle (which is a very un-SFG thing, as one of the fundamentals of SFG is that you work on your SFG and handle your soil some every day). Perlite will also float to the top of your bed, at which point it will either wash away or sit there not providing any benefit at all to the consistency of your soil.

    I have no idea about the bark, I would wonder if it is even more acidic than the peat, which wouldn't be a good thing. I don't have any especial love for peat either (although it is worth noting that it is being generated in Canada faster than it is being harvested, and is indeed a renewable resource) but it does seem to result in a soil mix, built by Mel's formula, that was excellent from the very start for growing vegetables and flowers.

    If I were to make any changes in future boxes I might cut down on or leave out the peat, but my soil formula would alway contain at least 1/3 vermiculite if possible, due to my experience in the pre-raised bed days of the first SFG book, where vermiculite was by far the best addition I made to my native soil, producing better results, that showed quickly and lasted longer, than any of the other stuff we added over the course of many years. In my raised SFG I plan to add a little vermiculite and a lot of fresh compost every year.

  • timewind
    15 years ago

    Missed the title question! I would only say it's a "container" if it is completely disconnected from the soil, separated from the soil by a solid material (concrete, solid plastic, etc.) or up on legs. Even with a landscape fabric bottom boxes that are on the local soil directly interact with it as far as moisture and drainage are concerned.

  • kristimama
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks folks!
    I'm probably going to have some of both the "on the ground" boxes (separated by weed barrier) and the above-ground boxes with plywood bottoms.

  • Ray Scheel
    15 years ago

    I would look more to coir or leaf mold than composted bark, but then I use more or less pure compost over my existing sandy soil in (generally) shallow beds.

  • bdobs
    15 years ago

    Hi Kristi
    I'm in the East bay also.
    This year, I made my mix different from what Mel says in his book.
    I did use a bit of Vermeculite and Peat, but the majority of my box i filled with "Gardner and Bloom Harvest supreme"
    . Its good stuff with all sorts of compost. I also added some chicken and steer manure, worm castings and Mushroom compost. .
    Mels says 1/3,1/3,1/3 as I'm sure you know.
    I went with
    10cft of the harvest Supreme, 1.5cft of the manure, 3/4 cft of the worm castings, 3/4 cft of the Mushroom compost, and probably only 2cft of the Vermeculite and Peat.
    In the end, I probab;y used 13qft of the comost mixes and 4 cft of the vermeculite and peets mix.

    My peppers and Tomatoes are doing wonderfull do far.
    Better tha last year in the true Mels Mix
    I bought the stuff at Navalets garden center
    There is one in Martinez and Pleasant Hill

  • kristimama
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks BDobs. I'll have to check out Navlets for their soil stuff. Can you imagine the heat we've been having this Spring?

    And thanks, Ray, too.

  • bdobs
    15 years ago

    Yea, the weather has been crazy.
    My tom's and peppers dont know what to do.
    89 degrees for a couple of days and they are in heaven, then it gets down to the low 60's, and they aren't so happy. Then hot again, then cool. LOL
    It seemed hot over the weekend, but it was only in the upper 80's, what are we going to do when it hits 108 in August :)

  • arjo_reich
    15 years ago

    I feel you're pain bdobs. Two days ago it was in around the 80(F) mark and tonight we're back to having frost and freeze advisories. Our "last frost date" of the season is supposed to be around April 05th of the year and here we are, a full 3+ weeks past that and getting zapped by another one. All of my direct-sown seedlings JUST++ (as in the last 48 hours) germinated for my veggie garden. :sigh:

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