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polly_il

Tell me about your square foot garden!

polly_il
21 years ago

I love to talk about my garden, but even more; I love to read about other folk's gardens! So, tell me about your garden, and I'll tell you about mine!

I have a series of raised bed garden sections that are worked in the square foot method. I amend my soil with compost, manures and other organic matter each year; sometmes using lasagne layering in specific beds. Some beds, I turn with a spading fork - usually the ones that I'm planning to plant seeds in; other beds I just plant as is, without turning the soil.

I live on a small farm in a decidedly rural area; at the end of a dead end road. My Pop, who lives with us, didn't quite understand raised bed gardening - "You got 30 bleep-blap acres out there! Why you think you got to grow grub in little bitty boxes?" was one of his more memorable statements! He's starting to come around a bit now, though; since he's seen the results. In fact, he's coming around a bit TOO much; as he's starting to take over my garden - telling me what I need to plant, and where and when and how. Can't complain too much, though; as he is a great one for pulling weeds!

My garden is in three 27'x27' sections; beginning at the south end of the side yard, near the road; and running north. All beds have wooden sides to them; made from rough cut 2x8's. Each section of garden is separated from the other sections by a 6' wide pathway of wood chips over cardboard. I love the woodchips for rainy season accessability! The all season, wide pathways allow me to bring in a small tractor and cart of amendments; and also makes my garden more handicapped accessible. The gardens are also surrounded with a 3' wide path of wood chips over cardboard. I am considering planting daylillies or some other perennial flowers on the outer edges of this path in the future.

The first section has a 3x3 bed in the center; surrounded by 2 sets of 4, boomerang shaped beds. Then center bed has 9 sqft of planting area; the 1st set of surrounding beds have 27 sqft of planting area each; and the 2ns set of surrounding beds have 63 sqft of planting area each. My beds in this area are each 3' wide; as are the pathways between the beds. I chose the 3' width because I am somewhat short and a bit more than somewhat plump - I hoped that I would be able to reach to plant and care for them comfortably. I discovered that I could have gone 4' without difficulty. This area has been planted to all vegetables in the past, but I am moving more to perennial plantings - such as rhubarb, and asparagus; and Pop would be delighted if we made it in to an ornamental grass, flower and herb garden. He just might get his wish!

Section 2 of the garden has an 8'x8' tea house/grape arbor sitting in a diamond shape in the center; surrounded by a 3' wide wood chipped pathway, and then 4 pentagonal beds. The beds are 12' on each outer side, with 4 1/2' legs and an 11 1/2' front; encompassing about 115 sqft of planting area each. In each of these beds is a dwarf peach tree, underplanted with nasturtiums (to help protect against borers) and June-bearing strawberries. Rhubarb and bee-balm also share these beds. There are 2 - 12" square stepping stones in each bed to allow for weeding.

Section 3 of the garden is still under construction. In the center is a large box (8x8) made of landscape timbers. This box will have a bench seat put around the perimeter; and will contain a small pond - this will hopefully be completed next year. This box is surrounded by - you guessed it! - a wood chip path. Then there are 10 raised beds, each 4x4 arranged in a square around the center box. The beds were used this past season for growing larger amounts of certain vegetables for preserving; but will be planted next year for fresh use crops, to make up for the loss of the 1st section to perennials.

I cannot expand my garden any farther to the north, as I have a clothesline at that edge. However, I DO have room to expand to the east, and will probably do so - just as soon as I can figure out a design that will complement the rest of the garden. I need more room for multiple tomato plants; pole beans and larger crops such as zucchini and cucumber. I would also like to figure out a way to put my chicken house in that area, so the birds could forage the garden in the off season (they're heck on those wood chips paths, tho!) Sweet corn, melons and pumkins are grown in an area about 1 acre in size, to the east of the garden; and will remain there, as we grow large amounts of these crops. I hope to plant about 16 more dwarf fruit trees next year, as well as raspberries and blackberries.

I use Mel's spacing in my garden beds; tho sometimes with a twist. For example - in a 3x9 bed I planted: a double row of snap peas down the center of the bed, 7 broccoli to each side of the peas, and radishes to the outside of the beds. Red cabbage this year went in a 3x3 bed - 8 heads on 12" spacing, with a salvia in the center square; green cabbage ditto. I planted okra on 12" centers down the center of a 3x9 bed; planting peppers on offset 12" centers in front of the okra; and taking advantage of the shade provided by the okra to plant late season squares of spinach and lettuce behind the okra. I do follow his recommedation to plant crops that grow on different levels together to take better advantage of your soil.

For spacing, all of the boards around my beds are marked at 1' intervals - this makes it quite easy to plop a yardstick across the bed for proper spacings. One trick that a friend taught me, that I have used with great success, is to pre-plant my garden squares. I use mostly brown kraft tri-fold paper towels for this - they are 8"x8" and I can fit 16 of them in my 3' wide beds per 3' length. They are also very inexpensive and break down well in the soil. I have also used regular paper towels (11"x11") and toilet paper (for rows) as the base in this method. Using Mel's recommended spacings; I made templates of poster board, and use them to mark the towels. I put dots of Elmer's washable glue on the towels at the appropriate spacings; then drop a seed into the glue and set them aside to allow them to dry. By working out my garden plan in the early to mid winter; I can spend those "late winter/early spring I'd kill to get out in the garden and it's still too early to even start seeds indoors" days engaged in a form of gardening by preparing my pre-planted seed squares. This saves me a lot of time in the main spring planting season; as I can prep and plant a 3x3 bed in ten minutes or so: I take a barrow about half full of compost to the bed to be planted. I turn the soil in the bed with a spading fork, tossing some of the larger clods and a shovel or two of soil onto my compost grater ( 1/2" hardware cloth on a 2x2 frame) that is sitting over the barrow. I sift the soil into the barrow and mix it in with the compost; then rake the bed smooth, lay down my squares and cover them to the appropriate depth with the sifted soil from the barrow. I tack a pre-cut section of chicken wire over the beds to keep the cats from digging up the squares, give it a bit of a drink, and - TA-DAH! - it's done! The towels seem to help prevent any weed seeds that are below them from germinating or pushing through, but do not provide any resistance to the roots growing down through them from the planted seeds. This makes it soooo easy to plant beds of mixed greens for salads; or to companion or succession plant in small areas.

Wow! This has turned from a note about my garden into a dissertation! Hope you all don't mind! I'd sure like to hear about your gardens as well - current or planned!

Comments (110)

  • polly_il
    Original Author
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Now Ray - I'm not going to make any promises about Chard in E. Texas! I was talking Illinois - we just get miserably hot, not blisteringly hot like you folks do!

  • frankcassiesmom
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is my first SFG but we are going for it! We have 5 4x12' beds. And one 2x12' bed used solely for verticals. On the North side of 2 of my 4' wide beds I also have trellises. I have one planted now and will be doing more this week. The one has tomatoes, peppers, okra, kale, chard, spinach, radishes, french breakfast radishes, baby carrots, coreless carrots, loads of types of lettuce, beets, green onions, marigolds, and.. I think that's it for that bed. One bed will be herbs only - loads of basil as I want lots of pesto in the freezer this year. One bed will solely be BIG things like zuchinni and melon. I know, go vertical. Just not this year. I am so enjoying hearing about other's gardens!

