Square Foot Gardens

[Dakotah_Skye]

I got a really cool book for Yule this year and wanted to know if anyone has ever tried Square Foot Gardening. You take a square foot of ground, till it up and plant your veggies in exactly the way the back of the seed package tells you to. (1 tomato plant for each square foot, 3 inches apart for radishes, etc) Vines are planted so they grow up instead of out. Supposedly it takes less time to weed, less water, and produces more veggies. I'm going to give it a try this summer and see how it goes. Any thoughts?

[Mel-icious]

I hear it really works out great, and is easy to maintain, but I've never done it, let us know how it works. ;)

What do you have planned out for you square foot garden so far? :run:

[DogBabi]

I don't know much about gardening, but I found this website. It sounds pretty interesting to me. Let me know how it turns out if you plant one, okay.
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

[Mel-icious]

Dogbabi, that is the site to the person who designed the method, but if you are a newbie to gardening, read the book, it seems so simple, I think anyone could do it!

Dakotah_Skye, I just finished reading the book, Square Foot Gardening, and am so happy you brought this up, I never really read into it, so after seeing this I waited, and waited, till the book came into our library, finally I took it out. What a great book!

I am planning to do my first bed as soon as the snow melts, and my hubby and I can get outside to construct it. I'm going to do the raised bed version, with Mel's mix of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite. Since my yard is pretty rocky under the soil, I think this will work out well. I'm starting with one bed {possibly two if I have the room}, and a trellis for tomatoes, cukes, and snow peas {for the spring}.

Have you started one yet or is this your first garden? Anyone out there lurking around ever do this method?

[yonksgirl]

Wow this looks great!! I do not have a big yard so this looks like it will work plus I HATE weeding!!! I have to get the book!!:D

[yonksgirl]

Are you suppose to plant seeds right after the snow melts? When is the best time?

[Mel-icious]

No, I just want a jump right in! LOL! Actually everything depends on your zone, what you want to plant, and what that plant's growing season is. ;)

I get ansy after Xmas to get back outside, especially when I see snow on the ground still. I know I have a long time to wait until we can get busy on my bed. But they say the best time to design a garden is to plan it out in the winter. That way your not just jumping outside in the spring without a plan and planting like crazy and then regretting what you have overlooked or forgotten! I have mine planned out for the summer crop, but I am figuring out if I could get a jumpstart and try it out this spring. :huh:

It's a great idea for someone new to gardening, and someone with a small space. You can always add more beds as you get more experienced, but for a trial garden I think this is a cool way to go.

Here is a link with a bunch of other links that you can take a peek at to see what its all about:

http://tbeckman.tripod.com/gardenlinks.htm

[jana]

Originally posted by Mel-icious
I know I have a long time to wait until we can get busy on my bed.

:eyebrow: :biglaugh:

Sorry, I just couldn't let that one go. :p

But this square foot gardening thing sounds really neat! Thanks for the links! I'll have to give it a shot and see if I can turn my thumb from brown to green.

[Mel-icious]

LMAO, nothing gets past you does it Jana? :biglaugh:

[jana]

Only on a good day. :D

[jana]

Hey, I found the book tonight at Half Price Books. Looks like I have some reading to do! I've looked at a bunch of those websites & I'm pretty excited about trying to kill some more plants...:lol:

[Mel-icious]

Originally posted by jana
I'm pretty excited about trying to kill some more plants...:lol:

LMAO, that's the right attittude to have. :biglaugh:

So whatcha gonna plant? :smoking:

[jana]

Hehe well, I'm tired of being excited about my plants and then killing them, so I figure if I expect to kill them I might be pleasantly surprised. :D I'm such a beginner at gardening, but I want to grow things anyway. I refuse to attempt anything else at our current place; spider mites are EVERYWHERE. There's a big bush right next to our porch that is literally covered in them, but somehow it survives. :huh: Why can't those little buggers just stay over there on their bush and not infect MY pretty little plants?!

I'm not sure what I want to plant. We're moving into a new apartment soon and I have no idea how much sun the patio gets, if any. I'm sure it will be better than our current patio, though, which is under a huge tree.

Some of the types of things we eat a lot (or that I'd LIKE to eat a lot) and that I will look into growing include: tomatoes, green beans, broccoli, cukes, carrots, onions, snow peas, spinach, some other kinds of greens, some kind(s) of squash, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary...

I'm only halfway through Chapter 2, so I'll get through the book and see what I can do! The concept really intrigues me. I've never understood why you're supposed to use up all the seeds in the packet and then go back and thin all the seedlings. It always seemed like such a waste to me. SFG sounds like the way to go! :thumb2:

[Dakotah_Skye]

There is a great MSN group that talks about Square Foot Gardening and other gardening advice. This is the link: http://groups.msn.com/ASquareFootGardening

It's a little slow moving and not very active but the content is great!

