How does he substantiate the claim of "no weeding?" I garden in about 1500 sq. feet including about 800 square feet of heavily mulched biointensivly planted raised beds. I still get some weeds poking through the heavy mulch.

It would seem that any soil that can support your vegetables will support weeds. Mulching seems to be the solution.

Wayne in the Adks.

I'm sorry you took me so literally, I've personally not gardened this way before, I'm just passing on info that's found on his website.

Maybe if you email them you'd get a better answer.

Sorry :)

Oh, I thought you were trying this method only to save weeding. A load of spoiled hay or wood chips would be a lot cheaper if weeds were the only concern.

I take most of what's in his books and website with a large grain of salt.

Wayne

Ditto, forget the no weeding nonsense. Weeds grow anywhere other plants do and often where no other plant will.

If you want to follow Mel's book do so for reasons other than no weeding as no weeding is a myth. Yes, intensive gardening reduces weeds, but it doesn't eliminate them and Mel's special mix doesn't affect weed numbers nor do raised beds. The only way the method affects weeds is that close plant spacing leaves less room for them.

Close plant spacing plus mulch is your best bet regardless of what you call it.

BTW, skip the vermiculite in your raised beds, the stuff is pointless (stand by for posts disagreeing with me).

Mel's mix works, but frequent complaints are that it dries out very quickly. For raised beds you will do just as well with yard dirt and compost so save your money on the soil mix is my advice. Spend it on mulch.

The only money I spent on my very first beds was for a box of screws. I salvaged some lumber from what had been a sandbox, half filled it with plain old dirt and sod chunks that I had piled up from another project and then filled them to overflowing with leaves and half-finished compost. After sitting for the winter I had pretty decent soil. I expect it to just keep improving.

I wouldn't mess with the vermiculite or even the peatmoss. Just throw in whatever organic stuff you have and it will rot down nicely. If you do buy anything I would go for some bagged compost or maybe some topsoil if you can find some good stuff and you need the bulk in your beds.

I didn't use vermiculite. Experimented with some perlite, but that was pretty useless. My garden turned out well. I used a 50/50 blend from a topsoil company (peat/topsoil) ammended with composted manure and organic fertilizer.

First of all, I hope you and your loved ones have survived Katrina and are doing OK. I returned from Biloxi in May and have many fond memories of the area including New Orleans. The Gulf Coast has come so far since Camille, I am certain it will thrive once again.

Hopefully you won't be shy about posting ANY needs you have here. I am sure people are willing to help. My thoughts and prayers are with ALL who have been affected.

I placed my frames on top of the area where I had my row garden then amended with leaves (which I routinely do) followed by compost, and composted manure. Having the beds made it easier for me to focus the amendments. If you can - do a soil test of each bed so you will have a record of where your soil is and what it needs.

Weeding is reduced because the close planting scheme deprives 'many' of the weeds needed sunlight. If mulch is used weeds are reduced even more. The weeds that do emerge are easily removed. While the beds are NOT weed free, they are easily maintained. I also used leaves to help reduce the weeds in the walkways. I am certain the use of buckets for watering deprived many of the weeds of needed water. No water + No sunlight= NO WEEDS.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/sqfoot/msg021424301277.html

I am a believer in using what you already have on hand. Get creative.

Starting with a few blocks is likely the best idea.

Wishing you the very best.

Here is a link that might be useful: More here: Borders for Bed Gardening

Hi Tiffani,

One advantage of the square foot approach that hasn't been mentioned is the grids make it really easy to keep track of where you've weeded / fertilized / whatever and there's a certain sense of achievement / fulfillment when you finish weeding a square, even if it does only take you 30 seconds a week (or 5 to 10 minutes for a 4 foot by four foot bed).

Good luck with your garden.

SH

I've been using the square foot gardening method for three years now. I still have to weed my garden on a regular basis. However, I usually only have to weed once a month and it is a very quick process. I ended up not using Mel's mix. I use a blend of organic compost and topsoil from the garden center. Every year, I need to amend my little plots with a bit more soil, but overall, the costs have been minimal.

Although you have plenty of space for gardens, why not try a limited number of test plots this spring to see if you like gardening via this method? I believe that Mel recommends one 4x4 block per person. In your case, that would be five squares. One for each of your children to play with and one for you. :) If you like it, you can always expand the following year.

No weeding-I'd say that weeding in Mel's mix is nothing like weeding in a more conventional garden. Colorado has a hard rocky clay soil. Weeds anchor themselves in firmly and deep. With Mel's mix I just grab the small weeds with my pincher fingers and lift them out. It's more like simply picking the weeds up as opposed to "true" weeding.
Vermiculite-It provides a great texture to the soil, but I don't think that it is necessary. In Mel's mix you can simply replace the vermiculite with peat and it will provide similar results. I'd not use any yard soil-it contains roots and seeds of weeds. On the other hand, it certainly is cheaper.

One year ago today - has anyone heard from keyesacres since this post? Just wondering!

I'm from Miss'ippi gumby. I don't know where keyes acres is. I'm fairly familiar with the coast. Hubby and I went down as volunteers for a week--long beach, just west of Biloxi. It was devastated. I've never seen anything like it. I've seen tornado damage, but this went on for miles. You started seeing damage just south of Jackson and by Hattiesburg there were roofs off everywhere. Hubby's a carpenter and I've gotten to be a good helper--reading his mind. We were able to get a lot done. That was last Christmas. Despite leaving the single mom with a totally closed in home, new windows,doors and interior walls, she still doesn't have sheetrock. Unbelieveable. We've built a 1400 sq ft house since then, pretty much him alone with me helping when I was home from work. We'll go back down Thanksgiving week and help again if she's still not done.

