I have added a pea support for my peas. It was built with left over strips cut for the Arbour.

I started to did out the other side of the Arbour.
Have I mentioned the rocks?

I spent the afternoon that day digging out the bank to the left of the Arbour and found out it was nothing but a big ant hill.

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Now sure if I should try and do anything about the ants. My instinct is to just leave them alone.

And that brings the square foot garden to date. This garden is pretty much pure square foot garden but I two other garden areas on the property that are becoming square foot influenced.

Oh and I have had help doing this...

JD says "Wake me up when it is time to go home (or eat)!"
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Sam says "It is too hot right now I will just take a break while you keep working...!"

Hmmmmm maybe they aren't much help after all...

Does it help to know that you've done a fabulous job? Looks great!

Maureen

Thank you so much for sharing.

I will be doing this shortly in preparation for next year, and this gives me a lot of motivation!

It came out wonderful.

PS, did you follow any plans for the arbor? Or are you one of those people who can just start with a few pieces of wood and some nails and build something like that?

(If that's the case I hate you!)

"PS, did you follow any plans for the arbor? Or are you one of those people who can just start with a few pieces of wood and some nails and build something like that?"

Ok be prepared to hate me. I rarely use a plan.

The arbour was designed to be make of a maximum of 10 2x4x8. I ended up using 9 as follows.

It is 4 feet wide on the outside and 27 inches deep and 7 feet high.

4 each - cut to 7 ft corner posts, use the 1 foot left overs by cutting 45 degrees on each and then support the header.

2 each - cut to 5 ft for front and back headers using 30 degrees end cuts. Use the two 3 ft left overs for the header cross pieces. rip them 1 3/8" wide. You will get 6 pieces. Also cut these end 30 degrees.

1 each - used for the 2 foot cross pieces on the side.(actually 1/8" shy of two feet for the saw cut) The cross pieces are place 5' 6" apart so that when I rip the slats I can be one horizontal and one vertical from each 8 foot piece.

2 each - ripped into 11/16" square strapping which is 1/2 a 2x4 less the 1/8" saw kerf(which is really 1 1/2 x 3 1/2) )

This took about 3-4 hours max to put together.

I crown stapled and used outdoor glue on the slats and made spacers to space them properly. (just a couple of short pieces of scrap).

I was going to make a fancy one with gingerbread etc but I just did not want to take the time. Also there is another arbour going on the opposite side fence so that I can get down to a small patch of corn that I planted beside the square foot garden so fancy ones would be twice as time consuming.

If I did it again elsewhere I would use a 2x6 for the header.

Opps I lied the header cross supports are 1 inch wide not 1 3/8...

That's good stuff, dude! You should be very proud of your acomplishments. And I thought building mine by myself was difficult.....Good job

EG

WOW!! that is very awesome!! i'm so amazed at that!! your' pretty lucky that you can just build things! right off the top of your head! that's so awesome!! and i love your garden!! you did an awesome job on that!! :') ~Medo

Great job! Looks absolutely fantastic! Love the pea support idea (I'm going to use that for my new pea/pole bean living privacy fence).

Not surprised about the rocks, however. After all, you are living on a massive rock in the middle of the ocean.

:-)

"Not surprised about the rocks, however. After all, you are living on a massive rock in the middle of the ocean."

That is true :) You have to blame my wife for that as she dragged me here! I am a CFA (Come from Away!).

Working on adding boxes.

Your garden rocks! I'm also in awe at your ability to put things together.

you are one determined gardener! that is really inspiring to see all your efforts. thank you for sharing.

Got another box in 8x3 which will allow me to get my turnips in.

I added a potato bin but this is very late so I will see what happens.

So Hootie is just not doing a good job. Look at the top of the Arbour.

Since I put the fence around the garden the stupid crows sit on it and crap into the garden so Hootie was hired.

I also have a sq ft box of corn and beans which is doing very well. I planted this two weeks before our last frost and used plastic mulch and it is doing well. It was planted May 25 and is Earlivee which is a 57 day corn so it is behind its schedule but for us it is great as we had a very cold spring.

