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
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April 21, 2009 at 3:46 pm
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!
April 22, 2009 at 12:13 am
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.
June 24, 2009 at 12:59 pm
How’s it going? Would love to see updated photos of your SFG!
February 27, 2010 at 7:02 pm
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!
April 13, 2010 at 8:42 pm
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!
April 14, 2010 at 7:39 am
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.
April 18, 2010 at 8:38 pm
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.
April 19, 2010 at 8:26 am
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?
August 6, 2010 at 9:14 am
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!!
November 24, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Your supports sure looked better than mine!. My poor peppers fell over. I’m determined to do better about that next year. I think as the book says, it’s good for beginners to start small, without the vertical gardening, and get used to the whole idea. The raised beds on our deck did much better since we mainly had root veggies, lettuce and herbs!
March 24, 2011 at 11:17 am
Hi Emily,
I have been looking over your blog and have a question for you. It looks as though your SFG’s are around 12 inches deep. In Mel’s book he talks about only making it 6 inches deep and I was wondering why you chose to go 8-12 inches in depth? That’s a lot of extra soil that has to be mixed.
Thanks,
Scott
March 24, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Scott–Yes, I followed Mel’s suggestions the first year and had 6″ boxes. But I didn’t feel it was enough soil–especially because my garden beds are surrounded by gravel which gets hot in the sun. So I “upgraded” to 12″ boxes. I have LOVED the difference–I’ve had lots of success with potatoes, carrots, and really I felt all my veggies benefited. It does take more materials to build and more soil–but I adjusted by just adding more compost. So I use 1/2 compost, 1/4 peat moss, 1/4 vermiculite.
May 5, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Hi emily,
I’m new to SFG (bought the book last month) and plan to put up my first set of boxes this weekend (I live in Eastern Canada and the temperature is still around 35-40 degrees at night-hence the late start). I have 2 questions:
1- I’d planned to put the tomatoes and cucumbers in the same box, yet you mentioned on a youtube video this was a bad idea. Do you suggest I set up one row (4 squares) in each box instead, aslo which other plants don’t grow well together?
2- You also mentioned that you chose not to put your trellisis against the fence but on the side. I plan to set up the boxes in the back yard in front of my deck (which is the south side of the property). If I set the tomatoes against the deck then they will be on the north side of the box and not cast a shadow over the smaller plants. How does putting them on the east or west side affect the exposure?
thanks for the website and the videos
Mark
May 7, 2011 at 10:33 am
Mark–Tomatoes and cucumbers are good companions (they benefit each other), but to plant them in the same small garden space is logistically difficult. The cucumbers get long and spread all over, and the leaves are prickly. The tomatoes grow and spread–so you’re just likely to be untangling them all the time, and getting all scratched up while you do it.
You should avoid putting the tomatoes on the south side for sure. Plant them on the north side if you must, but I might opt for the west side–it will give afternoon sun to the plants in that box, so put shade tolerant plants with it–carrots, onions, spinach, broccoli, lettuce, etc.
May 9, 2011 at 7:56 am
Hi Emily, thanks so much for the followup.
I built my boxes yesterday (12″ high as you sugggested) it was a great feeling doing it all myself. I’m now ready to get the soil.
Would I be better off buying equal quantities of vermiculite, peat and compost and mxiing them up on a tarp or just buying one of those premixed packages? I found a mixture by a company called berger (BM1) that mixes peat-vermiculite-perlite-and starter fertilizer.
Also you make mention on your site to use 16-16-8 fertilizer. How does this play into the verm-peat-comp mixture? Do I add it in later on or incorporate right away?
Thanks so much for all your help. I really appreciate having an experienced person to guide me.
May 11, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Mark–I think financially you’ll be better off to buy and mix yourself, but I’ve never seen that mix, so I’m not sure. My suggestion is 1/4 peat, 1/4 vermiculite, and 1/2 compost. Then spread the 16-16-8 fertilizer, and mix into the top 6-9 inches. Good luck!
May 24, 2011 at 10:57 am
Hi emily
Thanks for all your help, the garden is doing well and the seeds have begun to sprout. I decided to buy tomato, cucumber and pepper plants (rather than seeds) as I got started late this year.
I’m loving my garden and look forward to coming home each evening to check it out. I’m now getting ready to plant some rasberries, blueberries and strawberries and I was thinking about container gardening and setting it up on the deck and possibly transplanting them in the fall into the garden. They need a lower PH level so I decided against placing them in the available squares.
Any suggestions?
May 29, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Hey Mark,
Good luck with the blueberries. It sounds like you live in a climate where they will do alright. They really like it wet so in dry climates, like where I live, it is difficult to grow them successfully.
In a former house I had raspberries and they took over my garden space. I think you are really on the right track for these to be in containers.
Good luck.
June 26, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Emily, I am doing a class project and I would like your permission to cite your website. I love the info you provide! Thanks!
June 29, 2011 at 1:11 am
Ashley, of course! Thank you!
November 12, 2011 at 8:50 am
Emily, I was trying to figure out my colors and got no response other than “all”. I live in Bagdad, Florida. I just moved here from the frozen north and am not familiar with southern growing seasons. Am I correct in thinking I can plant anytime but it may get too hot in mid summer for much to thrive?
January 4, 2012 at 9:50 am
Sue–that’s right. It’s never too cold to plant, though it may get too hot. And plants grow best not just based on temperature, but on intensity of sunlight. Go here for some more help.