    Kim

  • Ray Scheel
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Polly:
    I'll see how it does. I've got squares of chard planted in a mix of conditions from full sun on the south end of a bed to just north of a wall of tomatillios. Even if it just resists bolting for just a month longer than the lettuce and lets me replant as soon as the heat breaks I'll be happy. Either way, I'll be planting less lettuce this fall.

  • Blind_Aquilegia
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Computer isn't "voicing" what I write, so I'm writing blind. Frustrating that it sometimes works ...

    Just letting folks that I jumped the hurdle ... took the plunge ... planted my first sfg square!! Funny thing is that it's a lot like any kind of planting! Discovered that my hand is exactly 4" wide at the palm knuckles. Useful for measuring horses and "eyeballing" ... hmmmm handballing? ... spacing for sfg. I'm also using my husband's metal T square. It creates a perfect corner frame for the square I'm working on and one edge is 1' long.

    Working on my 4' x 5' bed, I put marigolds at all four corners. Will be putting scarlet Charlotte chard in the middle row of the bed, raddish (icicle), Oh, yes, I also put in some lettuce seedlings ... 3 sqs. I've got a sq for parsley and one for basil. Somewhere in there will be a square with 12 onion seedlings ...

    Thanks for all the help!
    Charlotte

  • lilion
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My goodness, do you realize this post started in October 2002! What a long time to keep one going!

    I am a lurker, seldom posting these days. But I see I posted back when this post was new. Unfortunately, I never did get my garden made. This year, however, I am (weather permitting) one weekend away from having a bed. Not what I intended, this is going to be a 17 foot long, 2 foot wide, bed, with a trellis running the whole 17 feet. (yes, it's a privacy screen.) My plan, at least this year, is to grow some cucumbers, maybe some melons and some runner beans for color and flowers on the trellis. Then I can put shorter veggies in front. Not exactly the standard square-foot bed, but hopefully it'll do.

  • shava
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We just moved, so I'm starting over, pretty much -- but I have an 8x24' community garden plot. Since I'm inheriting someone else's abandoned mess, there's a lot of clean-up work, and I'm only just starting on it...!

    Last weekend, I went to the Rebuilding Center, a wonderful building materials salvage place here in Portland, OR. There I found sixteen (exactly!) lengths of 2x6" cedar tongue and groove, a buck a board! It was like they knew I was coming...!

    Now, I don't do Mel's method exactly, and frankly I don't have the funds to build up my soil as I'd like this year. But what I'll have is this:

    4 raised beds, 3x6' buried about three inches into the ground and rising 9", filled with a mix of soil, compost and perlite (I like vermiculite better, but it costs about 25% more here).

    From south to north, the plantings are:

    A trench of peas

    A huge inherited wasteful but lovely rhubarb plant, flanked by a couple of artichokes (which won't shade out my beds much since my beds are in the middle 6' of the 8' beds. I'm planting strawberries around the foot of the rhubarb, some June- and some ever-bearing.

    One bed in small roots and greens.

    One bed in coles.

    Two beds in bush squash, peppers, eggplant, okra, and all those hot-loving but unvertical things.

    Then, there's my great fun project! At the end of the bed, I'm running two trenches, one running N/S at the West edge, and one running E/W perpendicular to the S end of the N/S pole, so the whole thing is like a right angle with the point on the SW. I found a bunch of abandoned 4" aluminum conduit pieces that someone had actually decorated (assumedly for an arbor) and then chucked. So I'm making a little arbor/garden room.

    Beyond the trench area for all the viney things (cukes, tomatoes, runner beans, jack-be-little pumpkin) I'm going to put down a carpet remnant, and put a couple folding chairs and a rubbermaid tote for storage and for a table. So on hot days, mid-summer, we'll have a shady arbor garden room to relax in between forays into the sun.

    Besides the community garden plot, my landlord's given me approval to garden a sunny strip opposite our parking area for the four-plex. There's already rosemary, oregano, spearmint (which I care for not at all), and lovage (which I have fallen in love with -- I always wanted a celery that was all leaves, and this one's six feet tall and care-free!), plus some daffodils and a buddeleia and various bits.

    I'm cleaning out the incredible amounts of grass and some of the spearmint, trimming back the rosemary, and tieing up the sprawling buddeleia, and Doug's buying me a number of 6' trellises to run up the wall.

    In this case, my SFG is almost like container gardening. The strip goes about 8" down and hits concrete. In places where I'm planting things to eat, I'm trenching and filling with a light raised-bed style mixture. But for some of the tolerant herbs (like the spearmint) I'll probably go light on the amendments just for cost's sake.

    At the foot of this 3' wide strip, I'm planting Italian and curly parsley, cilantro, peppermint (which I love to use in tabouli and other salads as well as tea), lettuce-leaf wrapping basil and pesto basil, and a few other things. I'm also planting a border of nasturtiums in front of the rosemary bush to set of the dark green evergreen foliage, and to mulch the roots a bit.

    On the trellises, I'm planting kuri squash, bitter melon, armenian cukes, and probably a couple yummy green- and orange-fleshed melons.

    In some wild little corners of the yard, I'm transplanting some borage from the inherited community garden plot, planting a horseradish plant, a dwarf blueberry, and a couple other little spots of edible landscaping.

    Being unemployed at the moment, I'm trying to do this on seeds from last year and leftover bags of amendments as much as possible. Of course, I hope to get a job soon, at which point I'll have far less time to garden -- but I hope by then I'll have all this set up so that I can do a fairly puttering routine to keep it going the rest of the summer.

    As a single mom, I love seeing what gardening has done for my 11-year-old son, who complains like the dickens about garden work, but always finds something "kule!" in every hour he's in the garden.

    If anyone in Portland happens to have a supply of manure, good compost, or whatnot that they could spare, I could surely use it this year!

    Thanks!
    Shava

  • redrac
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is my first garden in many years. I put it in to get my kids interested and I like to watch it grow. One 8X4 with corn carrots lettuce onions garlic green peppers tomatoes and soon cilantro.
    I'm planting the sweet corn and lettuce and cilantro about every two weeks. 1 4X4 all strawberries 2 8X2 for tomatoes cukes cantelope watermelon pumpkin and tomatillos next to a fence that I will hang some chicken wire on. Still need to plant a few habeneros and jalapenos and I am still trying to find some epizote and mexican oregano. The first corn is almost 4 feet tall already. SFG does work great, so far almost no weeds, although the mixture is still cool 4 inches down despite 80 degree average during the day. That will change soon and the peppers will like that. This is just a temporary garden since we will move sometime this year.