I am sure the pics I saw on TV & the web pale the reality of it all. I understand the Biloxi & Gulf Coast area have made advances with much more to be done. I remember some small bridges in that area still being out over 6yrs after Camille.

I searched for keyesacres but this was the first & only post. Was hoping maybe she surfaced under another handle?

I bet it means Keyes' acres, as in someone's farm, and not a town. But when I looked at the home page, I noticed it was zone 7. That would be north mississippi and not the coast. The coast is zone 8.

I think those of you talking about "no weeding" are missing the point which is that you start out with no weeds to begin with. So since you go out to enjoy your garden everyday, the moment you see a tiny weed sprout, you just pick it out. Takes all of one second. It's daily maintenance but you don't have crabgrass, existing weed seeds, etc. That's what Mel means by weed free.

I did a breakdown of cost on my website. The prices are actual and current from central Indiana. Take a look and let me know if I need to add anything based on geographic location.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cost to build a Square Foot Garden

Point of order:
I am not a carpenter (by any means) but I don't think a 2.5 in. screw would hold a 2in. board very well. I think at least a 3in. and preferably 3.5 in.

Come to think of it, that just may be why people have mentioned (in other threads) when they use screws their frames come apart. The 3.5in will cost a little more initially but will hold far better.

A 2" board, such as a 2 by 6 is actually 1.5" thick.

I wish lumber was sold in actual sizes rather than nominal sizes as it would make life easier.

Anyway, a 2.5" screw would go 1" into the other board, a little more if the screw is counter sunk. Should hold OK, but I used 3" deck screws with my frames on 2 by lumber and it's very secure.

Point well taken. What was I thinking? I used 3in. too. Pre-drilling the holes when using 1in., so it didn't split. Carpenters have a rule about this but as you can tell, I have no idea what it is.

Thanks for the correction.

I started my first square foot garden on March 11th. I built three 4ÂÃ4 boxes to put into my yard. I constructed the boxes out of untreated pine ($4.50 for 2"x8"Ã8 boards) ($27 total) and deck screws ($6 for a box), finishing them off by stapling weed blocker ($0.79 per ft 12Âx.79 = $10) to the bottom and placing the boxes on top of my lawn. Per MelÂs suggestion I made the soil from a mix of 1/3 Perlite (similar to Vermiculite), 1/3 Peat Moss, 1/3 organic compost. 6cuft of Perlite = $34!!!!, 6cuft of Peat Moss = $16, 9 1cuft bags of compost/manure/topsoil mix ($1.75 per bag =9 cuft = 15.75). If I could change anything I think I would have just purchased the soil in bulk from a soil company. It would have come to about $30 for all of the soil I needed. Finally, I stapled twine to the wood to form the square foot grid. (I had the twine at the house  it canÂt cost more than $2 a roll). I purchased seeds for Chard, Dill, 2 types of Tomatoes, 2 types of lettuce, Spinach, Basil, Carrot, Cucumber, Marigolds, Beets & Radishes. The seeds averaged about $2 per pack = I spend around $30 on seeds. My favorite place to purchase seeds from is Territorial Seed Company. I also purchased onion sets ($2), Parsley plant ($1.75), and oregano ($1.75). Because I am a new gardener I also purchased a shovel ($12), a small rake-type thing ($10), gloves ($5), and a multipurpose organic fertilizer ($8). All in all it came to about $180 to start my new garden  gulp! Hopefully I make up for it with what I will save in groceries. Good luck to the new gardeners. I am keeping a simple blog about my garden at www.knorq.wordpress.com

Here is a link that might be useful: KnorQ Kitchen and Garden

Of course I have to disagree with some things mentioned here.
Mel's Square Foot Gardenting is just that, Square Foot Gardening, if you CHANGE IT, it's not Mel's Square Foot Gardening anymore.

OK OK I DO agree in time you will make changes, however I believe it's smart to start with the original "Recipe" and go from there. This is why...............

When Mel's book first came out, in the early days, my neighbor and I tried it.

She improvised, and I followed the book. (not my usual way of gardening) and guess what, hers was a mess, and mine was FANTASTIC and almost NO WEEDS all summer.

I have to mention that the weeds were my greatest concern because of a handicap, and the raised beds were a God Send.

I weeded less that year, than I had ever weeded before, and the weeds just popped out of that soft, loamy soil like nothing I had ever experienced before. (or since)

Yes, I have since, changed a few things, however only things that helped with the water issues Square Foot Gardening created in THE BEGINNING. Eventually as the soil got richer, the better the watering was, and less of it.

I have read the newer book since then, and still hold to using the information in either of the books, they are a wealth of information, and a great starting point.

Then as you grow your garden, and see how it does in YOUR PARTICULAR yard, you can adjust whatever needs adjusting.

I will never garden any other way again.

I just love it. Even in my greenhouse!

Last, the cost. I had to start with only a few beds and move up each year, I had 4 small children then! I wanted my entire acre in beds, but it paid off in the end, and I'm glad I did it that way, I could take my time and do it right, deal with issues without being overwhelmed, and still had time to fuss in my lavish load of yummies.

It was true, I got more on less space, and almost no weeds at all.

I just started a blog that will be documenting all of my costs and what it takes to start a raised bed square foot garden. Please come by and check it out. I will be uploading pictures of my progress and everything that goes into the success of my garden. The site is http://cinderblockgardening.blogspot.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: cinder block gardening