Glad I gave you a laugh Ian:) - I'm afraid I've been too chicken to start growing a load of veg for the first time as up until now I can kill off the hardiest of plants! Also, I'm experimenting with trying to kill off a load of weeds, in various ways, in the other beds I'm not using this season. Yes your advice does make sense - thank you.
BS; just had a quick look at SM gardening and it sounds really interesting (just need to see about making peat free compost) - has anyone on here tried this type of gardening?
Yes in the original way that was first set out by Mel Barthomomew about 1978 and eve. since about 1985 .
Moving on with his second book when it came out in about 2008 where he does not use mother earth in any form .
One good place to find out what you can compost & a sensible method of doing it quickly to get a quality compost that is ready in around 18 days is to look up " The Berkley 18 day hot composting method ".
If you like it & want help with SM gardening or The Berkley method drop me a PM . I'm retired & have plenty of time to try & type .
You can if you so choose use just pure compost if you have a large enough pile , the peat is just an inert filler that free drains & allows air to the roots . Vermiculite is similar but it also holds tremendous even levels of moisture laden with valuable nutrients till the plants call for them. Having both in the bed fil;l means that the growth medium is very light all year round
Over a few years your beds will be being , " Built " with composts of differing ages & differing stages of decomposition . This allows many stages of decomposition to give all year round nutrient release etc. a
By year four or five you will only be adding your own home made composts .. which is brill for you will know exactly what you have in them & they are not only cheap but they will contain everything your plants will ever need besides water .
One last thing ,EPSOM SALTS & BORAX .
Cauliflowers need a grow-able level of it to get good cauliflowers . Giving them an annual pre planting raked in dressing for the first three years helps no end in any new garden