Of course it's OK. Have fun.

Never use garden soil in containers, though, as it doesn't have the right properties (nothing to do with needles). We just repotted something recently that was declining for some reason and we found that the MIL threw garden soil in the pot because there was no potting soil in the house.

Dan

Somebody asked a question similar to this in the vegetable forum. Basically, raised bed gardens have been around for a very long time and they were filled with potting soil/compost/plain old dirt long before Mel came up with the SFG method.

Your mix should be fine. Compost would be best, but you can substitute fertilizer if you don't have compost.

You can use the pine soil, but it might have a lower pH than some plants like. Pine needles are supposed to have a low pH and make a great mulch for acidic loving plants. Check that first before you use it.

ML,
I just bought a book on lasagna gardening. The author gives a method for doing raised beds using materials that you find around. She just makes layers of chopped leaves, grass clippings, peat moss, manure. She gathers things from neighbors, etc. Eventually it breaks down. She plants some immediately after filling. So easy and no mixing.

Dan,
Is it part of your job to monitor the SFG forum? You respond so quickly and always have great advice.
Keski

Mel teaches filling the garden with just compost in third world countries and places they do not have access to vermiculite and peat moss. So you do not have to do Mel's Mix.

Also, there are some options for doing his mix very cheaply ... if you are anywhere near Lancaster PA, you have access to one of the cheapest sources of coarse vermiculite in the country - W H Milikowski 877-354-7010 $15.25 #7004V Coarse Vermiculite 4cf http://www.whmilikowski.com/index.html. Also a manufacturer for vermiculite is in Lancaster where you may be able to buy it cheaper ? - J. P. Austin Associates 717-481-7801 http://www.jpaustin.com/horicultural.html. Check out the thread titled "Vermiculite Source List - Throughout USA" currently 4 down from this thread for other sources in PA.

For compost, you can try your city's yard waste center. Our leaves are picked up twice annually if we rake them to the curb, also there is a special yard waste truck that comes by weekly if we bag or have them in cans. They collect leaves, grass clippings, shrubbery trimmings, and tree limbs, etc. They are ground in the City's tub grinder, and seasoned about six months before use or sale as compost. Our city will also sell wood chips & mulch & colored wood chips made from the collections. It keeps all of this stuff out of the landfills and they sell it CHEAP ! For example, you can carry your own bag or 35gal trash can and fill it for $3, or you can get 2.5cy (which is 67cf!) for $20 and they will load it in the back of your pickup for you. I have heard many cities have the same type thing and even give it away free. Another way to get cheap compost is call/go by Lowe's and ask if they have any torn bags. I have gotten 3 bags of compost for up to half off this way. So a normal $4.68 1.5cf bag of manure compost was $2.34. And their $1.58 1cf bag of manure compost was about $1.

Peat moss is usually sold in 3 or 3.8 cu ft compressed bales for about $9-10 at Lowe's & Home Depot. The uncompressed expanded volume ends up being about double. I am pretty sure better prices than that could probably be found, but I have never checked.

Even if you don't do any of this, people have grown veggies in just dirt for years. You may need to ammend your garden with fertilizers or whatever. Mel's Mix was just designed to help optimize the results in a way that anyone can follow and be successful.