This is what happens when I decide to go green.....

Some things are best left up to the experts...or at least to machines. I decided when I started my square foot garden that I would follow Mel Bartholomew's (he's the creator) way exactly so it would be a success since I have a history of killing plants. Wes and I donned our student caps and read (ok skimmed) his book and watched a DVD of how to plant this stinkin' garden. We felt prepared.

The soil according to the book would contain 3 parts:

1. Peat Moss
2. Compost
3. Vermeculite

Well, doing it "Mel's way" ended quickly. First of all, I couldn't find vermiculite and when I did, it was EXPENSIVE!! And you know me....I just couldn't pay for it!! So, I ditched the vermiculite and just stuck to some peat moss.

Next was the compost. On the DVD, Mel and his wife, who I swear looked like she just walked out of the general store on Little House on the Prairie, said it is soooo easy to make your own compost!! And so easy on the Earth! Just turn your trash into beautiful soil in just a short time! I was in! This would be great. I would become one with the Earth as I saved the landfills from all of our dirty trash.

Everything was going along swimmingly as we saved our fruit and vegetable scraps and put them in our compost bucket. Then, Wes said "Boy, that compost stinks." Hmmm....Mel's wife never mentioned this. What was I doing wrong??

The smell got worse and worse......it got to the point that we had to move it from right by the house to the back of the yard. At this point, I started getting nervous that it might waft over to the neighbors and they would think that we had stopped bathing.

Well, thanks to Google, I found out very quickly that our compost was too wet and that was a big no-no. As I talked to people about this, I found we weren't composting, we were creating sewage!!! GROOSSSSSS!!!!!

My sister Sara has bought a mechanical composter. But that's like $75. Somehow a frugal garden could end up costing us millions!! For now we are okay because I ended up buying some mushroom compost at Home Depot. But we are unsure where to go from here.........

So I have put up a poll asking for your input on whether Wes and I should continue composting or just hang up our green caps and just start filling up those landfills again. Let me know what you think!!!

And here's a peek at our garden....growing great! (yes there are a few empty whole because parsley and corn never made an appearance.