  • LUCKYLOU
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi
    My name is Lou and i have been doing raised bed gardening ever since i lost my Leg four years ago. I started with Chimney flue liners that i got on sale but they are made of Terra Cotta and to prevent water loss i painted the interior with swimming pool paint. They have worked for several years now. Recently i got turned on to the SFG method and it sounded good so i built two 4' X 4' raised beds from Cinder blocks and am now realy into it. I am in the process of building a PVC Grid that will serve as both a divider for my squares and an irrigation system. I recently posted a notice regarding the building of a tower for Pole Beans which offered free instructions on how to build one and i have already had numerous responses. I am planning on purchasing a few Well Casing sections which i will also use as raised beds next year I mix my own soil. using a combination of Top Soil, Peat Moss, 10=10-10, and Vermiculite (which i purchase at our local pool supply at 10.00 for a 25 Lb bag) I have a Craftsman Barrel Composter which is not very good as a composter (too small to generate required heat) so i use it for mixing all my ingredients and it works real well.
    Occasionally i visit the local Ukrops and they give me bags full of corn huskings and other throw away produce which i use in my Compost pile so i always have a good supply of fresh compost (By the way Vermiculite is also a good ingredient in the compost pile as it retains the moisture)
    Another good tip i wold like to pass on is my method of securing my vines to the trellises. I tried that green stuff they sell in the garden centers and have had some bad experience with it cutting into my veggies. As an alternative , i purchase the old style mop heads (the ones with all the nice cotton strings, you know, like Mom used to use. I simply remove the piece of fabric that holds them all together and and viola a bunch of nice tying strings.
    For most of my watering i use rainwater, i have the downspout of my house connected to a 35 gal. tank and from there it flows thru an underground well hose to a 250 gal tank behind my Garden I live in the county and well water gets very scarce during dry spells so i use my saved water. a good single rain fall will fill the tank easily.
    Some of the stuff i plant i buy right from the Grocery store, for example, I purchase one bunch of Elephant Garlic and break it up into individual cloves and just stick them in the ground, I do the same with Shallots, and onions. Be careful tho , you can't do it with Potatoes as they are treated with an anti growth chemical.
    Speaking of Potatoes, I am rather excited as i planted two Yukon Gold this year in one of my terra cotta planters and everytime i see green popping up i cover it up with soil and peat moss (I read about this method here on the forum) If they do well i am going to increase my planting next year.
    The last thing i want to address is the planting of those teenu, weeny seeds. a task that is nearly impossible for most of us. I developed a method of handling the problem. I purchases a roll of that white tissue banner material (at the local dollar store) then i get my seeds together with a roll of scotch tape and a pair of tweezers
    (Turn on the news while you do this) now take about a foot of the tape and place it upside down on the table, using the tweezers place one seed about every half inch, when finished, press a piese of the banner tissue on the tape so that the seed is sandwiched betwee the tape and the tissue. now take a scissors and separate the seeds now you have something big enough to easily plant at the garden site. The initial watering will distroy the glue on the tape very quickly and the tissue soon follows.

  • jgoldschmidt
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    you can read all about our garden here:
    http://www.nku.edu/~honorsprgm/garden/gardenlog.html
    two years worth of garden journals.
    we just finished round one of our squarefoot beds today... all that's left is mulching in the walkways and building trellises.

    -jim

  • bostonwolf
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm growing on my back porch (right behind the kitchen and it gets about 8-10 hours of sunlight so long as I keep the beds pushed up against the rail. I have two 4'x2' beds and am growing the following in the beds

    Nine tomatoes (all vining, mix of cherry and full sized)
    six leeks
    nasturtiums (sp) on each corner with some marigolds about to go in to keep the pests away a little bit
    two swiss chard (the colors are just phenomenal)
    several lettuces (iceburg, red sails, buttercrunch)
    hungarian yellow peppers (hot!)
    three pole beans and three bush beans
    genovese, sweet, and purple basil

    I was silly and did not mark off the square feet so my spacing is a bit off. I'll be fixing that for the replant because I have the feeling my garden could be much denser. I think that carrots, radishes, and some more lettuces will be in the fall crop.

    Also in various containers (some to stay on porch, some to go downstairs because they will need the room)

    Downstairs:
    Eggplant
    Zucchini
    Cucumbers
    yellow crookneck squash

    Upstairs

    A huge patio tomato plant that I could not resist at the local nursery, it has already set ten fruits with many more to come from the looks of it.

    Several jalapenos, a purple bell pepper, golden bell, and california wonder.

    Also attached to the railing are two more lettuces (thriving so far in the cool New England weather and full sun)a creeping rosemary that will come indoors come wintertime and a flowerbox planted with sage, chives, and catnip for the kitties.

    I'm hoping to get some pictures up once I get everything settled into its final arrangment

  • Violet_Skies_
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a 4' x 8' SFG built out of 2"x10" untreated pine, open bottom with deck screws at the corners. (Don't let anyone tell you it will rot it a year unless you use cedar --this is the third year for mine, and it still looks just fine!) I laid flattened cardboard boxes over the lawn, with some large stones underneath at one end to make it flatter-surfaced.

    The garden gets full sun all day, but I do have a problem with wind, as we live in a new subdivision without many houses or mature trees around us yet. I use a variety of clear plastic cut-off bottles and milk jugs to serve as wind protection when the plants are little. I gradually cut them lower so the plants can build up their strength against the wind.

    In the bed, I have: a raspberry bush in the upper left corner (which has grown and spread from one square to about four in a year, but that's OK by me--I will just prune the new canes out if it takes over too much). Next to that in the back top row, I have all radishes right now. Radishes are said to repel or kill bad nematodes, which hatch into the dreaded cucumber beetles. And, since they will be followed soon with cantaloupe, sugar baby watermelon, and cucumbers in that back row (trellis to be added later), I will leave several radish plants to bloom, to further repel those nasties as well as to attract beneficials.

    OK, so moving right along, the next row has snow peas (3 squares with a trellis down the center). Then 5 shallot plants...why five? Because I went crazy in April and put them (grown from seed under lights) outside too soon, and most of them froze and died. Ack!! Impatience is not a gardening virtue. Sharing the square with the shallots is a Cubanelle pepper plant, and the next square holds a Sheepnose pepper plant. (None of my hot pepper seeds germinated, so I guess we'll just have sweets this year.) Next to that, I have a series of six squares that have three tomato plants arranged in a triangular pattern, with Wall o' Waters on them for now; they are about 2 1/2' tall and look good. The varieties I am growing are Amish Paste, Eva Purple Ball, and Akers West Virginia (all heirloom varieties). In between the tomatoes, I have two plants of Genovese Basil and one of Lemon Basil.

    OK now in the next row, left to right, I have one square of Cilantro, one square of carrots, then three consecutive squares of Edamame (soybeans). Then you run into the tomato-basil area.

    In the front row, left to right, I have Italian Parsley and chives (formerly a huge mass that I just split up into little pots to sell at my plant sale), Mint and Oregano (both in their own plastic containers, bottoms cut out and then sunk into the SFG bed). Then four squares in a row that go: beets, lettuce, beets, lettuce. Varieties: Ruby Queen and Brilliant Blend beets, and Little Gem Cos and Cimmaron Cos lettuce. The final two squares have four rutabagas each.

