Our Square-foot gardening journey (complete with pictures) Update #1 on page 2

[Firebird Rising]

This year, we decided to put in a square-foot garden of sorts. DH, DS and I live with my parents and we have only one area of our property that gets adequate sun during the summer. It's a long narrow strip with a hill off to the right and the house to the left. Here's a pic just before we started.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4043.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4043.jpg)

So we decided to put in a 4X25 foot raised main bed in the middle and two smaller beds along the hill. It's an adjustment on the SFG plan, but it's what will work for us. Here's DH putting in the heavy labor
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4053.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4053.jpg)http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4054.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4054.jpg)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4058.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4058.jpg)http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4060.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4060.jpg)

After putting the bed together it was time to fill it. We used fill dirt to bring the soil level up to about 8 inches from the top, put on weed cloth and then filled the rest with the special mix that Mel recommends EXCEPT, we did some alterations simply because of the cost of compost. It was all still clean substances with no weed seeds or weird stuff. I know we used a compost mix and vermiculite, but can't remember the other thing, it was something local from our nursery. We used a total of three pickup loads of the dirt type stuff. I don't have any pictures of the dirt, but here's two of the hardest workers in the whole deal.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4045.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4045.jpg)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4046.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4046.jpg)

After the garden was filled, we used lath (very crooked lath, the best we could find) to section off the main garden into foot squares. Then I got to start planting (because I was pregnant, I had missed out on all the heavy work, which kind of wasn't fair, but :shrug ). Here's what it looked like the first day after planting our seeds and started plants.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4163.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4163.jpg)http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4164.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4164.jpg)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4165.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4165.jpg)http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4167.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4167.jpg)

Here is a picture of the part near the hill, we're not done with it yet.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4168.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4168.jpg)


We have planted the following:
20 tomato plants
2 eggplants
2 red bells
2 yellow bells
2 hot peppers
12 basil plants
2 cilantro
4 parsley
10 strawberry plants (with pretty red berries already)
8 onions
16 radishes
16 short carrots
10 beets
12 sugar snap peas
20 or so blue lake green beans
10 wax beans
10 burgundy beans
nasturtiums
marigolds
cosmos
zinnias
some mystery seeds we didn't recognize from a plastic baggie :lol

And more to come! We still need to get watermelon in (we're going to vine it up the hill), zucchini, summer squash and pattypan. There is lots of stuff sprouting and I'll get pictures of that next.

I'll be adding to this through the summer so enjoy!

Jen D.

[Psyche]

Neat :)

Keep in mind that your peas are a cold weather crop. You may not get a bountiful harvest depending on the warmth of your weather but you can replant again for a fall harvest :)

[mama-hobbit]

:rockon

[SPKarenO]

awesome - my sis did this last year and the garden was a HUGE success.

wish i could come eat all your fresh produce too!

[Lady TS]

:thumbsup <---His thumb should be GREEN! ;)

[Aisling]

Awesome!! :rockon

[canadiyank]

Looks fab! How exciting. :tu 20 tomato plants? :jawdrop Hope you're up for some canning/freezing...I have more than I could use with 6 plants last year. :shifty And 12 basils? Heh. They'll make good pesto.

Have fun, it really looks excellent. :)

[Hermana Linda]

It's wonderful! Be still my beating heart!!! :jump2

[PurpleButterfly]

:rockon :rockon :rockon

[FaroeIslandBabes]

wow! thats awesome :)

[Soliloquy]

This is AWESOME!! :rockon We hope to do something like this next year--not sure if we can manage it this summer. Thank your for posting the pics--it helps so much!!

[WanderingJuniper]

Awesome and inspiring! I'm giving a SFG a go this year too. Although I have no idea where I am going to put the watermelon. :shrug

[Firebird Rising]

Although I have no idea where I am going to put the watermelon. :shrug


Trellis it. I think he said he had either pumpkins or watermelons 7 ft up in the air.

Jen D.

[Marielle]

love it! Can you answer a few questions for a newbie?

1. Why the double depth on the beds?

2. Is leveling a major issue? My lot is slightly sloped but I was just going to put the one box I have this year on that slight slope.

3. When you say to trellis theh watermelons, etc. how do the melons not fall off the vine? I know he mentions panty hose but I'm having a hard time picturing how to create that hose net.

Beautiful job on your garden! You guys should be proud.

[LadybugSam]

:jawdrop :rockon that is so cool!

[Firebird Rising]

love it! Can you answer a few questions for a newbie?

1. Why the double depth on the beds?
Well, the mix that we want to grow in is SO much more expensive than fill dirt. Since Mel only recommends 6-8 inches of growing soil anyway, we decided to save money and fill what we needed to up to the 8 inches before the top of the bed and then put the weed block in and then the good soil. When we started this journey, we never expected the expensive part to be the growing medium. Our entire garden with dirt, wood and plants came in at just under $500 BUT we did a MUCH bigger bed than what he recommends and we are doing it for two families essentially.

2. Is leveling a major issue? My lot is slightly sloped but I was just going to put the one box I have this year on that slight slope.
Depends on how handy you or your husband are. Mine is fairly handy and didn't have a huge trouble with it, but we had to dig in some areas and build up others. It took a day to get the wood in for the bed.