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Some other corn I planted on June 19th in regular rows is blowing over from the stupid wind...Sigh....

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Also my better half pointed out to me that we have had a sq ft flower garden since before we knew what they were.
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At home in Paradise (I live in the town of Paradise) we had a rocky little incline and put in a walkway. Then I built these boxes into the side of the hill in order to put in individual plants. They are 12 wide and 16 long.

The corn is doing really well. Some Stalks have 3 heads forming. Every stalk has at least one sucker and one has 4 suckers with tassels and silks forming which may produce 6 heads if time holds out.

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There are beans interspersed among the corn. It looks nice with the scarlet runner beans.
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This is in another area that I am doing Square foot gardening but not as strictly. I started off with 1 box corn, 1/2 box beans in two boxes, 1/2 box carrots some peas and onions.

I thought no point in putting in grids as they were mass planted. Of course I had varmints eating the beans and ended up sticking in cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, char etc. as plants disappear and they now look more like a varied square foot box.

This area is also a work in progress and I am not sure if I will keep the boxes here once I finish off the square foot garden area. It also had a ton of work done last year to prepare the area. I am still pulling metal out of the dirt!

Wowsers, I'm inspired!

What is a potato bin? how does that work?

Quote: "What is a potato bin? how does that work? "

Something that I had never heard of before coming here.

There are several long treads on here if you search for Potato Bins.

Link on the bottom will get you started and then the last posts will tell you the other potato bin threads that continue.

Mine have just broken surface but I was very late so I will see what happens.

Here is a link that might be useful: Potato Bin Thread..

I swore I posted to this Mike, but you are amazing! I love what you've done with the place! And I see familiar pink silks on that corn, is it Precocious? And that potato bin thread... mixed feelings about that one. So many people tried them because I was so excited about them (still am btw), but those folks didn't have much luck with them. Seems climate has more to do with the success of potatoes than how you grow them... go figure.

Thanks for sharing the progression pics. I did the same on my blog, but yours is MUCH MUCH better. Wow is all I can say! Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

Quote: "And I see familiar pink silks on that corn, is it Precocious? "

No it is Earlivee. This is supposed to 57 days but I planted this May 25 which is close to 2 weeks before our last frost date. I have it covered in plastic to keep it warm. June was cold for use but it plodded along.

I got the seed from Vesseys seeds and it treated. Has about 99% germination rate.

Here is a history of the box with dates...

Here is a link that might be useful: Earlivee Corn from Vesseys

We have had 2 weeks of terrible weather, No sun at all. Just drizzle and rain. I have only made it out to the garden twice and it is getting eaten by critters.

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My tomato plant is looking not good.

The potatoes are starting to grow.

Did I mention that I grow rocks real well!

My helper loves the dirt! And my wife wonders why he comes back home so dirty all the time!

I planted a mixture of grass seed and clover and white clover.

The Corn is looking good!!

I finally got the area around two of the boxes leveled and seeded.

Mike, you are incredible! I have been researching square foot gardens so I will know what I'm doing next summer. THANKS so much for all the great pics and details, I hope this thread doesn't go anywhere between now and next summer.

I had checked out Sinfonian's earlier and was also impressed, and I would like to thank him too ( will go back to his link to make sure he knows I appreciate it too).

I think you DID mention something about rocks, lol. A time or two...:)

We had a big storm and the corn in the Sq Ft Box blew over.
I started a post in the Vegetable forum about this and to keep comments on recovery over there. We had a bad storm, 50mm of water and 90 km/hr winds.

Topped up the potato Bin with dirt.

Here is a link that might be useful: Post On Corn Fallen over in Vegetable forum

mike in paradise, I'm so sorry about your corn! I was just reading my old Victory Garden book, and the same thing happened to them the first year. Crockett said they staked the corn back up and pushed the soil back around the roots. The corn never stood straight, but they got a normal harvest.

Your place is so beautiful. Just remember, you learn by your failures. Next year you'll know more what NOT do do.

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Darn it we had another bad day yesterday and I had to fix the corn again today but it was not as bad.

