Today youngest daughter planted a new frame (G3) with all of the seedlings (kale/lettuce/chard) that were started in March. I prepared another garden bed (G4) with what materials I had on hand. This meant making do with Bumper Crop, peat moss and backyard soil.
This is the first time that I used something other than "Mel's Mix" for a garden frame. Vermiculite is becoming very expensive and difficult to obtain so I figured I would follow the nursery's recommendation of one part Bumper Crop to two parts soil. I have not been very happy with the results. It is not the nice loamy growing medium that I have become used to and when I water, it puddles easily and runs. I think that I will try strictly Bumper Crop in the next frame with a little perlite or vermiculite mixed in. This will mean that each frame will require about $50 of growing medium (8 cu ft).
I will be ordering some sudan grass (sorghum) as a compost crop to complement the comfrey for making my own compost next year in the hopes of reducing the cost of filling more frames.
All prior year garden frames have now been moved into the new more narrow pathway configuration. Next week, I hope to build four more frames to bring the total to nine.
This evening, I started pickling cucumbers, zucchini, yellow crookneck, acorn, butternut, and buttercup squash in baggies.
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