[Mel-icious]

Yeah, I checked that site out, it took 3 days for someone to respond, to slow for me. ;) I'll check back in the spring, when people are chatting it up, for now, I'll stick with here and the Garden Web forums if I need advice. ;)

Jana, believe me, I'm not a master gardener myself, I think all the success I had last year was due to the Miracle Grow, it was a miracle I grew anything! :lol:

I think the reasoning behind wasting all that seed was, they planted every seed to make sure they filled that plot, just in case a seed planted didn't germinate, still doesn't make sense to me. :huh: Oh on your list, that's pretty much my list too, I'm planning:

Tomatoes ~ not sure which yet, but one that is good for salsa and to make sauce out of. I'll plant two one early season one mid or late season.
Green beans ~ some sort of bush variety, one yellow and one green, not sure on which yet maybe a french green bean.
Broccoli ~ which is a spring crop here, I think. ;)
Cabbage ~ another spring crop here
Spinach ~ spring again
Cukes ~ I'm planting two of these, plenty for my small family
Carrots ~ spring/fall/summer crop
Swiss Chard ~ when the leaves are young you can saute or steam them like you would spinach and they grow in the summer when I can't do spinach here.
Peppers ~ a mild hot pepper for salsa and cooking and a sweet frying pepper or bell pepper
Marigolds ~ pest control
Nasturtiums ~ pest control
Lettuces ~ loose leaf and bibb's because they grow quicker.

My squash/zucchini is going in my containers from last year that I grew my tomatoes in, I didn't want to waste the space in the SFG on them and I also didn't want all that soil and the containers from last year to go to waste. I am also doing my herbs in containers, then hopefully I can bring them in and maybe have herbs this fall/winter. :crossed:

BTW....In the book he talks about tilling the ground ect, but since writing that book he now recommends building beds up from the ground and not even bothering to till, then using a soil mix of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite. Just keep that in mind too. Much easier than tilling. ;)

[jana]

Okay, I got some reading done today! It seems that every time I've worked up some questions, I just read a little further and he answers them. I like that. :)

I'm up to Chapter 6 now, and learning all about what/when to plant. I also skipped ahead to the building special beds section, as well as the "guide to growing crops." I'll need to read them in more detail to really plan out when and what to plant, and then I'll have to decide which varieties! Ack!

As for the tilling stuff, I'm pretty much just skipping over all that anyway because mine will be on a concrete patio. :)

I think I'll hold off on the peas (I just read how much space they take up!) and squash and maybe do some beets. The frustrating thing is that I'm all gung-ho about it now, but we won't get the keys to our new place for another month and a half. I'm hoping to build the bed(s) before we move, though, so I can get started right away.

[Mel-icious]

Ha, now you sound like me, we have SNOW on the ground and I want to go out and build the bed. :biglaugh: T says "calm down, we'll build it as soon as the snow melts, you can't grow anything out there anyway". :p

Doesn't squash take more room than the peas? Isn't it, grow them {peas} vertically, and plant 8 per square? I didn't think they took up to much room, if its only one square? Are you building a vertical frame?

I've been winter sowing some seeds in the mean time to keep my mind off of it, I sowed these cute little cabbages called "fastball". I figured, if I grow them before my bed is built, I can always use the containers. I have 2 extra. I wanted to experiment this year, so next year when my beds are built, I'll know what I can start ahead of time and what I can't.

Pretty exciting about getting your keys soon. I can't wait to see the pics of your new place. ;)

[jana]

Hmmm...well, yeah, it does say that the spacing for peas are 8 per square. :rolleyes: I saw the diagram for a 1'x4' section filled with pea plants and just assumed you had to take up that much space. I guess that's what I get for skimming & skipping ahead! Good, cuz I want some sugar snap peas. :)

And yes, I'm gonna do a vertical frame. I'm actually thinking of just doing a 1'x4' box with a vertical frame for tomatoes, cukes, pole beans, and now (again..hehe) peas. Then I'll make 1 or 2 2'x4' boxes (and hopefully a compost bin, too), depending on space on the patio and what I want to plant.

I'm still feeling overwhelmed by the what-to-plant-when issue. There's a planting schedule in the book for "spring and summer crops," and then there's one for "continuous harvest." The dates are a little different for both. Plus I have the added frustration of having our move coincide with the last spring freeze (March 1), so if I want to plant any early spring stuff (broccoli, for instance--yikes!), I may be sol until the fall. That's part of the reason I want to have the beds built before we move...so that I can just put 'em on the porch, throw in the soil and get things planted. Then I can procrastinate and take my time moving all our stuff and won't have to worry about missing any planting windows.

I don't even know how much of a difference it really makes to plant things when it says to, but all I know is that our summers get REALLY FREAKIN HOT, so I want to have as much nice weather as I can so that I can CHOOSE to fry my veggies, rather than having the sun do it for me.