I checked one of the cobs and ended up picking it and having it for supper. At least I can say I got one corn even if it all blows away tomorrow.

It still needs another week or so.
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Some of my rows on the hill had blown over but not too bad and I was able to stick most of them back in.

I trimmed some trees and bush and chipped it up and put it between the boxes in the Sq Ft garden.

This is two bags worth and I end up putting 6 bags on it.

Box 1

Box 2

Box 3

Opps forgot to mention that in box 3 you can notice that something has eaten lots of the cabbage and char but obviously does not like the turnip.

Oh and I have this neat plant up in the woods that I noticed this year for the first time and it is Indian pipe, or Corpse plant or Ghost flower. It is translucent and has no green to it all all. I have them all over the place this year in some areas up in the bush that I cleared.

A blurb about this plant from the MUN university Botanical gardens website:

One of the more interesting botanical denizens that you see here is the Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora). Non-chlorophyllous, this ghostly white plant only emerges above ground in late summer to flower and fruit. Otherwise, it spends its time underground as rhizomes and roots that absorb the products of decay. It is consequently termed a saprophyte.

Down beside my creek I am slowly putting in another set of boxes. This is very sandy soil and I have really had to add peat moss, manure and compost to it.

Even though I have a strawberry patch I am going to try to put some berries in these and compare results to the patch.
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Moose regularly walk by this area so I am going to have to get a fence around it at some point.

Lots of flowers but all male on my cucumbers. I have 8 plants and the all look like this...The package does not say that male and female are separate plants.

Peas are doing well....

Added another ring to the potato bin

Corn looks better in this picture than it does up close..

Put in a bed on each side of my bench that I can sit up on the hill and look down on the square foot garden.

I love your bench! I have a large dog kennel that never did get used by the puppies (they were always on our laps, who needed a kennel? LOL), so I moved it to the corner of the yard and integrated it into the garden area. I removed the chain link on one side, and partially on another side for garden access, and I plan on planting peas up one side and pole beans on another, creating a bit of a shady arbor for a garden bench so I can just sit and watch the garden grow.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Slowing working on the outside boxes.

Here is a view from the outside corner that is done.

View down the first aisle.
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I had planted this pear tree a couple of years ago here as it was out of the way at the time. The moose cut it back over the winter but it is coming back and I am going to have to move it out of the garden in the fall.
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Sam is doing his daily inspection.
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I added a 3rd ring to the potato bin.
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The boxes are coming good. I have been getting lots of lettuce from them and some beans and Swiss char.
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You can see the SqFt garden at the top of the hill. My corn on the hill has recovered. No pumpkins yet and there are 8 plants there including 3 Atlantic Giants.
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I took 2 more corn from the box for supper tonight and there were full size but they were the only 2 in the box that size. I hope it keeps growing after the blow down.
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And here is my dining room. This is where I go down by the creek and eat. We barbecued some corn in the husk here on the week-end and it was great so we are getting a few cobs out of the blown down corn box every couple of days.

AnniesGrannie...That is a good Idea for a pea trellis.

Our second dog is a stray that I took into the SPCA after he came around the house for a week in the winter. We told them not to put him down but to call us first and six weeks later we had a second dog.

I went and bought a big cage for him as I had no idea what he would be like in the house. He climbed up on the bed with me and has slept there ever since. The cage has not been used 1 time so I know how you feel. I lent it to a friend with a new puppy and finally sold it.

We have a problem on the island with people using beagles and such for hunting dogs during the fall and then just letting them go loose once they are done with them. We found out from our papergirl that JD belonged to a girl she went to school with that moved off the island at Christmas time and I guess they just left him loose.

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Thank you for giving JD a good home. There must be a special place in Heaven for those who rescue our furry friends and give them a lifetime of love, a love that they somehow manage to return to us tenfold.

Your place is very beautiful. It looks so serene.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

It is funny as I read about everyone transitioning to the fall gardens as our stuff is just coming in to harvesting.

I got more cabbage. Lots of green beens on those plants that survived. I figure only about 20% of the been plants made it, maybe less.

