Trupe Square Foot Gardening Plan

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3 Responses

  1. Kathy says:

    I love that you are expanding your garden into your front yard. I put my SFG outside my back door, so I would see it on the way to the garage every day – it has worked very well for me, so I think you’re on the right track with putting them where you can putter for a few minute at a time, all day long. 🙂

    I’m afraid I can’t help too much with planting dates, since I don’t live in your area, but I do have a few suggestions on the layout:

    1) Not worth the effort to start peppers and tomatoes from seed? I think the “almost everyone” you’ve been talking to didn’t include any gardeners, LOL. Personally, I think they are the best plants to start indoors, if for no other reason than there are so many varieties to choose from and only a very small handful of those are available as transplants at the big box stores. I actually order my pepper and tomato seeds online because even the seeds aren’t available locally for what I want, but if you can find exactly the seedlings you want locally, more power to you.

    2) I am wondering about the placement of the tomatoes. My understanding is that you would need to prune every single sucker and train a single stem to a stake to make them work in a SFG, or grow smaller determinate varieties that don’t get very big. You don’t say what varieties you’re planting, so just be sure the larger varieties aren’t blocking the sun to the smaller ones, or put them all along the northern side of the beds.

    3) I’ve had good luck with peppers in my SFG, though, so no worries there. I would suggest either staking the peppers or using one of the cheap wire tomato cages for support. I’ve had unsupported vines break from the weight of the fruit. The only thing that sounds odd to me on your timing is that you intend to get the peppers out a week before the tomatoes. It’s typically done the other way around — peppers are more tender than tomatoes and need protection anytime the temps dip below 55F, so they go out a week or two after the tomatoes. (Or put empty flower pots or a frost blanket over them if your spring lows get into the 50’s.)

    4) I’ve never had any luck with the “Three Sisters” and the reading I’ve done online tells me that few, if any, others have found it worth it either. I think it’s one of those things that sounds good in theory, but doesn’t actually work in practice. That said, if you want to try, why are you planning to plant the beans before the corn? You’d need to have the corn up and pretty sturdy before the beans tried to climb on them, so you’d want to plant the corn first.

    5) As your asparagus grows, expect it to take over its section of that bed; it’s a perennial that needs a lot of room, but will reward you by giving you many years/decades of harvest. It actually might be a good candidate for the big backyard garden, since the ferns don’t need a lot of attention over the course of the summer/fall.

    Good luck! I hope you’ll report back and show us pictures of this garden in the summer. Your front yard will be the envy of the neighborhood. 🙂

  2. Ray Graham says:

    I’m surprised at the spacing of tomatoes. I thought the “vining” aka indescriminate tomatoes needed a net support (7″ x 7″ spacing which I cannot find anywhere) and plant on north side to avoid shading the rest of the square. I couldn’t fit cabbage in a 1′ square or 9 bean seeds. Think I am going to use some of the square beds without the squares this year.

  3. daisy says:

    Wow! What an ambitious garden! I love the idea of the sunflowers and peas being planted together. I may try that. Best wishes with your planting!