3. When you say to trellis theh watermelons, etc. how do the melons not fall off the vine? I know he mentions panty hose but I'm having a hard time picturing how to create that hose net. :shrug never done it. I know he talks about it and so we're going to pseudo-trellis up the hill, BUT really, it's more of an experiment. If it goes well, we might try a totally vertical trellis of melons next year. I'm curious to see how it works out and I dont' like watermelon anyway so I"m just trying it to see. :lol

Hope that helps.

Jen D.

[Firebird Rising]

More pictures:

DS's new garden (so he'll stop digging in ours :clap )
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4250.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4250.jpg)http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4254.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4254.jpg)

Strawberries!
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4274.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4274.jpg)
Radishes
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4277.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4277.jpg)
Swiss Chard
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_4278.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4278.jpg)

More to come soon! Had a little hit over the last three days with the tomatoes, lots of cold weather and two of the larger tomato plants got kinda wilty at the top. THey look like they'll pull through so we'll see. I think it's time to miracle grow a few things this weekend after it all dries out. Supposed to get some REALLY nice sun today so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens this week after two days of on and off rain.

Jen D.

PS: Almost forgot the little nest we have up in our hanging asparagus fern. Five eggs. DS is very excited about watching them hatch. We watched the nest-building and watched as eggs came in, but now we're just waiting for babies (baby boys and baby birds!)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_4280.jpg

[bostonsmama]

that is soooooooooooooo awesome! you did a GREAT job!!!!!!!!!!!! :woohoo cant wait to see more pics in a couple months :yes

[LadybugSam]

:heart i think i have garden envy ;)

[something glorious]

this is AMAZING :jawdrop :highfive its my dream to have a succesful vegetable garden some day :yes

[mollobe]

Wow! You did all that in under $500?! Our tiny little 4x4 SFG cost $150 (that includes plants and seeds) - I didn't think it would be that much. When we got the total I had to remind DH that we won't have to buy as much produce this summer AND we'll be eating much healthier. :/

[Firebird Rising]

Wow! You did all that in under $500?! Our tiny little 4x4 SFG cost $150 (that includes plants and seeds) - I didn't think it would be that much. When we got the total I had to remind DH that we won't have to buy as much produce this summer AND we'll be eating much healthier. :/


Yeah, I would definitely do the breakdown for you, if you'd like, if it would help. My dad said we had a $500 limit and I'm pretty sure we ended up at around $480 or so. About $75 of that was started plants (we did about half from seeds and half not). A big reduction in cost was the change in soil, but it would have been over $300 for the soil if we hadn't done that.

Jen D.

[WanderingJuniper]

I've decided to plant to watermelon along our fence. I thought about trellising them but have had no luck finding the details on how to do it.

[Hermana Linda]

Wouldn't you just tie them to the trellis?

[TrinMama]

wow! I'm totally inspired. My dh's uncle just helped me build two 4x4 boxes over the weekend (only filled with topsoil :/)...but um, we have nothing planted yet. LOL. so, where do I get info about the SFG? Sounds awesome!!!

[mollobe]

so, where do I get info about the SFG? Sounds awesome!!!


www.squarefootgardening.com

[TrinMama]

so, where do I get info about the SFG? Sounds awesome!!!


www.squarefootgardening.com


Thanks!!!

[Marielle]

thanks for answering Jen!

I just put in my 4x4 box this weekend (and a 1x2 box made of the scraps). I used cedar and did 8" of the mel's mix. With all the wood, materials, mel's mix stuff & seeds (I'm not using plants) it was around $100. I'm hoping it's a good start though for adding onto in the next couple of years.

BTW, re: the trellising for the larger plants it seems you have to use a sling (out of any mesh materials like pantyhose or onion bags) to hold up the fruit as it gets bigger otherwise it will fall off the vine before ripening.

We ended up planting zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, mesclun, cubanelle peppers, sweet peppers, bush green beans, marigolds, carrots, cilantro, rosemary and basil (I also filled a few pots with mel's mix for the rosemary, I wanted to transplant those to the front in the winter).

[Firebird Rising]

Update!!! This is a very bountiful garden. I was gone less than a week and we collected almost a basketful of stuff when we came home. It is SO easy to take care of, just lotsa watering. Here's some recent pics with DS in the first one so you get an idea of size.

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_5853.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_5853.jpg)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_5854.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_5854.jpg)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_5855.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_5855.jpg)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_5856.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_5856.jpg)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/th_IMG_5857.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/IMG_5857.jpg)


TFL,

Jen D.

[Hermana Linda]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/boonpnutsmom/OURKEIKI%20GRAPHICS/Awesome%20Graphics/image0011111.gif
That is Great!!! What ever you spent on that soil was worth it!!!

[Lady TS]

Awesome!

For some reason, our garden isn't doing so great this year. Of course, the weather was weird this spring/early summer and everything got started late, and it's still coolish--and it's almost August!

I went to check on SIL's zucchini plants last night since she's been gone for about a week. She had picked them clean when she left...and there were 11 MONSTER zucchini on I think 3 plants! I guess I will be grating a lot of it and freezing it to use later in zucchini bread/brownies. I'm thinkin' brownies. :shifty :hkiss