[cammi]

This is our first season, we have just made and filled (with top soil) three 6x5ft raised beds - then I came across the square foot gardening idea.

The secret of SFG seems to be the soil mixture he uses, obviously after buying 6 tonne of topsoil, getting rid of that and filling it with his mix is not an option! I presume is mixture is so rich, thats why you dont have to do the manure, lime, compost thing each year.

So my question is can I kinda do a bit of both, so i can improve the topsoil each year as intended...........can I..... do the rotation system ie roots, brassicas and third bed (which is classed as what please), but within those three beds do the SFG, where possible not planting the same crop side by side, end of the year the beds all move along like traditional method.

Hope I've explained ok so you understand
Thanks in advance

[mumofstig]

Yup!
The third bed is called others 

[cammi]

cool, I have onions, garlic, beans, peas, sweetcorn planned in that one lol

(Was the Yup for the third bed or the whole idea?)

[mumofstig]

Sorry - yup for 3 bed rotation 

[cammi]

Cool at least, I'm getting something right today

[moose]

Neighbours who do SFG have never used Mel's mix, simply use soil you've got and add a bit of BFB /growmore/whatever when you re-use a square.

[cammi]

BFB? (sorry am new )

but I can't see how then the soil gets manure and lime and compost and leaf mould etc all the things that get added in traditional rotation.

[Yorkie]

BFB = Blood fish and bone.  Same as FBB = fish blood and bone  .  A more 'organic' version of a balanced fertiliser; growmore is the more inorganic version.

[NewSteve]

You can add manure, leafmould etc. without digging. Just pile it on in the autumn and let the worms take it down. Or you can always work it in gently with a fork in the spring.

The key idea behind no dig growing is that you don't compact the soil by stepping on it. After that "square foot gardening" is just a nice system for intensive cropping as far as I can tell. I've got Mel's book because it's a great source of ideas for things like netting, support etc. and the plant spacings are a useful guide, but I'm not following it to the letter. I'd rather sow in 2ft x 2ft blocks and use a proper rotation, for example.

It's year one for my deep beds though, so watch this space!