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From: nemo@rochester.UUCP (Wolfe)
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Re: square foot gardening
Message-ID: <14619@rochester.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 17-Jan-86 09:35:35 EST
Article-I.D.: rocheste.14619
Posted: Fri Jan 17 09:35:35 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 20-Jan-86 04:49:32 EST
References: <6787@duke.UUCP>
Reply-To: nemo@rochester.UUCP (Richard Newman-Wolfe)
Organization: U. of Rochester, CS Dept.
Lines: 57

In article <6787@duke.UUCP> jbd@duke.UUCP writes:
>I received the book "Square Foot Gardening" for
>Christmas (by Mel Bartholomew).
>Has anyone on the net tried it?  What do you think?
>Any suggestions?  ...
>We have very heavy clay soil, so I am considering
>setting up raised beds, and using a soil mix (I haven't
>investigated prices yet).  Also, our soil is about half
>rocks, some too heavy to move.  Any comments?
>Joanne Bechta Dugan (jbd@duke)
>P.S.  There's nothing better for chasing away the winter
>blues than planning a garden !
(How true!)
The technique is really good for planning and planting.  
You give about the right amount of space to each plant 
this way, if you follow the guidelines.  It is also
good for companion planting (see some books on this
subject).  Raised beds are a good idea when you have
heavy clay soil.  They alleviate the drainage problems
you otherwise have.  They will tend to dry out a bit
faster than a regular flat garden, so watch the moisture.
Before you spend ziggabucks on soil mix, get as much 
rotted organic matter as you can and mix that in with 
the clay - the more the better.  That will lighten it
up and improve drainage.  Then put the soil mix on top
of the improved clay.  If you plan on planting root
vegetable, you must get rid of rocks in that part of the
garden to a depth of a foot or more, or else you get
lousy shapes and stunted growth.  If you have some
really big rock, you might want to integrate them with
the garden as decorative elements.  Plant some flowers
too, they look nice, attract bees & hummingbirds, etc.,
and distract harmfull insects.  Marigolds and nasurtiums
are particularly good for repelling or diverting bad
actors.  Plus you can eat both flowers, and the nastur-
tium's leaves and seeds.  They taste kind of like radish
or peppery cress.  Do NOT plant sunflowers near the 
rest of the garden, THEY INHIBIT GROWTH of other plants
(except onion family).  Do not even use them for mulch. 
Do plant some for the birds elsewhere.  If you do it in
a place you can more or less ignore, they tend to seed 
themselves (hey!  next best thing to perennials!) 
Finally, once you have the beds prepared,
you should get at least the pH checked, and preferably
more stuff than that.  It is crucial to the growth of
your plants to have proper pH, and by checking the other
stuff like K and P you can better judge where to spend
your fertilizer dollar.
Happy Gardening!
Nemo
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