Monthly Archives: February 2014

The first seedlings emerge

february 2014 arugula cold frameThis plant was direct seeded right in the cold frame 12 days ago. We’ve mostly had night temperatures in the teens for the most part. I really love my new cold frame. But now it’s time for me to prepare and begin direct seeding into the main garden beds. The soil is perfect and ready to go. If you’re not a square foot gardener and would like to experience a garden with no hard work, no heavy digging, no weeding, no thinning, and 100% of the normal harvest, then this is the system for you. The big picture is easy: build a box, fill it with perfect soil, put a grid on it, and then start planting. Right now would be a good time to gather your material for your raised box. It can be anything you like: vinyl(expensive), bricks, railroad ties(not the old style ones), or wood. Whatever you choose only needs to hold 6 inches of soil. That’s it! I have 2X6″ lumber in my garden and they work perfectly. You can make it as long as you want, but it shouldn’t be any wider than 4 feet. Most folks start out making a 4X4′ box, but you can do more if you want. Maybe one-4X8′ box would be a good starting point. Drill your wood together with deck screws and your new SFG box is ready for the next step. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be posting easy to follow instructions on how to begin your square foot garden. I also hope you’re on the mailing list for my free newsletter. I’ll be diving a little deeper into the concepts of the square foot gardening system and why it works so well with the newsletter. I hope you’ll come along.

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