April 2008

Let the Games Begin!

Hard to believe it's almost the end of April! Started the snow peas outside earlier last week, they're starting to poke through the soil. Keeping them under row covers and keeping the mulch hay nearby in case of frosts. Using PlanGarden up 'til May at least. I like it, as it's handy for jotting down notes, but I'm not thrilled with the interface as of yet. We'll see if I go for a full three years, give it a good run for just one year, or go back to my excel spreadsheet.

Started two beds that will be facing off this season: one "Lasagna Garden" plot of 3.5ftx3.5ft (1.1 meters by 1.1 meters, give or take), and a comparable "square foot garden" bed. The "Lasagana Garden" will have approximately 18" (46 cm) of materials layered according to the book, substituting hay and compost for those layers, and the "square foot garden" is set up with the square foot garden mix of 1/3 peat (couldn't get coir nearby), 1/3 compost, and 1/3 vermiculite.

I was curious as to what it would cost to build a square foot bed "from scratch" by buying the materials from the store. If you were living in an apartment or a condo that forbade digging in your strip of the lawn, you'd need to make a patio garden, and probably buy the materials. Glad I decided to just do a small plot instead of a row:

1. 2 cu ft (.06 cu m) of compost: $12.90
2. 2 cu ft of sphagnum peat: $ 9.95
3. 2 cu ft of vermiculite: $19.95 - ouch.

So - to fill a 3.5ft x 3.5ft raised bed with "square foot garden mix" it cost $42.80 plus applicable tax. To put that in perspective of my whole garden, that would be &183.43 per row, or $1467.43 plus tax for the whole garden (eight rows, 360 sq ft, 33.4 sq m). Of course - if you were going to buy all of that, you'd buy in bulk, so it would cost less. I'd gotten a quote from someone down the street for "seasoned" horse manure (has sat outside, hasn't been fully composted) of $50 for 48 cu. ft, so two loads would cover the compost needs, etc.

Each raised bed will have two tomato plants (Rutger's Hybrid), Two peppers (1 sweet, 1 hot, don't know which ones yet), Cilantro, and onions for a "salsa garden". The garlic I'll get elsewhere. The yields will be counted and hopefully by then I'll have found a better way to show the information for the two.