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From: rws@gypsy.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Re: square foot gardening
Message-ID: <25900019@gypsy.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Jan-86 09:26:00 EST
Article-I.D.: gypsy.25900019
Posted: Mon Jan 20 09:26:00 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 22-Jan-86 05:13:51 EST
References: <6787@duke.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:duke:-678700:gypsy:25900019:000:1316
Nf-From: gypsy!rws    Jan 20 09:26:00 1986


I'm surprised that other respondents have so readily accepted the idea of
putting commercial soil mix on top.  A little imagination and one year of
patience will yield dramatic results, without huge expenditures:

1)  Dig the new beds by hand, removing any rocks larger than 3/4".  Make
sure you get a full foot of depth.  If there is grass on top now, great!
Organize your digging as a "moving trench", so that you can lay the old sod
upside down in the bottom of the trench, then pile soil on top of it while
making the next trench.  Take care not to walk on the freshly dug soil.

2)  If you don't have access to large quantities of compost or other organic
material, apply THREE INCHES of peat moss!  Dig it in to the top six inches
or so, along with enough lime to balance your pH.  (In the eastern US it is
almost impossible to use too much lime, because the soil only dissolves what
it needs.)  The finer the grind of the limestone, the sooner it will work.

3)  Plan soil amendments into every year's garden.  I like using winter rye
as a cover crop, and digging it in in the spring.  Just make sure not to
plant it on a few beds, so that you can plant peas even before the soil is
dry  enough to  dig.

Happy gardening!

Bob Schwanke

Siemens Research
Princeton, NJ
08540-6668

seismo!princeton!siemens!rws