AboutJim Kennard Expertise I can answer questions on vegetable gardening - Raised Beds, Container, Soil-Beds, "Poor Man's Hydroponics", Organic, etc.
Experience Gardened using The Mittleider Method for 30 years. Conducted seminars, college-level training programs, produced 80 video lectures, written hundreds of gardening articles, answered thousands of gardening questions, created a gardening website www.foodforeveryone.org with free ebook, free greenhouse plans, FAQ section with 355 gardening articles.
Organizations Food For Everyone Foundation - President - Mission is "Teaching the world to grow food one family at a time."
Publications Numerous website publications
Education/Credentials Taught personally for 20 years by Dr. Jacob R. Mittleider, "The Garden Doctor", assisted him in creating and conducting major gardening training projects in America and Russia.
Awards and Honors Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor
Question We used 18" cinder blocks as the walls for our raised beds and to get more space I put soil in the inside hollow portion of the cinder blocks. However, the squash and beans that I planted in soil inside the cinder blocks are starting to get pale green. Do you think it is from the iron in the soil being adsorbed by the cement cinder blocks (and I should add iron to the soil) or chemicals such as lime leaching out from the cinder blocks that I should add the acid miracle grow or sulfur?
Answer Remove your plants from those tiny places. There is not enough space for proper root growth. Feeding and watering are also a problem.
Plant in rows near the edges of the raised beds and feed - both the Pre-Plant Mix one time per crop(Lime, Epsom Salt, and Borax in the ratio of 80-4-1), and Weekly Feed Mix (see the Fertilizer pages of the Learn section of the website at www.growfood.com) - properly and your plants will prosper.
