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Wow I love reading about everyone's gardens! I have some questions:
I haven't gotten the SFG book yet, but what is the premise behind using a very small space, especially those of you who have a lot of land to work with? I'm thinking harvesting would be a lot easier with some space between the plants.
Last year I built a really nice deep planter box with no bottom. Mistake! It was almost humorous to watch my fava beans, arugula and flat-leaf parsley disappear down the holes of the gopher or mole who soon moved into the box. Gopher wire on the bottom of the box likely would have solved this problem because the box was quite tall, but for those of you who have raised beds that are maybe only 3" to a foot high, would wire on the bottom serve little purpose because the critters will just climb over the side?
I will give you my answer. I did the square foot garden because I have never done a garden before and the thought of tilling and weeding didn't sound appealing to me. I really like the ease of it. So far I am very happy with my gardens. I will make changes next year and give my plants a little more space to spread out. I haven't had any weeds so far in 2 months and I'm thinking that is a big plus.
As far as your critters I would put the wire the bottom of your garden box. I'm not sure if they will climb over your sides but at least they won't pull your roots out. I have been lucky and don't have any critter problems. I guess they figure with 40 acres of good natural eating land and apple trees coming in they don't need to bother my gardens which is fine with me, lol.
I will give you my answer. I did the square foot garden because I have never done a garden before and the thought of tilling and weeding didn't sound appealing to me. I really like the ease of it. So far I am very happy with my gardens. I will make changes next year and give my plants a little more space to spread out. I haven't had any weeds so far in 2 months and I'm thinking that is a big plus.
As far as your critters I would put the wire the bottom of your garden box. I'm not sure if they will climb over your sides but at least they won't pull your roots out. I have been lucky and don't have any critter problems. I guess they figure with 40 acres of good natural eating land and apple trees coming in they don't need to bother my gardens which is fine with me, lol.
To what do you attribute the absence of weeds??
I had a chat with our County Agriculture dept and was told that there's nothing that will keep a garden from getting weeds - they get carried in on the wind, dropped by birds, etc., so I didn't go to any special lengths in that regard. Maybe I would, next time, if I knew what the secret is.
I had a chat with our County Agriculture dept and was told that there's nothing that will keep a garden from getting weeds - they get carried in on the wind, dropped by birds, etc., so I didn't go to any special lengths in that regard. Maybe I would, next time, if I knew what the secret is.
I think it is the "Mel's SFG special soil mix". There is no top soil. The mix is 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 coarse vermiculite, and 1/3 compost.
Well, in one of my boxes, the squash are playing out. This box is a 4 x 8 my father in law built me I am ready to pull my squash up and amend the soil a bit, adding more as it settled and then sow mustard seed.
What are you guys thinking of planting for fall and winter?
My entire garden is sqaure foot gardening. I love this method the best, all my beds are raised
I have two 6 ft x 18 ft beds. I will have to take some pictures and post my garden if I get a chance.
I have Jalapenos, Cayenne's, Red, Orange & Green Bells, Walla Walla onions, Eggplant, Purple top turnips, Okra, Romaine lettuce, green onions, cucumbers, several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, carrots, a huge yellow zucchini plant, and Bush green beans.
Here is my square foot garden update. I had some issues getting things started early on as I think my cheap compost from Loews did not have enough nutrients to support vigorous plant growth.
I had the same problem as you. The top soil & compost from a local nursery did not have enough nutrients in them. My tomatoes were getting yellow leaves and my green peppers were not growing at all. A quick invite of my experienced garden friend diagnosed the problem right away.
I supplemented with potting mix a week ago and they're beginning to show signs of health. The tomato plants are starting to have green tomatoes on vines. Since I planted them late, in July, it looks like a late-season harvest for me.
There is basically no nutrition in topsoil. It is mainly used for top dressing or leveling the landscape. .......
also Walmart's bagged Garden Soil is just DIRT !
Compost and Potting Mix is very good. The bagged manure they sell at places like WallyWorld is already burned off but still use caution as high N content will promote lush leaf growth but very little veggies or fruit.
Plants need organic matter for nutrition like compost grass clippings, leaf mold, non-meat kitchen scraps. some wood chips for aeration. You can layer things directly on your raised beds this Fall , cover with a 3 or 4 page thickness of newspaper ( use something to weigh it down or it will blow away). Keep moist .... watering through the cold months if it gets dry.
Vermiculite holds water wheras Perlite lightens the mix.
In the Spring poke a hole in the paper and plant something ..........
BTW, Earthworms are very important to soil health and they love newspaper.
I have heavy clay up front in my shade garden and the worms are are hard at work under the paper loosening the clay .......
Use the same tecnique on flower beds except you can just go ahead and put a layer of wood chip mulch to hold the paper down and this will keep it nice and moist for the little wrigglers ........
After time a weed may make it through the paper/mulch just brush back the chips , remove the weed , add some more paper and recover with the mulch.
<i>I read once of a fella in Australia that mulches his entire huge garden with anything that lays flat ie old carpet ( upside down) old tee shirts and bluejeans and feed sacks ............. you name it hahahahahaha </i>
We have a bit of land 2.5 acres cleared with .25 acres as a garden. The garden gets all the grass clippings, I am in the south, and red clay is the soil everyone has down here. The first few years, tilling was rough, kinda like tilling bricks. I till the same rows every year and, by now, I actually have soil where my rows are. The grass clippings hold water and break down into the clay converting it to a real soil mixture. My garden is an over-producer which means there is a lot to share.
Well I am sure most of you are enjoy the harvest of your hardwork by now. I'd thought I'd share some of my progress as well.
Almost 3 moths have past since I post my bare seedling plants (I know, I started late, rookie here) and now it's time for a progress report. As you can see below, the tomato plants are doing well, so are the basil and marigolds. The green bell pepper plants are having "babies" now, soon it will be ready for harvest.
Learned a few thing about those flimsy tomato cages, they don't work that well. Since then, I have reposition those tomato stakes to the center of the plant and tie tomato branches onto them. This way it provides a better stability for the plant and doesn't put as much loads on those flimsy cages. I also bought wider metal posts to stabilize the cage.
HB2HSV thanks for the nice update good to see your efforts are starting to pay off now.
I use cattle wire fencing for my cages have had the same ones for 8 years with no rust, no bending and no whimping out. I cut a wide of 8 squares width and used the height of the fence off the roll. Last year my plant grew taller than the cages with no problems. This year we didn't have enough warm days to worry about the plants growing very tall. I don't do SFG though so you might need to use smaller cages in yours.
Oh I also use rebar for strong stake supports had Lowes cut them into for me when I bought them.
Nice newbie garden you have.
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There is basically no nutrition in topsoil. It is mainly used for top dressing or leveling the landscape. .....
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