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loreleie415

Help with my new SFG

loreleie
12 years ago

Can I use this method in a 2'x4'x 2'deep redwood box? I've been reading about sfg here in the forum and everyone seems to be growing in raised beds. My garden is a brick patio and I have a new redwood box on swivel casters that I just made & filled with really good organic soil and pearlite. So I have 8 squares to plant and put a trellis along the back row. I want to plant each square with something different such as:

[TRELLIS]

[1][2][3][4]

[5][6][7][8]

1-Snow Peas (how many each square?)

2-

3-

4-Snow Peas

5-Zuccini (1)

6-Spinach (9)

7-Strawberry (3)

8-Carrots (16)

Is this too much variety? I'd appreciate any suggestions/ tips /pointers. Any recommendations for Squares 2 & 3? Could i do artichoke in one square and cucumber in another?

I have a few large ceramic planter pots I'm using for herbs, kale, potatoes and sunflowers. I have other flowers around the garden that attract bees and see them regularly. I live in san Francisco where the climate is mild year round & it rarely freezes.

P.S.

Please don't tell me to get the book~ I've checked every branch at the local library and have it reserved.

Hope some experienced sfg gardeners can give me some advice so I can sow the seeds asap! Thanks

Comments (6)

  • lgteacher
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Artichokes get really huge and take a full year to mature. Any reason you're not growing tomatoes? Snap peas can be grown 8 to a square, so snow peas may be similar. You can check on the seed package to see how many inches they need.

    Here is a link that might be useful: My raised bed veggie garden

  • loreleie
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Tomatoes don't do well in San Francisco~ not in the western part of the city because it to cold & foggy. There are a few cultivars of cherry tomatoes that might but I dont have seeds. I know artichokes get huge but would one square be enough? I have 2 in pots right now that are not happy.

  • lgteacher
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I found this information on the SFG website.
    When it comes to artichokes, I do not recommend planting them in a Square Foot Garden. These perennial plants grow so huge that it would be better to plant them in an area separate from your SFG boxes. I have seen artichoke plants do very well in their own 4x4 box using plant spacing of one per 2 square feet. It was amazing to see these exotic plant varieties growing so well, even here in Utah with our high altitudes and limited growing season.

    Cucumbers are a good idea. The zuccini will spread over more than one square, and the strawberries will spread, but slowly. You can get more info on the SFG website. Go to the one that ends with org rather than com.

    Mel B.

  • angela12345
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is not too much variety. If the trellis goes through the middle of squares 1-2-3-4 rather than along the back edge of the box, you can plant the peas on both sides of the trellis. If the trellis is on the back edge, you could plant the peas along the back edge of the square and then front half of those squares with something else ... good small plants for a spring garden are leaf lettuces, spinach, radish, beets, green onion. Read the package on your peas, they don't mind being squashed together. My sugar snap peas say they can be planted 1" apart from each other, so that could be 10-12 in a row one foot long (your square) with room at the front of that square for other small things. Or, it could be 2 rows of 10-12 (a row on each side of the trellis if the trellis straddles the square). I have heard some people plant their peas almost touching.

    The zucchini will get very large. It could take up 4+ squares all by itself. I suggest moving it to square 4 and tying it to the trellis to keep it vertical (IF there is enough room for the leaves to go thru and stick out the back side of the trellis and room for leaves to grow out over side of box). This way, much of the leaves are growing out over the side and back of the box and not taking up your interior room. I have used pieces of pantyhose to tie zucchini and yellow straight or crookneck summer squash to a stake, which is similar to tying it to a trellis. Here are a couple threads on growing the bush squashes vertically ...
    http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/sqfoot/msg0514444811976.html
    http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/sqfoot/msg0310241914233.html
    P.S. I think most 'winter squash' are vining and can be trellised

    Cucumber is good and grows great up the trellis. It or the peas can go next to the zucchini as they will get much taller much faster. I would prob recommend peas in squares 1 and 2, then cuke in 3. Once the peas are done, it will be easier to replace them with something else if they are together in squares 1 & 2.

    Lettuce could be good in square 7 and Spinach in square 8 as they will appreciate the shade provided by the zucchini leaves once it starts getting hotter and it could extend your season some. Of course, that may not be a problem at all in San Francisco. Here in NC, we can have *average* highs of 80 in May & Sep with 90 average and records 100+ in June July Aug. It's a completely different climate here than there !! The California Gardening forum may be able to help you more with what to plant and when. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/calif/

    Typically, your peas, carrots, and spinach are spring veggies and do not like the heat (as well as lettuces, radish, beets, green onion). Once they are done, you could fill those holes with green beans ... there are 2 types, those that grow up a vine (trellis) and those that are 'bush' beans that stay compact. Your summer veggies are pepper, tomato, okra, cuke, melons, squash, beans, eggplant.

    Be sure to read the FAQ section (linked at the top of the Square Foot Garden forum home page) ... http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/sqfoot/. Every forum will have a different set of FAQs so there could also be FAQs on the California forum. Also, do lots of searches using the search box at the bottom of each forum's home page.

    1-Snow Peas (8-12) replace when done with Vining Beans
    2-Snow Peas (8-12) replace when done with Vining Beans
    3-Cucumber (1)
    4-Zuccini (1)
    5-Carrots (16) replace when done with Bush Beans
    6-Strawberry (3)
    7-Lettuces?(4)
    8-Spinach (9)

  • loreleie
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Angela you are AWESOME! Thank you so so much! I haven't put the trellis up yet so I'll put in the middle of the squares and plant lots of snow peas, cukes and move zuccini to 4.
    I already did 6,7,8 w/ carrot, spinach, strawberry and have lettuces in pots so I think radish maybe for 5 or more spinach.
    Thanks again Angela!

  • angela12345
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You are so welcome. I know there is so much to learn when gardening. I used to think it was easy, LOL. If you already have spinach in 6 and going to do more spinach in 5, you could put zucchini in 1 then cuke then peas in 3 & 4. Just a reverse of my original suggestion so the zucchini could still shield the spinach on hot days. Good Luck !! Come back to this thread and post pics !!

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