Hello all, been doing the SFG for jsut over a year and after lurking past couple of weeks i thought id share some things Ive learned maybe to help the newbies out.

Originally i built my box out of 2x10s, and it worked great, this year i decided i wanted to move the box, and after removing the soil, i noticed something had been eating the inside of the box. That something looked like a huge grub, with jaws. turned out it was stag beetle larvae, which arent bad, unless you have decaying wood near by. so yesterday after lurking more, i decided to build my new box out of Trex. I used the 1x6 on top of each other and connected the boards using strong ties. so far it looks wonderful and should last a lifetime. the total cost was a little on the pricy side, just under 100$ total for the boards, the strong ties and decking screws, and 2 bags of garden soil.

2nd lesson learned, i planted my tomatoes in the middle of the box, looked great, however, they blocked the majority of sun from the other plants, which may have led to the lack of watermelons.

3rd lesson learned, green beans, i only used one section for green beans, this year well be planting 3 sections staggered by a week or 2 apart to maintain a steady stream of fresh green beans.

4th, i left the garden uncovered this winter, mainly as i was propagating some young mums in the box over the winter, and consequently, i had some young oaks starting to take root as well. this year ill be covering the box with a screen to avoid unwanted plants from starting.

5th- strawberries, they grew wonderfully, however, because they were so close to the ground, the rabbits/other rodents enjoyed them much more than we did. the benefit was however i was able to stem root the original plants in the garden and in turn now have 9 plants. in pots. safe(r) from rabbits

anyways, sorry for the long read, just wanted to share a few of my lessons

Matt