If I understand your questions correctly you are asking about whether you should use landscape fabric and whether you should use Mel's mix or mix the ingredients with existing soil.

Honestly it's up to you. If you use existing soil you will have existing weed seeds sprouting and that's the downside, but pulling weeds in a raised bed is a *lot* easier than pulling them in a 15'x30' area.

If your climate is hot and dry you might benefit in terms of how often your garden needs watering by using some native soil. If you have a cooler, wetter climate like mine in Wisconsin I would go with pure Mel's mix.

In my opinion I don't like the idea of landscape fabric in the beds. Most weeds won't grow up through the mix. Some weeds will. A layer of cardboard on the bottom will prevent most weeds from getting through and the cardboard will decompose after the weeds are dead. That way your plants can take advantage of the garden soil below if they wish to.

If you have really noxious weeds like well established bind weed or anything that persistently regrows from root fragments in the area then you may wish to take more drastic measures like using plywood on the bottom of the bed as some of these weeds will push right through landscape fabric and cardboard, but if you aren't dealing with monster weeds like that then don't bother.

In the end I am confident that any choice you make will result in much easier and more enjoyable gardening for you over managing a 15x30 plot that mostly ends up growing great weeds ;-) (been there, done that)

Good growing to you.

Hi justaguy2

Thank you very much for your reply.

Meanwhile, I have made second bed(9'x4') with cinder blocks(8"x8"x16") and shovel the compost from the previous bed(10'x30'). As the new beds are small compared to previous bed, they are over flowing with compost. the compost was not really hard packed.

I wanted to add vermiculite. We might only get medium grade for reasonable price(haven't shopped around here, only from web knowledge). But my husband doesn't want it as he read that it might contain asbestos and cause lung problem etc. (any thoughts on this?)

for now the beds basically contain compost. The previous bed got lots of weeds. but i don't know their names. may be some of them are plants which were from previous year seeds. most of them came out easily with a shovel.

As I am tired from all the work that i had already put and also weird weather here from past three to four days I wanted to take a break and stop here for this season and see what i could grow on this.

I want to grow organic strawberries for my two year old son who loves it. They are awfully expensive in the store. yesterday i bought 1/2 pound for 3.99$. (I read conventional strawberries are not good for kids as they contain high levels of pesticides) If i make any more beds, that would be for strawberries.

Can they be grown in sqft way? how deep the soil should be? where can i buy organic strawberry plants/bare root?
and which way is more efficient with good results(bare root/plant)? What brands are good?

I haven't planted any thing in my new beds. is it too late to plant spinach, carrots , beetroots?

I live in triangle area of NC. This is my second year of my gardening. I am still newbie. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

You can add something to the beds after this season is over. It is a lot of work and I don't blame you to want to just get started.

Several people grow in just compost and report good success with it.

Yes, strawberries can be grown Square foot style although I would just call it raised bed style since no strawberry will respect the 12"x12" border ;-)

From my past experience growing strawberries I would plant 1 per square foot. They will spread to cover all the soil during the growing season.

As far as organic strawberries, it is not necessary to buy organically raised plants. Any plant source is fine. The hazard is simply the fruits containing pesticide residue, but as long as you do not spray your plants with pesticide they will be every bit as organic as can be. the same is true with seeds. They need not be from an organically grown plant to have the resulting plant be free of potential toxins.

I do not have any variety recommendations for you as I haven't grown strawberries for a few years and don't recall what is what anymore, sorry.

I also can't answer your question regarding the timing of when to plant things in your area. Your state extension service can provide good information on this. Click me for the NC Extension service. If they do not have the info on the web, they will give a contact phone number and should be able to provide you with great information on growing most anything in your area including typical plant out dates.