Just call me skimpy

Skimpy, not skinny .. God knows nobody would ever call me skinny.

Anyway, in his book, Square Foot Gardening, Mel Bartholomew is very specific regarding how the growing medium should be compiled and mixed. Just in case the reader has any doubt as to the importance Mel places on the fill material, he titled Chapter 5, the chapter that deals with the fill, "The Backbone of the Square Foot Gardening Method." The chapter title should be sufficient to get the message across that Mel considers this to be a very important step. But just in case it isn't, in bold letters on the very first page of the chapter Mel tells the reader, "Don't Skimp On This."

Now, you know from my previous post that I didn't follow the Mel's Mix recipe when I purchased the ingredients for the growing medium that went into my elevated planters. Consequently, I have absolutely no moisture retention, which is the function of the peat moss and Vermiculite that I decided not to purchase. I have planted a few transplants in the beds .. they are living .. for now. Upon returning home from work the past couple of days the beds have been very dry. I'm watering heavily every evening to ensure that the transplants live and the seeds I've sewen will germinate. Luckily, the weather has been mild here on the Central Coast of California, the daytime temp is still in the low 70s.

I'm going to keep up the daily watering schedule until the weekend when I will purchase the peat moss and Vermiculite. I'll have to remove the veggie transplants that I already planted, remix the fill .. this time following the Mel's Mix recipe, and then replant. Considering that the plants will have only been in the planter for a week, hopefully they'll survive. I think I'm going to just try and remove the seeds by hand and re-sew; if I miss some of the seeds I will just pluck them when/if they germinate and sprout.