This year, I offered up a prayer of apology to the ghods and ghosts of gardens past for whatever I had done to offend them, then set to work. The first step was clearing out the old tomato box. I have no idea what may have been living under or nearby, so that meant a good and thorough look. Fortunately, there were no tell-tale signs of burrows or holes underneath as I moved the soil from the tomato box to the box on the right, that would hold my squash this year.
Since I was emptying the box, it was time to make some real Mel's Mix rather than some raised bed soil from the big box store. Mel's Mix is 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost (mixed up with a variety of composts), and 1/3 peat moss. The peat and vermiculite do a nice job in keeping the soil light and airy while retaining moisture while the compost feeds everything. It's a bit of an outlay; however, it lasts for years, is fully amended soil and I don't need to worry about weeds, wood chips, and such in it. My only worry is peat isn't necessarily a renewable resource these days, but my mind was put at ease after meeting "Farmer Dave" up in Dracut, MA. You see, he's doing his best to run a sustainable farm and is part of a movement to move Massachusetts to self-sufficient agriculture. When I asked him about peat vs coco coir, the alternative to peat, he pointed out a large number of things to consider - including shipping. He recommended Canadian peat, which is sustainable. So I bought a big-ass bag from the local Agway store along with agricultural vermiculite and mixed up my composts. I use lobster/crab compost from Maine, mushroom compost, hummus, cow compost, and what's in my own composter. Under my box... because of freakin' ghosts of gardeners past... is a layer of cardboard covered with a couple of layers of industrial strength landscape cloth, 1/4" mesh (to keep the burrowing guys out), and a few layers of thick greenhouse plastic. I built my frame on top and filled it with Mel's Mix. It was hard work, but well worth it.
Next came the corn and pepper boxes. I wanted to fill the corn box with Mel's this year after last year's weed explosion while I was down with my ankle surgery. My onion box was lost in the weeds... literally and the squash box still needed to be leveled up. Again, transfer soil up to the squash box with plans of converting it to Mel's next year. The corn and squash I start from seed in the ground. I'm a couple of weeks later than I normally like, but it's in. When the corn comes up I will add a couple of squash and bean seed to make it a three sister garden for fall harvest. The peppers and eggplant are doing well, it's just going to be a lot of weed maintenance this year.
It took a couple of more hours to free the onion box and start on the top third where the bean teepee will go and I still haven't ruled out a potato mound yet. I lay down a salt marsh hay mulch between boxes to keep the weeds down and keep moving forward on the Square Foot Gardener course to get my instructor certification. This summer is a learning summer and, if I can keep myself focused, I should be able to learn quite a bit. I did decide that every Sunday I should post a blog and I'll be starting a YouTube channel at some point when I figure out the best way to edit and post things. I really want to share things I'm observing - like how I observed the Mel's Mix retained moisture better than the commercial raised bed mix. The little things that make a difference.
All I know is looking at where I was and looking at where I am is pretty amazing.
This year, I offered up a prayer of apology to the ghods and ghosts of gardens past for whatever I had done to offend them, then set to work. The first step was clearing out the old tomato box. I have no idea what may have been living under or nearby, so that meant a good and thorough look. Fortunately, there were no tell-tale signs of burrows or holes underneath as I moved the soil from the tomato box to the box on the right, that would hold my squash this year. 
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