    About 6 feet away from the SFG, I have a composter made from a black plastic trash can with holes punched all around. I have Red Swallowtail bush seedlings planted all around it which should eventually reach 4' tall, hide the can, and attract many butterflies with their pink blossoms.

    Ok, as if that wasn't enough, I also have a large planter where Delicata Bush winter squash and Empress of India nasturtiums have been planted. Besides this, many hostas, daylilies, and annual and perennial flowers, most in pots but some in the ground. I live in an apt and have a large cement deck. The front portion of it gets sun much of the day but the back is in shade. At the front of it I have two trellises which will be covered in Cypress Vine eventually...for hummingbirds. I have a lot of bird feeders too and the goldfinches are regulars.

    OK I think that's about everything...LOL I have so much fun gardening. I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it. I credit 90% of my success to gardenweb forums, which I discovered about 4 years ago. :-)

  • bostonwolf
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I finally have some pictures to share, here is a description of what's planted

    Planter Box 1

    Across the back (pictures are linked below)

    Tomatoes:
    Sweet Million (Cherry indeterminate)
    Supersweet 100
    Big Beef
    Beefsteak

    the front four squares from left to right

    2 Nasturtium Alaska (flowers)
    2 swiss chard
    six leaks
    genovese basil
    sweet basil
    purple basil
    three red sails lettuce
    two buttercrunch lettuce
    two iceberg lettuce
    mountain mint

    Planter Box 2

    Five tomatoes

    Beefsteak
    2 early girls
    jet star
    yellow pear

    One arugula (let me tell you that stuff grows FAST)
    Hungarian Wax Peppers
    3 Kentucky Blue pole beans
    3 Bush Blue Lake bush beans

    In pots

    Patio Tomato (I think it's beefsteak but am not sure, I bought it almost fully grown at a greenhouse)

    Golden Bell Peppers
    Purple Bell Peppers
    4 jalapeno peppers
    crookneck yellow squash

    In pots on holders over the railing to get more sun
    Red Sails lettuce
    Buttercrunch lettuce
    creeping rosemary (will come inside to winter)
    Grey Sage, chives, and catnip in a planter

    And soon to be moved to the backyard before they take over the porch

    Zucchini
    eggplant
    Straight 9 cucumbers
    (maybe one or two pepper plants)

    You'll notice I made the "mistake" of planting the tomatoes to the south (which is the general direction the porch faces) but this is the only way they'll get 8-10 hours of sun per day. As you can see the other veggies, mainly greens, are doing pretty well so far. I figure the tomatoes will eventually shade them during the summer and maybe help them avoid bolting.

    My landlord wasn't game for me doing the garden in the backyard and I really prefer it in back since it is literaly out my kitchen door. Couldn't be easier to maintain.

    Hopefully all the loose dirt and pots will be cleaned up by the time I take the next batch of pictures. Enjoy

    Jeff

  • ohb0b
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a "guerrilla garden" at work. We used to have a compant that supplied potted ficus trees and indoor plants in the office. They would come around once a week to water and take care of the plants. When we went bankrupt, one of the first things to go was this service. They just left all the plants behind, and most of the ficus trees died, until one of the secretaries "adopted" them, and managed to nurse a few back to life. But we lost three of them. We up-rooted them and saved the large pots.

    We put the pots out on the loading dock, and I put in tomatoes, peppers, and cukes. The cement reflects heat upward, creating a little micro-climate. Stuff I plant at work matures earlier and usually does better than what I grow at home. My boss says the garden is the most productive thing there.

    I also made a watering system I call the "Apollos I"; (I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase)

    I made a 7/8" hole in the bottom of a plastic trash can, and inserted a "myers hub" (this is a watertight electrical fitting, with NPT threads) screw a 1/2x3/8 reducing bushing into the hub, and connect a soaker hose. I looped the soaker hose through the pots, and plugged the bitter end. I fill the trash can with water once a week. (I had to tap into the landscape sprinklers and toss a boat hose over the wall to get water, but that's another story)

  • Boris_edm
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank's for the chuckle!!! heeheheh productivity issues... lolol...hehehe... chuckles...

  • tom_in_nh
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We're deep in the woods here, so I actually had to clear an area of saplings to get started - which meant rooting out stumps with a mattock. I'm slowly cutting firewood from around that area, so it gets more sun every year. Used some of the logs as fenceposts and put a wire fence around it. It's 20'x20'. Orginally planned to have nine 4'x4' blocks, but after the first year (four 4'x4' blocks, laboriuosly double-dug) I figured why waste space on unecessary paths? So now it's two 4'x4', two 4'x10', and one 4'x16', 2' paths mulched with wood chips & sawdust in between - no mud! All beds after those first four were lasgana layered over the weeds. I'm currently using 40 sq ft as compost heap - might as well rot it right where stuff is going to grow. This will rotate around the garden from year to year. The rest is lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, squash, flowers, planted in blocks (4'x4' or 2'x4') within the beds. It should be easy to rotate this whole scheme. My growing soil is thickly mulched with half finished compost made from the annual leaf fall and whatever green grass clippings and weeds I can scrounge, which isn't many here in the woods. This makes watering very easy - no runoff, little evaporation, soil stays moist, and it keeps weeds down - very few sprout through the mulch. Transplanting - pull back mulch, pop in plant. Seeding - pull back mulch, drop seeds, put back some of the black, well rotted bottom part of the mulch, which is basically finished compost. Problems: some slugs in the mulch, not enough to worry about. The mulch is low in nitrogen apparently, so I need to boost it in various ways. I also add some wood ashes and rock phosphate occasionally, nothing very scientific. This method would probably be pretty acidic in pH if I didn't add the wood ashes - all those rotting leaves. Plant supports: I've tried various things, cages made from fence wire, poles lashed together. Nothing that I liked particularly much. I'm planning to try the string thing on the tomatoes this year.

  • connieconsumer
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I finally have the physical energy this year to do a garden. Have had Mel's book since it first came out in the 80's but was glad to see his updated versions on his website which is much more doable.
    I bought a 16# bag of vermiculite, spaghum peat and bought amended soil which is dug out from a river bed, mixed with compost and left to cure for one year then 1/3 sand is mixed in. I was impressed with this find! So that is my 1/3 compost portion.
    Built a 2x6 untreated pine box with a ply wood floor and filled with Mel's mix. Planted cucumbers, pole beans, indeterminate tomatoes on the back side with a trellis and basil and pepper plants in the front.
    Not being fully convinced about this 'mix' I also did 3 18X24" happy yellow plastic containers with 2/3's compost and the the balance in vermiculite and peat, one tomato plant in each of the two containers and one Delicato squash, all trellised.
    All plants were started from seed and planted at the same time. The container plants are now twice as big and hardy as the ones in the Mel's mix 2x6 box. I've always gotta experiment!
    Everyone laughs at our trellis and I hope it holds up! I wanted to spend $0.00 on this project so I hit up my neighbor who has a lot of junk in his yard and he had this rusted square pipe which we cut up, drilled holes in (God bless my husband!) and strung jute on. Only thing is, this contraption is 10' tall & 6' wide! We put each one in an empty sheet rock mud bucket, filled it with Quikret and then assembled it. Two sets of these. Looks like the entrance to L Bar Ranch!
    I have no idea how these will hold up but we can always do more riggin down the line! Perhaps I'm a little overzealous in my vision for the pole beans and indeterminate tomatoes?

