The Perfect Square Foot Garden Soil and How to Get It Home

I started using the Square Foot Garden mixture recommended by Mel Bartholomew back in the 1970’s. I bought the three ingredients (compost, peat moss and vermiculite) and mixed them myself. But in the past few years, since I began gardening while living in a condo instead of a huge house on a half acre, I have bought it in bags at the garden store. It isn’t available everywhere. The last time I needed the soil; I went to Lowe’s and bought it there. This time, I tried Home Depot. My sister, who lives in Ventura County, bought fifteen bags at her local Home Depot for her large square foot garden. This would save me time, since my Home Depot is closer than Lowe’s.

I didn’t need that much, my garden is smaller. But then, she has six living under her roof. She also has help. I don’t, and I don’t. I do it myself. But I have experience on my side. This morning I went to my local Home Depot, here in South Orange County. No luck. They don’t stock it. So it was off to Lowe’s. It was pretty early in the morning, and the employees far out-numbered the customers. I have to remember that for future reference. I had all the help I could need. One of the gentlemen in the garden center loaded five bags of Garden Time Square Foot Gardening Potting Soil Mix onto a dolly for me and waited while I paid. The five bags ran just under $50 including tax. He then brought them to my car, and loaded them for me.

He was a bit taken aback by how I had prepared my car. Before I left the house, I emptied the rear of my little SUV. I also laid down the back seats, so there was plenty of room for my purchase. But that’s not all. I have a product that makes clean up unnecessary. Several years ago I found a wonderfully versatile product at Smart and Final. It’s vinyl table cloth “fabric” by the roll. I bought it initially to cover bulletin boards when I was teaching. It’s easy to mount, doesn’t fade and costs very little. I bought blue, but it comes in several colors. Oh, there’s also so much on a roll, that it lasts me years. You can see some of it in the picture. This morning, I unrolled enough to cover the inside of the back end of my car. The garden center employee asked me about it. I told him what it was, and how durable and handy it is. Like it was this morning, keeping my car free of loose garden soil.

When I arrived home, I opened the back of my car, and placed my hand truck and a plastic tub up close. I pulled one of the bags until it fell into the tub. I then rolled my loaded hand truck to the edge of my square foot garden, and stopped. I slit the bag open at the top with a box cutter. I tilted the box and dumped the bag of soil into one end of the planter. I tossed the now empty bag into the tub and evened out the soil with a long handled hoe. I repeated this process four more times. I only spilled a little, when I was careless as I emptied one of the bags. About a half cup of soil fell onto the patio, instead of into the planter. Not bad considering I was doing this all by myself (and I’m a small, female senior citizen).

I dumped all the empty bags into the trash, cleaned out a little spillage from inside the plastic tub (and the patio) and put my tools away. Then I shook out the blue vinyl I had used in the car, folded it up and placed it on the shelf in my garage to be used for some other project down the line, maybe when it is time to rotate crops? I watered the soil, so it wouldn’t blow away in the wind and scrubbed my hands with soap. I really need to wear one of the pairs of gloves that I have. I can’t seem to force myself. I like to feel the tools in my bare hands, despite the mess that makes. I guess I inherited that from some of the farmers way back on one of the branches on my family tree.

The garden is full of soil free of weeds and rich with nutrients. I have everything I need except for plants. But I’m not ready yet. I need to add the traditional Square Foot Gardening grid.

Until next time,

Elizabeth