Started getting the beds ready in both the front and backyard. I can’t get to the Fairmount recycling center during the week (close at 3PM) and their weekend hours don’t begin until April), so I loaded some Lowe’s manure/compost into all five banks. I’d cut Peat Moss in already, so there should be plenty of natural, aerating components in the ground.

I’m debating adding some vermiculite as well. While I really like the intensive gardening approach (Mel’s mix is 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 peat moss), I’d like to know more about the science of how this works. It feels like there should be some academic writing about a different soil composition is absolutely necessary in order to load up a garden this way, but I don’t feel like looking for it right now. I do know that there are crazy thick books about soil and I know that’s not going to get read. I’d also like to see what was there before Mel Bartholomew; where did he get his idea from? Had no one else ever attempted this way of growing things? (His book offers no clues).

Either way, I went to a great seminar hosted by the Penn State Extension Service Saturday morning on Square Foot Gardening. While there was no shortage of earnest folks — is this a necessary trait for gardeners or simply for folks who go to seminars on Saturday morning — it was a well constructed, well-organized, seminar that moved fast and had lots of good information.

One interesting point: worry less about what compost you use and more about using multiple sources. I need to dig more into this topic, too.