  • digbklyn
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't think we have a real "sq. ft. garden," but we pack a lot into every square inch of our Brooklyn backyard garden. It's about 3-1/2 feet wide and runs along the fences on 3 sides of the yard's outer perimeter (about 20 or 25 ft. long total).

    We planted pole beans (Scarlet Runner, pole limas and an unknown kind - lost the seed packet)and pole peas in the back of the garden next to the fences. (Hides the ugly chain link too.) In front of that, we have tomatoes (4 kinds including Yellow Pear), broccoli, sweet peppers, jalapenos, basil, oregano, parsley, celery and brussel sprouts. We did few bean and pea planting, putting the later ones behind the slower growing plants, such as brussell sprouts. One corner is for corn (the beans and peas grow up it).

    Strawberries edge the garden. So do the cantaloupe and honeydew melons, which will send their vines on the lawn just in front of the berries. Tho, like last year, the melons will probably snake through our tiny (3 by 15)lawn by season's end!

    Lettuce, spinach and other greens grow in flower boxes (those we let grow to a good size) and interspersed thru out the garden wherever there's a bit of space (these we pick young and reseed often.)

    We're already eating beans, peas, berries, the early planting of broccoli, herbs and greens. Tomatoes and peppers are ripening soon. We sit in the evening looking at the garden and can't believe we're in Windsor Terrace (near Park Slope), Brooklyn!

  • adamek
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm expanding a bit each year. This past year I've gotten seriously into composting.

    Unfortunately the local critters discovered my garden this month. The slugs haven't been a problem since I started adding free starbucks coffee grounds to the mulch last year. However something else has been coming by at night and nibbling the lettuce, beans, and peas practically to the ground.

  • adamek
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oops, left out one letter in the URL

  • pdxjules
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanx for all the lists - you helped me get my plan together - I copy/pasted names of things I've seeded and for seed that's patiently waiting for attention.

    I planted shallots, various onions - and lots of garlic in 2 of the long, raised wind-rows in which I intensively planted all sorts of things (squashes, peppers, melons, mescluin mix, asparagas) with a herd of tomatoes last year.

    A couple people have already donated to me their leaky kiddie pools - via my FreeCycle request today - so I'm planning sq ft gardens for these - and will probably come up with a couple more - as I need tons of clean space for all the tomatoes I grow, share & consume.

    Have never really grown much lettuce - so I've seeded about 12 kinds - to balance all the spicy and bitter greens that seem to like it here, acting as if perennials who seem to adore ice storms.

    I have lots of sprouts from indoor sowing just the past 2 weeks, and have barely begun that task. 3 kinds of basil are sprouting! I need to rig up some night cover for the happy looking cucumbers that are begging to be planted out well before most folks even start their seed. Think I'll run bamboo stakes thru sheer curtains for the sides, then cover sections with plastic at night, as needed for more sensitive plants.

    A Landscaper friend is bringing me some good sterile compost contiaing cow manure that I'll add as mulch all around the garden and as a top-dressed fertilizer when plants are looking established & wanting to do a jump in growth. I need more seed medium, peat & vermiculite - my home compost will never go far enough.

    Curious how folks arrange your taller things - like Bronze Fennel & Jerusalem choke - do you grow that in raised beds too? Seems the tubers would be more useable that way. Do you all have separate tall sections or garden borders loaded with - & Hollyhock and Sunflower?

    Anybody do Hops? I'm in Oregon so that's mandatory - so I got some attractive golden hops - but am a bit timid about how to handle the assorted vines they'll put up. No DH to do building jobs - and I'm not totally incapable with power tools - but can't imagine getting around to this. Would like to know the EASIEST way to do a strong weight bearing trellis. Ok - off to another Forum to look around with tall stuff & Hops in mind!

  • lantanascape
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm not really familiar with hops growth form, but probably the easiest way to do a trellis is with electrical conduit. I just bought some fence posts - instead of the T posts, they have more of a u-shaped cross section, so the conduit will nest well with them. Sunk these in at 7.5' intervals, and will use 3/4 or 1" conduit lashed to these for the heavier crops, with a conduit across the top (you can get all the little connectors you need in the electrical section at Home Depot), and tying up with jute twine - inteterminate tomatoes and melons. For the lighter weight crops - pole beans - , I'm using 1/2" conduit and bird netting.

  • Orena
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi!

    My very sturdy 5-foot high by 4-foot wide trellises are made of 3/4 inch diameter copper plumbing pipe, installed over 1/2 inch rebar pounded into the ground. The pipe is sold at any home improvement store in 10-foot lengths, which worked out great for me.

    For each of my 4x4 beds, I cut two 10-foot pipes into two 6-foot pieces and two 4-foot pieces. (I used a handy-dandy pipe cutting tool about the size of a deck of cards. You can also use a hack saw, but it's not as easy.) I then pounded (and pounded, and pounded, with a hammer) two 4-foot lengths of 1/2 inch diameter rebar into two corners of the bed until I had about 1.5 feet underground and 2.5 feet above ground. (Actually, it was about 1/2 inch inward from the corners to leave room for the copper pipe.)

    Then I slid two 6-foot pipe sections over the rebar, and gently tapped the pipes into the ground with a rubber mallet about 8 to 10 inches--to the point where I couldn't pound anymore without disfiguring the pipe. You can't pound too hard on the copper or you won't be able to add the connectors. This is okay because the steel rebar (pounded much deeper) provides the necessary depth to secure the trellis.

    Then I finished the trellis by connecting the two vertical pipes with a 4-foot horizontal pipe, using right-angle copper pipe connectors. I didn't use any glue or solder since the structure seemed sturdy enough without it. (And they have held up for two years so far.)

    The cost of this trellis was very reasonable, although the price of copper pipe has gone up in the past year or two. Note that copper pipe comes in either 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch diameter, and in three strengths--M, L, and K. M is the thinnest, and K is the thickest. My store only had "M" and "L" available, so I chose 3/4 inch "L" to make sure it was sturdy.

    When I made my trellises, the pipe was around $5 per 10 feet, and around $4 for the rebar and the pipe connectors. Since I used a total of 12 feet of pipe per trellis, I figure each one cost me about $10 +tax, plus the $10 for the pipe cutter, which I still use to create other copper pipe garden structures.

    Hope this helps!

    --Orena

  • clibanarius
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Jacque,

    I just found this post, and your nifty 2002(!) post in which you use "upside-down carpet squares, predrilled with SqFt spacing holes." Is this still part of your SFG game plan? How long do they last?

  • dirt_tracker Alabama Zone 8A
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, the last posting was back in June of 2005.

    So, after a year and for all of you first and second year sfgardeners...how does your garden grow? :)

    Ed

  • sandaidh
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, I just found this thread. I joined Gardenweb some time ago, but just didn't visit very often. I'm enjoying reading about other's gardens.

