I'm always available to help you make your gardening experience a good one. Feel free to contact me with questions about your garden. I may use your comments as the foundation for a new article or how-to video. We all have something to add to the gardening community.
I'll never share your personal information with anyone else unless you ask me to.
I'll never share your personal information with anyone else unless you ask me to.
Here's a question from Susie about raised beds and my response.
(February 2012) ...This year I plan on having a load of dirt brought in and building seven more boxes! I have a couple of questions: #1 Do you use treated or untreated wood for your boxes? #2 What type of dirt should I order? How much dirt do I need for each box?
(My response) I use both treated and untreated wood for my raised bed boxes. The untreated wood is less expensive and when I put together seven 4x8 raised beds for my new garden, it was more cost effective at the time to use untreated wood. Also, I made my beds different depths using 2x6, 2x8, 2x10, and 2x12 boards. Untreated wood gives you that option but treated lumber only tends to be 2x4, 2x6, and maybe 2x8. I do like using treated wood when I can because it will last longer. Now that arsenic is no longer allowed in the chemical mix there is reduced chance that the treated lumber will cause any negative plant reactions. But as I said, it costs more.
I recommend you get a soil that is mixed with compost. Most rock yards or large construction suppliers offer soil mixes too. We have a few in our area; they're the ones that sell boulders, bricks, and pavers for your landscape. Usually they'll offer only one or two types of soil and they're usually combined with compost, but because they're surrounded by rock piles I've found that their soil is often mixed with pebbles and stones.
We also have a large, outdoor garden center that specializes in a variety of gardening supplies. They offer soil mixes with different percentages of compost, manure, fertilizer, and other soil amendments. I bought my soil from them and chose a simple mix of just soil and compost. Because I do my own fertilizing and amending I didn't need to pay more for their other mixes. How much effort you plan to put in amending your soil should affect your choice. Even though I add compost myself, I didn't have enough to amend as much soil as I was buying so I got the one already amended.
When I filled my beds it took seven wheelbarrow loads on average, but it depends on the bed. A 4 feet x 8 feet x 12 inch bed fills 32 cubic feet of space. A cubic yard of soil is 27 cubic feet. So one cubic yard of soil will fill a 4'x8'x12" bed with a few inches to spare on the top. Depending on the depth of your beds, plan for four to six yards to fill them. You can do the math and get an exact amount. I had my own pickup and was able to load it with two yards of soil each trip. I ended up buying six yards of the amended soil at a cost of about $35 per yard. You can almost always have large loads like that delivered by dump truck to your house.
(My response) I use both treated and untreated wood for my raised bed boxes. The untreated wood is less expensive and when I put together seven 4x8 raised beds for my new garden, it was more cost effective at the time to use untreated wood. Also, I made my beds different depths using 2x6, 2x8, 2x10, and 2x12 boards. Untreated wood gives you that option but treated lumber only tends to be 2x4, 2x6, and maybe 2x8. I do like using treated wood when I can because it will last longer. Now that arsenic is no longer allowed in the chemical mix there is reduced chance that the treated lumber will cause any negative plant reactions. But as I said, it costs more.
I recommend you get a soil that is mixed with compost. Most rock yards or large construction suppliers offer soil mixes too. We have a few in our area; they're the ones that sell boulders, bricks, and pavers for your landscape. Usually they'll offer only one or two types of soil and they're usually combined with compost, but because they're surrounded by rock piles I've found that their soil is often mixed with pebbles and stones.
We also have a large, outdoor garden center that specializes in a variety of gardening supplies. They offer soil mixes with different percentages of compost, manure, fertilizer, and other soil amendments. I bought my soil from them and chose a simple mix of just soil and compost. Because I do my own fertilizing and amending I didn't need to pay more for their other mixes. How much effort you plan to put in amending your soil should affect your choice. Even though I add compost myself, I didn't have enough to amend as much soil as I was buying so I got the one already amended.
When I filled my beds it took seven wheelbarrow loads on average, but it depends on the bed. A 4 feet x 8 feet x 12 inch bed fills 32 cubic feet of space. A cubic yard of soil is 27 cubic feet. So one cubic yard of soil will fill a 4'x8'x12" bed with a few inches to spare on the top. Depending on the depth of your beds, plan for four to six yards to fill them. You can do the math and get an exact amount. I had my own pickup and was able to load it with two yards of soil each trip. I ended up buying six yards of the amended soil at a cost of about $35 per yard. You can almost always have large loads like that delivered by dump truck to your house.
Here's a question from Karen about squash and my response.
(August 2011) I planted spaghetti squash for the first time ever. I don't know when to pick it, however! I have several large ones but they are still green. I've been told that I should pick them now! What do you think? Should I wait until they turn yellow or orange like the web site says or pick them now?
Karen R.
(My response) You should wait until they change color, to a nice yellow. It won't ripen after being picked so picking green isn't a good idea. You can, but the flavor will be very mild. A couple ways to determine it's ready: the skin is firm and your fingernail can't pierce the skin; the vine tendril will shrivel and turn brown and can be easily pulled from the squash. After you harvest they'll store very well for many weeks, even months, in a cool dry location.
While a light frost will affect the leaves it won't harm the squash. However, you should harvest before a hard freeze. Let them go another month (or until they change color) before worrying about them.
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