I have been slowing getting corn out of the square foot box that fell down but my other corn is just cobbing now and the stalks seem pretty short. I have gotten about 12 cobs out of the box and the rest is coming along.

I built another 4x8 box (still using up the free wood from my neighbour) for the garden down by the creek but did not get it installed.

My helper chipped up some more wood for me!

The chipper works ok for what it is but sure wish I had a bigger faster one!

Mike, great pics. Cute dogs! Glad you saved that one. Looks like a doll!

And great chipper. We've got a much smaller and older one. Those cost a fortune! Looks like you get a lot of use out of it though. And those wood chips will make a great mulch for around your beds! They even look like your other pathway mulch. If only my chipper made gravel, hehe.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

Quote: If only my chipper made gravel, hehe.

That is what the creek is for...

I harvest it regularily. The creek is mild mannered most of the time but about 6 times a year we get huge rainfalls and when we do the creek either fills up with gravel or passes it downs stream so I try to get it first. :)

Hard work but the price is right!

OMG, you live in a outdoors paradise! I would love to live where you do. Great views, hills and woodlands, and a creek! My kids would have SO much fun there.

How much land do you have?

And hard work is no biggie if you get something great out of it. Sounds like you do and then some!

EG, I already have dibs on moving in with Mike, so butt out. That place is pure heaven, huh?

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Paradise has its disadvantages...

Snow for one...

This has been typical of the last 4 years of my driveway at home...The snow blower struggles to get it to the top of the bank.

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This a view from my living room window...

Of course the view is nice.

Quote: How much land do you have?

The lot is 5 acres but I do not yet live out there and it is a 1/2 hour drive from the house. Currently there is only an old cabin there. We will build one day.

The university is just putting in a world class Oceanic institute in the blue plant across the street. They just got a million dollar grant and have already put in class rooms. Not sure what this is going to do for traffic and noise.

The view from the front of the ocean is nice and the town just extended the board walk with a set of steps down to the beach. (Have I mentioned the rocks?)

This is the ocean front as in the above picture

Here it is April 2007 when the ice pack was in..

Or when you are working and hear a boat horn and look up to see a big ship. Not a lot come in the bay but there will be more in the future with the Marine Institute.

Here is last nights supper all from the square foot garden.

Beans, Peas, Corn on the cob and then I made Bhaji using onions, zucchini and yellow beans.

The yellow bean Bhaji was amazing as I was just experimenting as I usually only make Onion Bhaji.

Today we harvested lots of squares and I pulled out stuff I did not think would make it. I finally moved the composter up from another area and stuck in the the SqFt Garden. I will have to move it again once the garden boxes are finished.

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Finally got a flower on the big sunflower in the SqFt Garden.

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Beautiful! But the snow...Arizona for the winter is looking better & better!

What is Bahji? Can you sneak a recipe in here? Would it be too off topic? We NEVER do off topic here ;-) but it IS your thread!

We have twin composters. I'm going to move mine today, not looking forward to that...it hasn't turned anything into compost yet.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I knew someone would ask for the recipe. I like to cook Indian food (and my wife loves to eat Indian food) so this uses lots of Indian spices.

Onion Bhaji Recipe:

1 Large Sweet Onion
1 Cup Chick Pea Flour
2 Tbsp Rice Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Cumin
¾ tsp Turmeric
¾ tsp Coriander
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp Cheyenne pepper
1/3 cup water (use ½ and then as need to get the desired consistency)

Cut up the Onion into small ¼ inch pieces
(or cube zucchini or yellow beans or whatever)

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add the water slowly until you get a thick pasty texture.

Add the mixture slowly to the onions in another bowl until well coated but so they stick together for a fritter. (If you have to error then do it on the thicker side!)

Pour ¼ inch or so of vegetable oil in a pan and heat as you would for frying.

Drop a piece of onion in batter and when it starts to fry, using two spoons take a spoonful of the Bhaji mixture and drop in the pan using the second spoon to take it off the first one.

Fry until bottom is brown and then turn-over.

Place on a plate covered with paper towels and serve at once.