    This is my first year doing a square foot garden. I wanted to last year, but wasn't able to build the bed. This year, I did it. My inspiration was an article in premiere issue (Spring 2004) issure of Better Homes & Gardens Spring Planting Guide. The article is called 'Grow Your Veggies' and is on page 65. As per directions, I built a 4 ft by 4 ft bed, 12 inches high, and filled it with six 40 pound bags topsoil, three 40 pound bags of soil/manure blend (couldn't find bags of compost) and 4 cubit feet of sphagnum moss, all mixed well. I marked sections off with green garden 'tape.' Based on the diagrams in the article, I made charts so that I knew what I wanted to plant where for each season. I used their planting suggestions as guidelines, changing as needed. For example, I don't like peppers, I planted something else in its place. I did some from seed, like the carrots, and some from seedlings. And I tried to remember to keep notes of what was planted when, and when I pulled it out to plant something else. Should make for better organization next year.

    My first, early spring planting, included carrots, red leaf lettuce, head lettuce, romaine lettuce, brocolli, snow peas and onions. The lettuce, all of them, did extremely well. I only wish there were some way of preserving it because it was still going strong when I'd about "lettuced out." Once the lettuce began to bolt, I pulled it all up, stripped off the leaves that were good (most) and gave an awful lot away. The brocolli provided me with three harvests before the plants were spent. The snow peas grew wonderfully, and between them and the sugar snap peas I had in another part of the garden, I've got 2 1/2 pounds of peas in my freezer. The carrots have been slower growing, and are still in the bed even now. I've been harvesting a few though and they are sooooo good. The onions are the only things which didn't really do well of that first planting. I may put them somewhere else next year.

    My late spring planting, which is still in the bed now, includes cherry tomatoes, Brandywine tomatoes, purple bush beans. As mentioned earlier, the carrots are still there as well. The tomatoes, both varieties, are growing rampant, with lots of tomatoes on the vines, although none are ripe yet. And I've got beans, although they're not ready to pick yet. I think. It's been a long time since I've grown bush beans at all, let alone purple ones. The peas are all gone now.

    I had planned on a late summer planting of lettuce and brocolli, but I can't find the seedlings at the garden center any more, nor can I find the seed. Given the way the tomatoes are growing, I may just go ahead and skip the late summer/fall planting this year. But now I know for next year.

    My whole gardening area is about 16 ft by 16 ft, and my 4 ft by 4 ft bed sits smack in the middle of it. Around the bed, I grew fiber flax on one side (harvested and drying now), sugar snap peas (on trellises, and all pulled out now), Yukon Gold potatoes in garbage bags (just harvested my first potatoes today) and Indian corn, which I'm just starting to pick. In a way, my whole garden is an experiment because I moved from northern CA, which is a zone 8/9 to western NY, which is zone 4/5. I'd like to do more raised beds, once I figure out where I want them and what I want to put in them. LOL

  • organic_sheppard
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great subject and great site!

    Here's my set up: I have 40 4x4 squares and 1 ft wide area running the length of the garden (on each side) for my climbing vegies.

    This is my third year on this. First year was a learning experience (translation? Low production). Second year was good production with much less weeds.

    The only thing I don't like about SFG is that it leaves no room for a natural landscaped effect.

    I'm putting a lasangnia section in the corner soon. I'll use three rail road ties. By the way, I have a high electrified fence around everything. Too many deers in the area.

  • junegem13
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    sandaidh-it sounds like you had an AWESOME 1st year SFG! I'm going to check online and see if I can see the 'inspiration' article that you mentioned.

    As far as my SFG...

    This was my 1st year also. I built a 4x12 bed using composite lumber I found on clearance at HD. I built my bed on an old garage/driveway site so it was kinda dirt, gravel, grass, and weed mixed area.

    I lined the bottom of the box with cardboard, going under the edges actually. I then add a layer of shredded mulch that I got free at the recycling center. Followed by a mix of my 1 full compost bin of 'black gold' (this year I have 2 compost bins going, soon to be a 3rd with leaves!), a couple bags of top soil, a couple bags of manure, 2 bags of vermiculite, and 2 bales of peat moss. *My FIL thought I was NUTS when I told him I was making the dirt for my garden- boy was he surprised at the results- needless to say, next year he is going to try 'making dirtless dirt'!

    For the most part, I marked off 'sections' using leftover pieces of faux wood miniblinds.

    In the SFG I planted, spinach, carrots, onions, tomatoes, peppers, cukes, peas, broccoli, lettuce, and parsley. I got a bit of a late start, so my lettuce didn't really fair well. I did get to enjoy one spinach salad. My parsley, spinach, and a lot of the onions got buried under dirt when I had a load of topsoil delivered for another yard project. I did plant A LOT of onions so it was ok really. Next year I will try a different variety of onion as these were soooo hot! The carrots did great, they are still growing. The peas also did well. My 3 year old actually planted them and loved watching progress- and eating! I never did cook any of the peas, as between the 3 year old and my 17 year old -and myself :) ate them all straight from the garden.. yummm. The tomatoes did well also. I was able to can salsa and a few batches of spaghetti sauce, as well as sharing tomatoes with a friend at work and eating ourselves... boy it sure was nice to say at dinner, oh I think I'll run outside and pick a fresh tomato for dinner... I still have a good amount of good size green tomatoes that I tend to pick and wrap in newspaper and slow ripen for future enjoyment. We had a good supply of cukes also. Nothing like fresh cukes and onions in vinegar. My peppers went so so. I think that one the plants I bought brought me aphids as I had a bout of bugs for a bit right after planting. My broccoli was awesome. I had never grown broccoli, or my parents had never broccoli in our garden growing up. I was afraid for a bit that I had planted them too late and they were not going to develop, but after waiting and waiting, I got broccoli! Definately plan to do it again next year.

    I also did a bean teepee type thing that worked pretty well and I plan to expand on that idea next year.

    For my tomato and cuke trellis I used white pvc pipes with netting. For my peas I used bamboo and twine- probably will do that different next year.

    I also did 3 buckets of potatoes as an experiment. They went pretty well. We had 2+ dinners worth of potatoes. May try a diffent potato experiment next year- garbage bag? in straw?

    I have materials to build another bed for next year so I can expand my garden and reap more joys! Want to get it built so I can add lots of fall leaves in the mix too.

    SFG is great! Especially when you live on a small city lot (>.25 acre) and can still garden.
    I think I read almost every post in this forum this past year trying to educate myself.

    Thanks to everyone that takes the time to read and post- where it be questions or answers or opinions or pictures- cuz I'm sure somewhere down the line it can be of benefit to a fellow gardener!

    Happy Gardening!
    Becky

  • gw:judy-gardener
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh my gosh...I'm so happy I found this thread!!! I am new at vegetable gardening and last year planted a 4x6 raised bed with mainly herbs and 8 bush beans. Something kept eating the bush beans buds all summer so I never got many beans. I had a 3' chicken wire fence around it, but not on top. It was either birds or chipmonks. This time, I'm going to make a wire mesh top for it that I can take on and off like a lid.

