Monthly Archives: February 2008
Suggested Plant Varieties (by State)
Iowa Missouri Utah Happy gardening!
Why Square Foot Gardening?
There are many different ways to garden, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. To begin, I thought I’d explain why, when I wanted to garden, I chose the square foot method. Easy Setup: The gardening bug hit me hard, but my husband has yet to catch it. I needed a garden I could plan, build, and maintain all by myself. I ordered my boxes from www.squarefootgardening.com, hauled peat moss, vermiculite, and bags of compost in my Ford Taurus, and put it all together with the help of a 15-year old neighbor girl. Space: Our lot is about 1/5 of an acre, and … Continue reading
Posted in Getting Started
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Designing Your Square Foot Garden Beds
Note: This post discusses planning and building your square foot garden beds. If your beds are already constructed, go here for information about planning your square foot gardening layout. As you choose a design and layout for your garden, there are several things to keep in mind: Location Sunlight–most plants need 8-12 hours of direct sunlight every day. So don’t put your garden on the shady side of the yard. Water–plants need water, and you don’t want to cart it around your yard. Be sure your garden will be reachable by hose, or near existing irrigation. Space–the garden will be … Continue reading
Posted in Build, Getting Started
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Building a Square Foot Garden Box (Vinyl Kit)
Since I was setting up my garden by myself, and had limited time before I needed to plant, I took the easy route of ordering my square foot gardens from Mel’s website www.squarefootgardening.com. Since I live in Utah, they were kind enough to arrange a pickup, which saved me shipping costs. Here is what I paid: $75.95 per 4×4 vinyl box, including weed mat, posts, rails, caps, and grid. This included a 5% volume discount, since I ordered three. $28.45 per tomato tower, including rebar, pipes, connectors, and nylon netting. This also included a 5% volume discount, since I … Continue reading
Posted in Build
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Square Foot Gardening Soil–How to Create Mel’s Mix
You may be asking “whose mix”? Mel Bartholemew is the author of All New Square Foot Gardening and the founder of the square foot gardening method. He recommends filling your garden boxes with a special mix, instead of dirt. Here’s the mix, how much it cost, and the benefits: Mel’s Mix 1/3 vermiculite 1/3 peat moss 1/3 compost (from as many sources as possible) This is done by volume. My garden beds were each 4′x4′ and needed 6″ of mix to fill them. 4x4x.5=8 cubic feet of Mel’s mix. I did three boxes, so I needed 24 cubic feet of mix, … Continue reading
Posted in Build, Getting Started
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Buying Seeds and Plants
I will admit, when it comes to buying seeds and plants I’m not that fancy. I haven’t yet ventured into the world of catalogs and heirloom seeds. I have gotten my seeds from several different stores: WalMart, Home Depot, and IFA (Intermountain Farmers Association). I have not found a huge difference in price, except for the American Seed Company. They tend to be really inexpensive, but when I spoke with the cashier at IFA she said they sometimes have a germination rate of 10% (only 1 in 10 seeds will sprout). In the end, this method uses so few seeds, if … Continue reading
Posted in Getting Started, Plant
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Square Foot Gardening Plant Spacing
To calculate how many plants per square, look on the back of the seed packet–totally ignore the row spacing, just look at the plant spacing: 12″ apart, plant 1 per square 6″ apart, plant 4 per square 4″ apart, plant 9 per square 3″ apart (or less), plant 16 per square Square Foot Gardening Spacing Plant # Per Square Asparagus 1 Basil 1 or 4 Beans, bush Beans, pole 9 8 Beets 9 Broccoli 1 Cabbage 1 Carrots 16 Cauliflower 1 Celery 1 Chives 9 Cilantro 4 or 9 Collard greens 1 or 4 Corn 4 Cucumbers 2 Dill 1 … Continue reading
Posted in Plant
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2008 Garden, Second Week of February
Okay, I jumped the gun by a couple of days. Today I bought seeds, and started some. I had a lot of leftover seeds from last year (with this method you only use a few seeds from a packet), and I had stored them in the freezer. I compared my plan with what I already had, made a shopping list and headed to IFA. I referred to my list of suggested plant varieties, and when they didn’t carry any of the varieties listed, I asked for advice. I consistently find helpful and fairly knowledgeable employees at IFA, unlike WalMart and Home … Continue reading
Posted in 2008, My SFG
Tagged garden, gardening, Plants, square foot garden, starting, starting plants inside, starting seeds
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2008 Garden, First Week of February
I am so excited at the prospect of my next garden! It’s still early February, and there is A TON of snow on the ground, but I remember thinking I needed to start earlier to get in some of the cold-hardy spring crops I want to grow. So, I made myself a garden plan. Here it is: Currently, I have three 4′x4′ boxes that are just one level deep (about 6″). My plans are to convert these to 12″ deep. I have gravel around my SFGs, which makes it easy to mow my lawn, but the gravel really heats up … Continue reading
Posted in 2008, Garden Plans, My SFG
Tagged garden, gardening, plan, plans, square foot garden, square foot gardening
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