My progress so far !

[ajt125]

Hi all

Yesterday I dug up the grass at the bottom of my 2m x 1m 5" raised bed then dug it over to a spades depth added all the spent compost from last years tomatoes and added a cup of bone meal.

Potted up my raspberries in 50/50 mpc and John innes no.3.. Autumn bliss and polka x3 of each

Today I filled my raised bed wih 50 litres of horse manure soil improver then topped with 125ltr of b&q mpc.. I'm thinking of adding a bag of vermiculite is it worth it?

I'm not sure weather to give square foot gardenig a go or just grow my beans and peas in the bed and maybe a few longer cropping veg like perpetual spinach and stuff that will be in the ground a long time

How is everyone else's progress Doing this year??
Thanks for looking
Ant.

[WendyC]

Well done, sounds like you are all set for the new season. I wouldn't add vermiculite. It's best used for covering seeds in a seed tray. What were your thoughts on whether to add it or not? Unfortunately the soil on my new plot is too wet to do anything with so I'm hoping it will dry out so I can get on it in the near future.

[ajt125]

I was reading about square foot growing apparently it is used to stop the soil drying out. I probably won't use it if it's not needed..

Yeah hopefull It goes well this year

Ant.

[Lumpy]

Talk about speedy - well done you. It might be worth thinking about a few salad bits and pieces like little gem lettuce, radish, spring onions etc - imagine the sandwich you could make!

[Bigmallly]

I know the SFG book has vermiculite as part of the mix but I wouldn't bother. I would give SFG a go, you can always put the peas & beans along one edge using half a square, then use the other half square for other crops. 2m x 1m gives you around 18 squares to experiment with.