    I'm definitely planting the garden again, except I'm clearing out all the herbs, except for the tarragon and Italian parsley and adding another raised bed 4x10. I want to plant red leaf lettuce, spinach, bush beans, cherry tomatoes and snap peas. I'd also like to plant some potatoes, green onions, garlic, carrots, cucumbers and brussel sprouts, but I don't know what I have room for!!!!

    As I said, I'm new to vegetable gardening and this SF method sounds like you can grow a big variety of vegetables in a smaller space. I live in the Pacific Northwest and will have to start most of my plants indoors since it is still in the 50's in May.

    Does anyone have suggestions as to how I can lay out this garden to get the most plants for the space??? I will have 2 raised beds...one 4x6 and one 4x10.

    Thanks!!!
    Judy

  • Violet_Z6
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Have you read the book Judy?

  • juudyshouse2012
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Since I posted that message, I read and reread the book and carry it with me to refer to it whenever I need it!!! LOL

    I ended up with 4 4x4 beds. I'm in the process of building cages for all 4 of them so the birds, deer, rabbits and anything else won't get to them! I have broccoli, brussels sprouts, Italian parsley, leaf and romaine lettuce started inside. I should have planted a few things outside already, but have been finishing up a couple other outdoor projects and have not been able to yet. But, hopefully, I'll get the peas, onions, potatoes and carrots planted outside next weekend!!

    I'm very excited about it and hope everything goes well! I have followed the whole set up BY THE BOOK!!

    Judy

  • gardenwoohoo
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I started my organic square foot garden on March 11th. I built 3 4x4 boxes to put into my yard. I constructed the boxes out of untreated pine ($4.50 for 6 6x8 boards) and deck screws ($6 for a box), finishing them off by stapling weed blocker ($0.79 per 1x4 section) to the bottom and placing the boxes on top of my lawn. Per Mels suggestion I made the soil from a mix of 1/3 Perlite (similar to Vermiculite), 1/3 Peat Moss, 1/3 organic compost. (This came to $65 or so)* Finally, I stapled twine to the wood to form the square foot grid. 2 of the boxes contain 16 1x1 squares but because I was not paying attention one of the blocks ended up with 12 squares oh well. The last frost date for my Zone (PacNW) is April 15 I am told. I simply could not wait that long and I went ahead and threw quite a few seeds in the ground. Oh well again. I think the peas, carrots and radishes will be okay but we will have to see about the beets, spinach, chard, gladiolus, cala lilies, nasturtiums, and lettuce that I planted. Although I put everything in the ground only 8 days ago, Ive been out twice a day to see if anything has sprouted. I also planted some tomato, marigolds and lettuce seeds in jiffy pots indoors. The lettuce I planted indoors sprouted in just 5 days it has been such a treat to watch the little sprouts. Man Im a geek. The zucchini and tomato seeds I planted indoors (next to a window) have also sprouted. Just yesterday I noticed tiny sprouts in the outdoor garden: the radishes! I am keeping a simple blog about my garden and cooking endeavors which includes photos of the garden I just started the blog and garden so there is not much excitement yet but stay tuned to see if I can get some tomatoes, eggplants, basil and more out of my investment. Notes: *On soil: I think it is cheaper to buy soil in bulk from a local soil-slinger I would have if I had a truck. I purchased my seeds from Territorial Seed Company. I can spend hours flipping through their catalog. They have a huge variety of organic veggies and they test their crops in PacNW climate. www.territorial-seed.com
    If you are interested in the blog please visit http://knorq.wordpress.com/

  • benn_2007
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a flower bed that measures 8 feet long---8 feet wide---and 16 inches deep. How many 40 pound bags of top soil would I need to fill this bed?

  • shilohyn
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm brand new to gardening. I have a 4x8x11" bed built on concrete. I have a trellis, 6' all along the length of the bed.

    Is there a planning chart somewhere that would help with the overwhelming task of choosing what to plant when and when to replace it with what? I don't have the book yet. I will get it from the library.

    I want toms, beans, peas, maybe one of each: melon, squash, cuke, okra. Potato and topsetting onions, a little lettuce mix, carrots, nasturtiums, french marigolds, zuccini, and whatever else I can squeeze into the bed or containers.

    Thank you in advance. PS Awesome thread!

  • jefuchs
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just started mine this weekend. We had 81 degree temps on a December weekend, so it was a good opportunity to prepare for Spring.

    I'll have two 4x9' beds and two longer ones only 24" wide because they're along a wall. SFG isn't always in 4x4's.

    So for now I only have turned soil and heavy mulch. Later I'll dig one more bed, add frames, and improve the soil.

    I've even started a blog about it. Nothing much there yet, but look for a lot of green photos next year!

    I'm not new to SFG. About 25 years ago, when the SFG show was on PBS, I was very enthusiastic about it and had a tiny garden that was the envy of the neighborhood. I can't imagine why anyone would use any other method. If I ever see a rototiller, it'll be too soon.

  • djonathang
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm intrigued and confused about the paper towel and Elmer's Glue detail.

    This is what I think I read: You take a paper towel. You put dots of glue according to the seed spacing. You place a seed in the glue dot. When the time for planting arrives, you place the paper towels with the now dry glue and seeds on the surface of the raised beds, cover with dirt, water, and eat fresh produce sometime after. Do I have it right? If so, that is fantastic!

    DG

  • polly_il
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    re: paper towel and Elmer's glue. Yes, you have it right. You can make your seed squares in the winter (when you're not busy wintersowing plants for your square foot garden), then you have them ready to plant when the spring frenzy starts. I prefer the brown paper towels like you find in dispensers - they seem to break down faster than the other kind.

    I can't believe this post is over 5 years old - thanks, Zee, for pointing me back in this direction.

  • sinfonian
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My story is long, but I'll try to shorten it. My brother convinced me to turn a southern facing triangular area of my yard that was the blight of the universe, full of weeds and garbage, into a garden. A friend suggested I read SFG and I took much of Mel's ideas to heart.

    I cleared the area down to bare dirt and got up as many weeds as I could. Then I laid down landscape fabric and three inches of pea gravel. Then I built four raised beds on top of the gravel (good for weed control and drainage).

    The largest is 11x4. The next is 10x4. The other two are 8x4 and 5x3. Each box is 15 inches high (three 2x6s). My brother convinced me to go higher than he did (one 2x6). They are all diagonal shaped at one end to form a "perfect" line along the fence line to give a 4' path between my front and back yard, with each bed having a 2' path in between. I am looking for two roughly 3x3 plastic containers for potatoes (any ideas, I'm striking out online).

    I will get dirt in mid February and start planting in the Seattle area in late March, early April. I hope to feed a family of 4 with the following vegetables (with SF devoted to each in parentheses):

    Corn (40)
    Cucumber (4)
    Onion (7)
    Radish (5)
    Peas (6)
    Bush Beans (8)
    Pole Beans (8)
    Broccoli (8)
    Cauliflower (8)
    Tomato (10)
    Carrots (8)
    Lettuce/Spinich (12)

    I just started my broccoli and cauliflower inside, hoping they'll sprout for mid-March planting.

