Product Reviews

Let me say first that I am a neophyte vegetable gardener. My hesitation to grow my own food is based on the fact that I live among people who raise a lot of truck vegetables and my disinclination to weed a vegetable garden. But a couple of years ago, based on that disinclination, I was tempted to try bale gardening. It has some serious advantages in the weeding department, but they do not go on to tell you what happens at the end of the season and over the winter when the bales disintegrate and become downright unsightly. But I was unwilling to give up and started reading about cocoa peat and wanted to see if I could integrate the same kind of philosophy using this clean medium. So I enclosed the decayed bales into stainless steel raised garden beds and topped them with the coco peat. I discovered a couple of things along the way.

First, the peat is so compressed when purchased that it takes a lot less of it than I anticipated. Second, it is so much easier to plant in and have success, both with started plants and with seeds. In the bale garden I had good success with tomatoes, but with this new medium, my herbs – specifically basil – is going to town, the squash, the tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, ginger and cucumbers are abundant and full. It is very exciting to look out and see not only a tidy and contained garden, but one that is just rampant with bearing vines. To see ginger, which did not thrive at all in the bales, growing fast and strong is simply thrilling.

The upshot is that I am delighted with the medium and will continue to use it. Further, I see myself mixing it with potting soil for the houseplants, and actively looking for other ways to use it. Once it decompresses, it is lightweight, it retains moisture well and root systems are both easily developed and well supported. GREAT stuff!

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                                                                                                                                                     -Barbara Parker