This is my raised bed square foot garden. I am in the process of mixing the soil alternative called Mel’s Mix, filling up the six planter boxes before I cover each with a tarp to hold over the winter.
These are the trash cans that hold the ingredients for Mel’s Mix: (from left to right) mushroom compost, cotton burr compost, vermiculite, peat moss, and barnyard compost.
To the right of the trash cans is the used concrete mixer we bought several years ago. We used to dump the ingredients into our wheelbarrow, then use a hoe to mix things up the best way we could, and then barrow it over to the garden and use plastic pails to scoop it up and pour it into the planters.
Now we can mix double loads, dumping the ingredients into the mixer, then running it for about 3 minutes, and then dumping it half at a time into a big tupperware style garden basket. We then haul the basket over to a planter and dump it in.
It’s still rather laborious, but we’ve made things about as easy for an old lady as we can – without having someone ELSE do it. :0) Since I get no prizes for finishing it today rather than tomorrow, and if I want to take a day off from the project, I can; I have absolutely no complaints.
We have 3 of the 6 planter boxes filled with Mel’s Mix right now. I’m about to head out to the garden to do a couple of double loads. If everything works well, I should be finished with the refilling of the boxes by the end of the week and can get the boxes covered with tarps tied down with bungie cords.
Then, one of the parts I like best – I can start dreaming about what I will plant in the spring, sketching out planting plans based on what I planted this year. I can rotate my crops and try to make sure everything I plant has the best chance to thrive without pests or disease.
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