    For fruit, I've got a pear tree, plum tree, new apple tree and two newly planted high-bush blueberries.

    I'd love to post my plan, and some picks of the beds we built, but I'm better at building things than computers and can't figure out how to get them on here.

    Sinfonian

  • sinfonian
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just found a way to upload pics (thanks to my wife)... Here's a pic of my garden plan and a couple of my beds (no dirt yet)

  • pjintheozarks
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    sinfonian, I really like the way you slanted your beds so it makes an even match to the fenceline and a walkway. That looks neat and managed to make it a great and organized use of space, whereas if you hadn't done that, I''m sure it would seemed cluttered and inconvenient (esp to others).

    I have two 4'x8' 36" high beds, and two 4'x12' 24" high beds all of cinderblock. And some substantial containers for some cattle panel arch trellises (five) and a variety of other containers. It functions as a standing garden, which since I'm supersized is really necessary, I can't crawl around on my knees in 'normal' gardens.

    I didn't garden last year, didn't do anything at all. I had built the garden (with much landscaper help) and used it for a few years, then my now-ex came back and I let him take it over for 2 years. He didn't clean up and didn't want landscapers in to help before leaving and then I didn't have money and ended up in denial, not even going into the backyard for eons. Added to that, the recent freeze literally cracked or shattered nearly every big container in my garden.

    So! It looks like something out of a movie. A SCARY movie. :-) The weeds were 12' high (this in raised beds, alas), the big center mulched landscaper mat with 6"+ of leaves has composted into in-situ soil; there is more growing on the ground which is supposed to grow nothing, than in the beds, and on the whole, let's just say it is a rather major 'opportunity for improvement'.

    My 11 year old daughter and I are determined to "make it beautiful" and grow a ton of food. We managed to get the weeds down to about 6"; I'll have to shovel the top of the soil out entirely. We managed to get the worst of the leaf buildup and several 'tumbleweed-from-hell' sized dead dry weed collections out of the garden and into the compost area.

    Next is shoveling out the big 21 & 32 gallon rubbermaid containers all over that the weather killed. Then we're dissembling two ad-hoc beds the ex made in the middle of the garden, which just makes it crowded for me, and replacing some of the tubs with small beds for the arch-trellising out of those same cinderblocks.

    There is so much work to be done it's a little bit daunting. I'm not in shape for it but I'm working on it! But she's been helping me a little and I have big dreams for it, so it's my current obsession.

    I have a blog I began in '06, that has a couple pics of the cinderblock setup and of the garden itself, but then didn't continue as I wasn't gardening, I'm going to revive it again as we go through getting this into shape. I'm so excited about all this. It has really cheered up my January!

  • docbuttons
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a 4' x 12' Raised bed that i am unsure how to properly utilize. I am reading my seed packets, some say row spacing 24", some 12", some 36"...is a row simply the distance it should be away from other plants? I think i'm confused. Since I only have a 4x12' veggie garden, do i need to even pay attention to the "row" spacing instructions? Can i just go by the plant spacing instructions? HELP PLEASE

  • preciousamy
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just posted pictures of my square-foot garden in the vegetable forum. If interested, the link is below. My first season to ever garden was last year. And I just adored having a garden, I was inspired by Mel's Square-foot method! :)
    I'm thrilled to have found this thread, it was a treat to read what other fellow square-foot gardeners were doing in their gardens! Thanks to all that shared! :)
    HAPPY SPRING! HAPPY GARDENING!
    Keep Smiling, Amy :)

  • snibb
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow...thats an awful lof to work to do for a SFG!

  • iameve
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am doing square foot gardening with a twist...I use to live in the country with lots of room and did the Ruth Stout gardening technique....but with less room,

    I am doing the square foot garden this year...I have harvested so much form just one bed it is amazing,,,we have four 4x12 boxes and a long 12" wide bed in the back where I have these wonderful Sunflowers...I plant a few marigolds here and there too..I don't know if they help with the bugs but they are pretty. I tired to plant just the number of plants two people will need, so I have a variety but not too much of anything.
    I love this method,,,no weeding,,,and mulching everything the way I do,,,,I really am not watering that much although it is in the 90s here now.
    Right now, I have squash,,several types of beans, broccoli and peas are just going,,cabbage,,onions, peppers, hot and sweet, basil, tomatoes, carrots, mustard, eggplants, bausch, and I just noticed I have little watermelon and cantaloupe...I also have strawberries, only six plants, and cukes,,pole beans (Kentucky Wonder and Contender) and patio, cherry tomatoes,,I tried to grow lettuce but only got one picking,,,I think it got too hot...

    Here is a link to my blog...

  • kirkfromearth
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks to all for the great info.
    i am pretty new to vegetable gardens. i live between Sarasota and Fort Myers Florda.
    I am in the process of building several raised beds
    from cinder blocks a friend gave me (over 400).I just finished the compost pit 5x4x2.
    I plan 2 10x4x1.5 beds and 1 4x4x1.5 bed for herbs and such,also an area about 20x3x1.5
    (i would like to grow pole beans and corn in this section)

    I do not see anyone from my zone on here and i am not sure
    when to plant or what will grow around here.Summers are brutal!!!!!
    Any help or comments would be greatly apprieciated.I last lived in upstate New York,but this is a different world
    down here.
    I am not afriad of work so any suggestions will be very
    helpful. Thanks again

  • sarahs_eden
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    kirk-
    we have a nice thread about Florida gardening - something like "what have you had success growing in your FL SFG?"
    there is only a few of us, but it's been really helpful to me already - you should come over and say hi :)

  • grolikecrazy
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    very interesting I want to come back to this. Chris

  • dkolter
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am looking to start SFG this year. I removed an old deck made with pressure treated lumber. Is it safe to use this lumber since it is 15 or more years old? I have planty of it and this would be a great way to utilize this older wood. Thanks for your opinions.

  • lilion
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    dkolter, you'd do better to start a thread to ask this question. But...Old pressure treated lumber was treated with arsenic. I probably wouldn't make a bed out of it. Maybe if you lined the insides with some heavy plastic..but why take the chance.

  • lilion
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm glad to see this thread resurrected. I see in 2002, I had plans for a 4x8 bed. In 2004 I'd scrapped that and was building a long bed next to my privacy trellis. I did that - turned out the trellis runs north to south and so the morning sun is shaded by the trellis and the afternoon sun is shaded by the neighbors house! That bed now has a few hostas and some honeysuckle.

    I did, however, in 2007 FINALLY build my 4 x 8 raised bed. I made it with landscape timbers and the interior dimensions are more like 4x7. I've grown in it two years now, this will be three, and love it. I can't wait for spring. Right now I have peas, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, lettuce, spinach, carrots and onions planted. I've never done the broc/caul/sprouts before, so we'll see how that goes. Later in the year there will be a zucchini planted and tomatoes and peppers go in buckets along with herbs. We're thinking of putting in a second bed for zukes and tomatoes and if we get that done I'll be thrilled!

    Isn't SFG just the best?

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