Marymilkweed, I use alfalfa pellets in my lettuce/mesclun/spinach beds. Actually I use an alfalfa pellet rabbit feed, which is the same thing and can be purchased for around $10 for 50 pounds. I sprinkle it over the top of the soil after seeding. In fact, I've been complaining that the greens aren't growing in the containers this winter, and I never even thought to add rabbit food to the pots! I'm going to do it right now.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

that is such a great idea!! i never thought about doing any of these things you talk about grannie!! Hee Hee!! You are sooo smart!! ~Medo

Here is a link that might be useful: Barehanded Totally Nutso Gardener!! **Big Grinn**

Pine bark is very acidic. I use it for my blueberries, but not my garden. Of course we have acidic soil here. If you have basic soil, then it wouldn't be so bad.

So good luck and welcome.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonians garden adventure

Being a dam Yankee, :-) I know nothing about gardening in FL--however I do know from veggie gardening, and I agree with the earlier comment cautioning about using the pine bark since it is acidic. Also, I have observed that bark mulches tend to float around in heavy rains--and I do know that FL gets some heavy rains. Soooo...
Mainly, though I want to suggest you be cautious about using the alfalfa pellets or any other high-nitrogen amendment on any but your leafy green type veggies. In other words, for root or fruiting veggies, too much N can encourage a lot of foliage at the expense of flowers/fruits. Best thing (IMHO) is to keep building your compost pile(s) of as many different ingredients as possible (good variety of major nutrients as well as trace minerals, etc. that way) and add a few inches of compost in spring to the soil in the raised beds, and also use finished compost as mulch for water conservation, weed supression, and added nutrients. Hope this helps! CK

I'll take that pine bark! I have alkaline soil, so pine bark/needles are a good amendment. I used to haul "tons" of pine needles to the dump each spring, but now I will be using them as mulch on some of my beds (strawberry, raspberry, blueberry). I've never known what to do with bag after bag of pine blossoms, other than take them to the dump, but I think I'll spread them on my garden paths this (next) year.

I should explain, for those who don't know me, that I didn't have a garden from 2003-2008 due to a health problem, so I just got back into it this year. Otherwise I would NEVER have sent all the pine droppings to the dump!

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I'd do a bit more research on the pine bark. Coffee grounds are quite acidic, also, but I read when they compost they have been shown to be a net neutral. Sounds like you're going to have a fun year ahead of you, lol. I can say that I've heard friends who are missions in Sudan who use SFG with great results, so there is precedence in your type of climate.

Thank you for everyone's input on the use of the pine bark in my soil mixture. For now, I believe I should leave it out of the basic mix.

Carolynp, my understanding is that coffee grounds become neutralized once they are used to make coffee. Whereas, fresh ground coffee would be acidic. If I am wrong on this, please correct me. Also, can the brewed coffee grounds be used in the basic mix or should they be composted first?
Thanks, Mary

Mary, you are correct, so I've read. Fresh coffe is acidic, but once it's been boiled, fairly neutral.

I add Starbuck's Grounds for your Garden directly into my beds as a nitrogen fix, but I also use it extensively in my compost bins.

Coffee grounds are darn near fertilizer. Their Carbon:Nitrogen ratio is 12:1. Fertilizer is 10:1, so it's very very close. What's more, the slightly increased carbon makes it so it won't burn plants like adding fertilizer directly to plants.

Of course, coffee grounds by themselves aren't a complete fertilizer, but they're not bad, especially if they're free from Starbucks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

I'm not certain about when they become neutralized, because I've read conflicting views on it. I'll search a bit and link for you. However, I know some folks use coffee grounds as mulch for certain flowers. I'm not much of a flower grower, so I'm just composting it. I do know that our regular Sinfonian uses grounds in copious quantities and might comment when he lurks by here again?

This was a little discussion about composting pine bark: skip the little drama at the beginning.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg0910040110421.html
Sounds like they take longer to compost than most things.

I use mine both ways, in compost or just dumped on as mulch. If I have egg shells, I grind it all up together and add water or leftover coffee and pour it on the soil...I lightly scratch it in or not, depends on my mood. Read somewhere that the coffee grounds were more effective when used with eggshells.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I've used grounds as direct soil amendments at planting time, side dressing for growth, and of course regular green amendments to my compost bin. Good to hear about the egg shells. I use them regularly in my bins.

Carolyn, ME, lurk?!? You must be joking. Hehe.

So the "debate" over grounds continues. I sure hope EG and I are right because we both use copious amounts of them in out garden. Can't beat free. Hehe

If you were to wander over to the Container Garden forums you would find a whole host of folks who use pine bark fines as the base of their potting mix. 5 parts to 2 to be exact, and one of those other parts is peat moss.

And what is a raised bed but a large container?

It is an interesting question. How acidic is this mix? I think I will wander over to Container Gardening myself, and put forth the question.