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Gee and so the Forum police don't come and take me off to the huscow ;)

I will even add a picture of my cucumbers that finally are showing some female flowers.

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TY for the recipe...where on earth can one find chick pea flour? Can I grind my own, in the blender, from dried chick peas?

Cute little girls you have there ;-) They'll be cucumbers before long.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Mike - that truly is a beautiful place you have there! I wouldn't be able to live in a cold place like that, though. I'll just stay here in Bama, and grow the warm weather veggies. lol

Granny - did you notice Mike's stove pic? That is a nice one. All those veggies looked really good!

EG

Here is a link that might be useful: EG's Gardening blog

Granny If I can buy chick pea flower here you should be able to find it. I get mine at the Bin Store, which is store which carries bulk candies, spices, baking goods etc. I am celiac which means I am not supposed to eat wheat so I have lots of different flours. You can also look in the organics section of the supermarket and health food stores.

It has a bunch of different names:

From Wikipedia:

Gram flour is a flour made from ground chickpeas.[1] It is also known as chana flour (Indian), besan (Hindi), kadala maavu (Tamil), "Senaga Pindi" (Telugu), kadale hittu (Kannada), chickpea flour, garbanzo flour and harina de garbanzo (Spanish). Used in many countries, it is a staple ingredient in Indian cuisine, and, in the form of a paste with water or yoghurt, a popular facial exfoliant in India and Pakistan.

EG. We get a lot of snow and wind and storms but it is not actually that cold as far as actual temperature. Snow is strange as we get a lot of it but then we can get a lot of rain and it goes quickly. What is really bad is 2 feet of snow that turns into rain at the end. It is really miserable to move. Many years snow doesn't stay on the ground until the middle of January.

The biggest gardening problem is that we also never get real hot and not a lot of sunshine so stuff takes a much longer time to grow.

I had to pull out some cabbage that was just destroyed in the last 4 days by cabbage worms. I had a 3 x 12 box filled with them and they not worth trying to save this late.

As I was doing this this partridge flew into the High Bush Cranberry tree about 10 feet from me.

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He stood still and let me take his picture.

I put 75 strawberry plants in the box.

Next year I am going to have to get some floating row covers for the cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower as seem so have way more pest damage in the SqFt garden then with the traditional garden.

Continuing harvesting.. pulled most of the remaining peas and beans. Zucchini, a decent sized carrot for coleslaw.

Still pulling some corn from the the blown down box but it is very small and once down did not finish pollinating properly. My other traditional rows of corn will be touch and go to product before frost.

That one little clove of garlic made the car smell all the way home!

I think the garden is a month behind.

Peppers , cucumbers and pumpkins are just starting to set fruit now. I doubt very much that I will end up with much.

Here are the two Strawberry boxes..

We missed most of the remnants of Hanna as they went to the west of us but still go a good bit of rain. Creek is high.

Those strawberry boxes are looking mighty good, Mike! I hope I have one that looks like that next spring.

I have some late-planted plants that just will not have time to mature before it freezes. My red bell peppers will mostly be picked green, and they have been in the ground since May, through hot weather. They were just really late bloomers this year. Some are just now blooming, even though they got nearly 3 feet tall and look really healthy. My last planting of carrots won't make it, and I'm wondering about my pole beans, as they have yet to even blossom. Oh well, maybe next year.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Granny's Blog

Ok I am going to stop posting in this Post and continue in Part 2 in the following Link...

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 2

Update the links to the posts..

My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 1

My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 2

My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 3

I am starting a part 4
My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 1
My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 2
My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 3
My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 4

Mike,
I just wanted to say that you have inspired hubby and I to do sfg. We have plowed and are getting ready to buy the wood. Your design is what we are copying. Mainly to keep our dog out along with the few critters and rabbits. We have a huge fenced in yard so that should help some. We plan to dig down to keep moles and other things out. I plan to make 4 boxes about 10 in high to give the roots more depth. your is amazing and I could only imagine what you could do if you had a longer season. Luckily we do :)

What a great garden!
I think I have arbor envy.(sigh)