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Lisa, it looks great!!! If you want things quicker, you might want to try some lettuce varieties. What I did for lettuce was to plant them in two or three window boxes (when the kids were home) that I had on my deck. That way the rabbits didn't get a hold of them!!!
Another fun thing I think you would enjoy is, in mid August, plant some sugar peas... the ones you get in chinese food... they grow in about 55 days and are a great fall crop!
One other thing that's always FUN.... throw a couple pumpkin seeds along the outside of your bed (put some of your mix there for the seeds) and let the vine trail down and around... it may go 30'. Only let each vine have ONE pumpkin. That way you'll get a good sized one for Halloween!
Quote:
Originally Posted by younglisa7
Hi all. I am posting more pictures and an update on my Square Foot Garden. I have never done any gardening before so if anyone sees something I should be aware of please let me know.
I made my first garden on 5/16/09 and planted beans and cukes. On 5/24/09 I planted my peppers and tomatoes.
Garden is sprouting on 5-27-09.
I thinned out my beans to 9 per square foot as recommended by the SFG book. On 6/1/09 I had some questions about my cucumber seeds because I seemed to have too many.
I wrote in and asked about that and I was told to trim them back. Here they are trimmed back.
On 6-6-09 my DH helped me build another garden bed. We used some leftover wood from our solar panel mounts. Here is a 3x10 bed.
I am very excited about being able to plant the rest of my plants. We moved the bed into a different area. Hopefully it will stay here permanently and next year we will add one more the same size. I might fence it off so the plants have a built in climbing support.
My DH is dumping in some fertile dirt to help me build up the bed.
Next I put the weed cloth in.
Then I dump the ingredients for the special soil mix on a tarp.
Here I am mixing it all together.
And now the fun part. I planted the almost all of the rest of my veggies. I planted 3 kinds of peppers, 4 kinds of tomatoes, 2 summer squash, and 1 zucchini plant. Here is my new garden.
I am very excited and I will be happy if 1/2 of my veggies produce. If they all produce come on over and help me out.
I will post another update when things start growing. I am finding out that I don't have the patience for gardening. I want everything "now", lol. But I have to wait about 60 days just like everyone else, lol.
lisa, I think they mean to thin them out, removed the seeding roots and all so they would not compete for nutrient.
Quote:
Originally Posted by younglisa7
Garden is sprouting on 5-27-09.
I thinned out my beans to 9 per square foot as recommended by the SFG book. On 6/1/09 I had some questions about my cucumber seeds because I seemed to have too many.
I wrote in and asked about that and I was told to trim them back. Here they are trimmed back.
use fingers press down soil around the young seedlings you wish to keep at ground level then pull out the remaining stems/roots.
if you get seeds from good source, look like you did, 2 extra seeds for number of plants you want to keep, generally 3 or 4 should be enough to cover some that may not germinates.
Quote:
Originally Posted by younglisa7
Ok, so do I need to puill all the stems out? Will it disrupt the other stems that I kept?
I had two cluster of seedlings in the cantaloupe I bought at the nursery (in a flat of what was supposed to be 6 plants, I got 13 total!) and instead of trying to separate them, I planted them as they were, just allowed more room between the cluster and the next single plant. One bunch had 5 plants! They are doing great! I'm sure that's not the officially recommended way, but it's working for us.
Lisa, one additional thought this morning... I know how much you and DH are into recycling... you should start a compost pile. Maybe you have and I've missed that info along the way...
In a nice sunny spot, pound 4 metal garden stakes into the ground so you've got, oh, say a 4' x 4 plot. Hook chicken wire to this.
Start adding grass clippings, leaves, all your food waste - peelings from veggies, coffee grounds etc., except bones or meat. Stir every few weeks. This will create the darkest, most nurtient rich soil you've ever seen! Add this for your garden beds.
If you check out gardenersupply.com there are compost bins you can buy to keep critters out if that's a concern, as well as compost holders to keep in your kitchen with environmentally safe biodegradable bags....
You could just google compost bins and get a wealth of ideas as well!
Good luck! You're going gangbusters and it all looks great! Gardening is wonderfully fun and richly rewarding.
aiangel_writer- If all my tomatoes make it I will definitely have to can. I am trying that for the first time this year also. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks, lol?
You must be so excited to see actual tomatoes on your vines and a pepper. Congrats.
Coastal- Some pumpkins might be cool. Is it too late for lettuce right now? Thanks for the compost instructions. I have been seriously thinking about doing that for next year. We certainly have enough cow manure around to add to it, lol.
wabanaki- Thanks for the tip. I think all of my seeds germinated. And they laughed when I only bought 20 or so, lol, I didn't even need that many.
southward bound- Hey if it's working go with the flow. I love cantaloupe but I'm not brave enough to try that yet. Congrats on your plants.
Kat- It would be great if you can learn from me. Let me tell you if my garden is successful then anyone can grow a garden. I have a serious black thumb. I go out and talk to my plants every day. I tell them not to disappoint me because I am taking pictures and people are watching them, lol.
YLisa you could still plant lettuce where you are safely I believe. I replant salad veggies a lot up here in IN to be able to have it all summer long.
If you guys have some old wooden skids those can be used for compost as well. Just attach them at their corners to make a square leaving the front one so it can swing open so you can turn the pile. It gets air between the slats to help break it down and we put a tarp over ours to keep the wild critters out of it.
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. If they all produce come on over and help me out
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