Minneapolis Square Foot Garden – Update
- Gardening Year: 2012
- Location: Minneapolis, MN
- Planting by Color: Yellow
- Original Post from May 4th, 2012
Okay, so it is the end of September I am in Zone 4 (yellow group). I think I have gotten what I am going to get from my garden, maybe a few more peppers. I didn’t end up with enough tomatoes to make salsa and we ate what we got when we got them. Most of the peppers ended up being hotter than what we can tolerate, so I have been giving most of them away.
I have some strawberries that are not ripe, so far I have not gotten to pick one strawberry. This is my first time gardening, so I am hoping next year the strawberries will do better.
Strawberry pyramid on June 25th, 2012
My pumpkin plants kind of took over the back of the garden, made it really hard to walk behind the garden, so I had a hard time dealing with some of the plants. I was able to pick quite a few cucumbers, but it was hard to get to my peas and Lima beans. I did get one small pumpkin and 3 jack-be-little pumpkins, so I am happy about that.
Three Jack-be-little Pumpkins & one Small Pumpkin
My raspberry plants that I was trying to grow in smart pots didn’t take off at all, they were still twigs and when I pulled them, there was no roots growing at all. My blueberry plants also in smart pots have grown some leaves, I wasn’t expecting them to grow berries this year, but hopefully next year I will get some blueberries. I only ended up with two small carrots, I think I need to plan more space for carrots next year, would have liked a lot more carrots than that.
I planted too many herbs that I didn’t end up even using much, dill, cilantro (would have used that for salsa, but as I mentioned earlier I didn’t get enough tomatoes), mint, oregano, basil (used a little), rosemary (used a few times), parsley never grew.
I had a ton of lettuce, but I didn’t know what I was doing, and it ended up going to seed. I was able to use a lot of that though. I had some spinach, but like the lettuce, I didn’t know how to take care of it and it ended up going to seed too fast and didn’t get anything off of it.
Full garden on July 23rd, 2012
I learned a lot this year, a lot of what not to do, and now I know more what to do, so I think next year is going to be a good year for my garden. And since I already have the spaces built, I will be able to focus on starting much earlier and I will start some seeds indoors before the season, so I should get a lot more in the end.
Thanks Emily, for all your help and for having this site, I don’t think I could have done it without this great resource.
Thanks for the comment Caroline. I am not really too bummed. Yes, it would have been nice to get more stuff that we could actually eat out of the garden, but I figured this year I was learning, so I didn’t really expect much. Also, it was a really hot year here, so I am sure that contributed to it too. I just know next year will be so much easier because one, I already have the bed built, and two I will know more about what I am supposed to do. And last I know what we ate and what we didn’t, so I will plant more of what we ate and less or none of what we didn’t eat.
Hey, you sound rather bummed – don’t be. We all start somewhere. Before last year, the only thing I’ve really grown successfully were tomatoes. This year, with help of family, I have 4 4×8 beds, I grew tomatoes, lettuce, lots of herbs (try mint tea!), Georgia collards, onions, beans, peas and I just harvested my first luffa. I didn’t get a great harvest of any of it, but I got something! I’m in S. Florida, so it’s time for round 2 and am planning on planting a bunch of greens, garlic, kale and whatever other cool weather plants I think of. Planning is half the fun!
And, I get your pumpkin dilema. I have a Seminole pumpkin that is well over 40 feet long in one of my beds – it’s produced NOTHING. I’m about ready to rip it out and try again next year.
Just remember, it takes time to learn. I figure I don’t need to know how to do this now, but it might make a very big difference in my life sometime in the near future. Better to learn it now (along with preserving) than to go hungry when it counts. Plus, it’s relaxing, fun and I’ve lost 20# so far. Just keep plugging away – you’ll get there!
Caroline