Photos
6 inch (single vinyl rail) square foot garden beds
Square foot garden beds with trellis (left) and pvc support for corn (right)
12 inch (double vinyl rails) square foot garden boxes
Square Foot Garden in the middle of the summer.
4'x8' garden bed wtih horiztonal tomato support, 4'x4' garden bed on right with trellis
Why did you switch from single vinyl rails to double? How is the horizontal part of your steel trellis connected to the sides? How did you do your irrigation? Thanks for all the great info and pictures!
I switched from single to double so I could grow potaotes and carrots, and because my gardens are surrounded by gravel. It gets REALLY HOT in the summer, and I felt like the heat was stunting the growth of my plants. The extra soil has really helped retain moisture and protect the roots from overheating.
I purchased the trellis at http://www.squarefootgardening.com. It came with all the pieces to assemble it.
I have separate valves for each set of gardens (east and west). It goes from there to a pressure reducer/filter, then to PVC or funny pipe. Then I used 1/4′ drip pipe with emitters built in. I arranged these every 6″ so I get really good coverage.
How’s it going? Would love to see updated photos of your SFG!
I love the new 12 inch supports. They look beautiful! I remember you said you had problems with your tomatoes. Have you tried putting them in a different box. I’ve heard it takes a few years to clear the virus – including your supports. I can’t wait to see your garden grow this year!
Ok, so where are you located? I square foot gardened for many years near Detroit, MI with wonderful success. All the other gardeners in my neighborhood were green with envy (hehe). Seven years ago we moved to northern MI, last year I had to hunt up many, many recipes for green tomatoes because none ripened with our cold summer. Did you know that green tomato bread and green tomato cake are really good? So is green tomato mock mincemeat! Hope I have better luck this year!
I live in Lehi Utah. But I was born in Southfield, Michigan and grew up in Novi until I was 4. Then we moved to western NY state, near Rochester. The gardening here in Utah is quite a bit hotter and drier, but still great! Please do send me the green tomato recipes you used–I’ll post them with the recipes.
In the past, I have had an abundance of green tomatoes still on the vine the day before a killing frost was to occur. I picked all of them. I wrapped them individually with newspapper and placed them in a cardboard box and placed them in my laundry room. They continued to ripen. Each week I would go through them and pick out the ones that had ripened for our meals. Occasionally one would be ruined, but I lost very few of them. We had ripe, home-grown tomatoes through March.
I tried saving them in my garage, but didn’t wrap them individually. I bet that would have made all the difference! Let me ask you, because this was my experience–those ripened this way are good, and better than in the store, but NOT as good as those ripened on the vine. Was that true for you?
You are so clever. I never would have thought of using vinyl for the sides. Does the PVC give good support for the tomatoes? Mine grow over the cage and back down to the ground. Any ideas? Love ya and looking forward to seeing the new baby!!