Saturday, December 12, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Sawdust as Growing Medium
Sawdust can be excellent or bad, depending on what you use and how you use it.
Do not use wood chips or shavings - those are not sawdust, but sometimes people are led to believe they work the same.
Plain sawdust and sand will work. Of course you need to supply the plant nutrients, because sawdust and sand have virtually none.
Before you fill the Grow-Box with soil mix, apply Pre-Plant mix evenly on the soil beneath the Grow-Box - 2# for a 30'-long Grow-Box that's 18" wide and 8" high. If your container is a different length, use 1 ounce per running foot.
Mix Pre-Plant at the rate of 1 ounce per running foot and Weekly Feed at the rate of 1/2 ounce per running foot into the soil medium. For a 30'- long Grow-Box you will thus be adding 2# of Pre-Plant and 1# of Weekly Feed into the soil mix, in addition to the Pre-Plant you placed on the ground.
After plants are up apply 1/2 ounce per running foot to the soil 4" from the plant stems, and water it into the soil around the plant roots. Do this weekly until 3 weeks before harvest on single crop varieties, and until 8 weeks before frost for ever-bearing crops.
Do not use wood chips or shavings - those are not sawdust, but sometimes people are led to believe they work the same.
Plain sawdust and sand will work. Of course you need to supply the plant nutrients, because sawdust and sand have virtually none.
Before you fill the Grow-Box with soil mix, apply Pre-Plant mix evenly on the soil beneath the Grow-Box - 2# for a 30'-long Grow-Box that's 18" wide and 8" high. If your container is a different length, use 1 ounce per running foot.
Mix Pre-Plant at the rate of 1 ounce per running foot and Weekly Feed at the rate of 1/2 ounce per running foot into the soil medium. For a 30'- long Grow-Box you will thus be adding 2# of Pre-Plant and 1# of Weekly Feed into the soil mix, in addition to the Pre-Plant you placed on the ground.
After plants are up apply 1/2 ounce per running foot to the soil 4" from the plant stems, and water it into the soil around the plant roots. Do this weekly until 3 weeks before harvest on single crop varieties, and until 8 weeks before frost for ever-bearing crops.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Grow-Box setup - Grass in Aisles?
Q. I am currently designing my landscape / garden area. In reading the MM books (not all the way thru them yet) I have not found an answer I need. When looking at all the pictures in the books, the soil between the beds is bare dirt/soil.
Do I need to strip an entire area bare or can I just kill the grass under the grow boxes? I'd like to make the MM blend in to the landscape plan, which would include grass between the boxes to keep dust down.
A. There's a set of pictures in the Photos section of the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com website that shows the Rick Dietrich family garden. Those Grow-Boxes are surrounded by grass. So you have at least one example of someone who is happy with that arrangement.
Dr. Mittleider recommends that nothing but dry dirt be in the aisles. He felt that having the grass grow into the Grow-Box was more trouble than it was worth.
He also suggested that grass acted as a haven for bugs, and increased the chance for diseases, since it must be watered, and therefore increases the moisture/humidity in the garden area.
He didn't even like black plastic (looks bad, costs $, deteriorates and makes a mess), chips, mulch, or gravel.
I have always followed his advice, so I have no personal experience with any of those things - except for visiting others' gardens, which confirms - for me - Mittleider's viewpoint.
Do I need to strip an entire area bare or can I just kill the grass under the grow boxes? I'd like to make the MM blend in to the landscape plan, which would include grass between the boxes to keep dust down.
A. There's a set of pictures in the Photos section of the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com website that shows the Rick Dietrich family garden. Those Grow-Boxes are surrounded by grass. So you have at least one example of someone who is happy with that arrangement.
Dr. Mittleider recommends that nothing but dry dirt be in the aisles. He felt that having the grass grow into the Grow-Box was more trouble than it was worth.
He also suggested that grass acted as a haven for bugs, and increased the chance for diseases, since it must be watered, and therefore increases the moisture/humidity in the garden area.
He didn't even like black plastic (looks bad, costs $, deteriorates and makes a mess), chips, mulch, or gravel.
I have always followed his advice, so I have no personal experience with any of those things - except for visiting others' gardens, which confirms - for me - Mittleider's viewpoint.
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