I have been using pine bark, sawdust and needles for years as mulch, an ingredient in potting mix and a filler in compost and I would say that my gardens are quite vigorous. I have heard the warnings about acidity and have seen no ill effects. But I tend to garden by my gut and my pocket book. Sawdust and needles are free.

Kay.

THAT is a really interesting point that I have been pondering lately Kay! I noticed a bit ago that the SFG mixture is almost exactly what most folks recommend for planters. Hmmm...
Sinfonian, lol, I just meant that you and I may read something without actually commenting. And, I've been collecting 2 or 3 bags of free grounds a week and trench composting my front yard. I sure hope that works. BTW: surface temps appear to be nearly the same as the rest of the yard.

There should be a lot of horse racing tracks in FL. I will bet you can get all the HM you want free. I also wonder about some of the large aquariums. What do they do with there filter material? Add either one to your pine bark and compost it. You will be good to go.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

Thank you to everyone in answering my questions. Since our planting season here in Florida begins February 15th for Spring planting I have to make some decisions on my soil mixture now. I read though about 30 pages of old SFG forum threads going back to 2005. I also have some thoughts after reading many of the postings.
This is only my opinion based on past experiences with soiless mixtures and from what I gleamed from the postings.

I believe that to have very good to excellent success with Mel's mixtures, whether you use his old formula or the new, you need to be using your own ripe compost. Nothing in a bag is going to match the richness of home-grown compost. I believe that is why some of the new people to the SFG method have lukewarm results.

Here in Florida, to grow roses, our local rose society chapter recommended excavating a hole 18"x18" and filling it with a soiless mixture very much like Mel's original soil recipe. We used several organic amendments including the fine pine bark mixed with peat and compost.

So, my plan is to mix my rose soil recipe for my new 4x4 foot bed and do a PH test on the finish mixture. I will have no homegrown compost in this bed, but I plan to grow mostly herbs this first season. My second bed is 4x8 and 10 1/2" deep. For this bed, I am going to use Mel's new soil proportions and use a bag of soil conditioner pine bark along with bagged manures and my own leaf compost which is a year old and totally broken down. I plan to also incorporate greensand, soft rock phosphate & gypsum, all of which I already have on hand. Again I will do a ph test on the finish bed. This bed is going to be mostly beans,limas and green pole beans and one yellow squash. We have another growning season in the Fall for lettuce, spinach and many of the other veggies you'll grow in the Spring.

My third bed, another 4x8 bed, will become a compost bed for the spring and summer. Our leaf gathering and raking is just now beginning here. I will hope to get a nice load of horse manure and mushroom compost to add to the oak leaves. I will also build my three compost bins for my side dressing next year.

I plan to keep a journal of the results of these soil mixtures for future beds and will gladly past along the results. I will enjoy reading your postings as the growing year nears for all of you on this forum. I have learned more from reading thru the past threads than I did attending 4 hours of classroom time for organic vegetable gardening. Thank you everyone!
Mary

Hi Mary, and welcome to the sfg forum. When I filled my bed, it was with store bought compost, and I used two different kinds. My friend sinfonian told me that my mel's mix looked different from his, and here's the reason why....One of the compost varieties was comprised mostly of composted pine bark, and needles. It worked wonderful, but...it was composted first. Hope this helps!

EG

Here is a link that might be useful: EG's garden blog

Mary, that all sounds just fine and dandy to me. I look forward to seeing all the wonderful produce you pull out of your garden. Remember that all of the opinions we have here are just that. Take what you want and we sincerely hope it works for you.

Enjoy your garden!

Mary, I totally agree with you. I have learned so much here! Welcome and I second what Sinf said. Some things will work and some won't for you. Welcome to the party!

Mary -- take a look at my blog. You wouldn't believe what I have growing in my garden right now! I'm just a few miles (maybe 10) north of Mobile AL. So, if you're in the NW Florida area, then we're probably in just about the same planting zone. It does get a few degrees cooler where I'm at versus in the say, Pensacola area.

Here's a link to a recent post with pics from my garden:

http://ft2garden.powweb.com/blog/?p=515

It's a great time to plant any of your green leafy veggies -- lettuce, collards, turnips, beets.... also carrots, broccoli, onions, brussel sprouts...

Some of these you may want to start indoors and then transplant (lettuce, broccoli, brussel sprouts...)

You're in a great location is just about garden year around. The worst months for my garden is July and August! About the only things that will grow in the heat and humidity is okra and sweet potatoes LOL And they love it. It even gets too hot during those months for most of my cucumbers and tomatoes. So that's when I take a gardening break. Plus, the bugs are just too bad then too.

Diatamacous Earth (sp?) is great for most buggy bugs like spider mites and aphids. I try not to use pesticides on my garden.

Hope some of this info helps you!

Judy

Here is a link that might be useful: Judy's Square Foot Garden