Oh, and it's exciting about our new place, but not super exciting, since it's not a house or anything yet. :) We're just renting a townhome while we save up $$ and look for a house to buy. It will be great, though, because we'll get more space, including a porch (and hopefully we'll get away from these !&!#$ spider mites!) and a garage. I'll share pics of the sfg when it's up & running, though. :D

[Mel-icious]

I am so excited for you! You sound so happy to be moving into your new place! :D

Hey I skimmed to! :p I had to go back and re-read because I thought the same thing about the peas. I want sugar snaps so that is why I remembered.

I am not sure what to plant when for you, which zone are you in? I can't remember. :p Let me know and I can help you on the planting schedule thingy! ;)

[jana]

Okay, I just went to Lowe's and went a little nuts. They just so happen to have all their seeds out, and I just so happened to be looking for seeds. :lol: Here's what I bought: grape tomatoes, pole beans, sugar snap peas, pickling cucumbers, carrots, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, serrano peppers, soybeans, onions, oregano, thyme, cilantro and basil. Whew! I think I'm a little ambitious. :D

I wasn't going to do onions at all when I read when he says to plant seeds (10wks before LSF!! That was, umm...December 22nd!), but then I saw a bag of 100 onion bulbs (is this what he means by "sets?" bulbs?) for a buck, so I just went ahead and bought 'em. I figure even if they never get full-sized, we can enjoy them early as green onions.

I think a couple (tomatoes?) require you to start them indoors, and I'm kinda concerned about that because we get almost NO natural light in our apt and I'm afraid to put them outside at all because of the spider mites. I'm in zone 8b. Any help would definitely be welcome! :D

[Mel-icious]

One suggestion email or call your local Texas extension office. You need specific information on the recommended varieties and dates for planting in your area. They have a booklet they will send out with lots of info on it.
http://county-tx.tamu.edu/

Or take a look at this site for more help:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/PLANTanswers/fallgarden/falldirect.html

Carrots, snap peas, spinach, onions sets (too late for seeds) can be planted as soon as you see them in the nursery, so that would be now, the end of January. Careful with the spinach, as you live in Texas and its a cooler weather crop, it will bolt sooner for you. It turns bitter when it bolts. {turns to flower} If you like spinach try Swiss Chard. The leaves can be used like spinach and its a hot weather loving veggie so you won't have to worry about it bolting. You can even eat the stalks, think sauteed celery.

Pole beans can be directly sown in the ground after danger of frost. The rule of thumb on peppers/cukes/herbs/maters is 6-8 weeks before the last freeze date, which in your zone is, I believe, March 3rd is what they are predicting for you, so you should start them now indoors. I wouldn't plant out that soon, I'd give it a week or two to make sure. Two weeks before planting them out you have to harden them off so you don't lose them Read the back of the seed packages, it will tell you, if you want to start them indoors, when to start them. You don't even have a really sunny window for them?

Spider mites, spray your plants down, they hate the water. I hear using the "gold" Listerine works to kill them. Dab it on with a cotton ball to both sides of the leaves, some people even mist it on. The alcohol in it kills them. Soapy water works, or you can try this mixture and see if it works:

1-2 ounces 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
few drops of non antibacterial dish soap
1 ounce table sugar
water
Mix all in quart spray bottle, spray underside of leaves in the early morning or late evening.
Check for SM the next day or two, spray again if needed.When I have used this mixture I have had to only spray once

Don't worry if you can't plant everything you just bought, keep the seeds in the frig and use them next year. ;)

[jana]

Cool, thanks for the links & all the info, M!

I'll have to check the store again for swiss chard seeds. I didn't see them, but I forgot about them as well, so maybe they're there and I just missed 'em. I noticed some bigger swiss chard plants outside, though, and thought about getting one - except none of them really looked good & something had been munching on them. I'll hold off on bringing new pests home...

I honestly don't have a sunny window! It's horrid. We have a window in the bedroom that only kinda gets indirect sunlight, and a sliding glass door in the living room that leads to the super-shady patio. That's one of the reasons we're glad to be moving--this place is DARK!

[Mel-icious]

We had the same when we lived in our townhouse in Florida, we had one sunny window sill and it was in our bedroom. But that problem will be over for you soon! When are you moving in to the new place?

I may be getting some Swiss Chard seeds soon, if you hold off I can split them with ya!

[jana]

We're moving starting a month from now. We have the month of March as overlap between the 2 places, so we can take as much time as we need to.

I may take you up on those Swiss Chard seeds! First I'll check the shop where I plan on getting my compost; they're supposed to have a great seed selection. If not, I'll let ya know. :)

[Mel-icious]

Okie Dokie!

I've been seed swapping with a few people and am getting more than I can plant. :D

So if you want any specific kinds let me know, I may have them and it won't cost you a thing. ;)

[jana]

Cool! :)