Organic Lawn DIY

I was so excited to have built my first Square Foot Garden based on my raised bed plans that I wanted to put it to use right away by trying to grow a winter vegetable garden.

For the soil I went the easy route and purchased bags of Mel's Mix from Home Depot. It seemed pretty good. The soil is light and friable. Just handling the bag you can tell it's good because it's loose and not clumpy and solid feeling like other soil mix bags. It wasn't screened very well and I did see some small twigs and stems but it was better than some other organic potting mixes I've purchased in the past. From what I understand it's manufactured by different companies based on the region according to specs so quality may vary across the country. It wasn't too much more than buying individual components but saved me the work of mixing it myself. It took 6 bags to fill my 3' x 4' raised bed but it settled about an inch after a couple of weeks. Next spring I'll top it off with some of my own compost.

I planted late, I've never done this before and I'm not quite sure what I'm doing yet so I don't have the highest expectations but it should be fun to try. Here's some info on how I'm protecting the plants from frost and what I planted.