Monthly Archives: March 2012

Season start of square foot gardening…

I read somewhere that a blog is nothing more that a public journal.  That being the case, I’m going to document all that I can this season.  When I started, what I did, how I did it, etc.  I will also be making an effort to keep track of everything that I harvest.  I have an idea that I am developing that will be of benefit to all who are interested in feeding their families healthy, organic, and delicious produce and veggies.  Today is the 3rd of May and I have just gone out and covered my 2X16′ SFG bed.  You can tell we’ve had a bit of snow the last day or so.  My guess is that tomorrow the snow under the plastic will be gone-maybe even today-and my soil should be ready to plant in just a few days.  You always continue to learn things in the SFG method and that’s no exception for me.  I’ve already spotted my first mistake.  Nothing serious that can’t be fixed but a mistake nonetheless.  Once the soil is softened up I will be able to fix it.  I will share that information on my next post.  I hope that you can follow me throughout the gardening season to see how this all progresses.  If there are things that might be of benefit to you and your SFG efforts, well then that would be great.  If you’re already a master at SFGing and don’t find anything that betters your garden, that’s OK too.  We’re among friends here.  I believe this is my 13th year of SFGing.  And every year I seem to learn something new by either personal experience or by interacting with other SFGers.  About the picture: this is 6-mil plastic that can be purchased at any Lowe’s or Home Depot kind of store.  It’s then held up by flexible black plastic that I like to refer to as “ribs.”  The ribs are held in place by small PVC inserts that I added to the insides of the beds every so often.  Cover it with the plastic and weigh it down with water buckets to keep it from blowing away.  If the sun comes out you can just add about 30 degrees to whatever temperature it is outside.  Right now its about 35 degrees.  When/if the sun comes out this covered garden will get to be in the area of  65 degrees.  You can grow all sorts of things in that temperature.  Since it’s still in the low to mid 30’s at night you will need to keep your gardens covered in the evenings.  Last-always remember to vent your plastic.  I have 4 slits right in the middle of the plastic that are about 6 inches long.  That’s good enough to keep it from getting to hot under there…..

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I just got my seeds and then…

It does this!  It’s about time to start thinking of planting sugar snap peas.  A little later today I will make my way out to the garden and cover it in preparation for heating up the soil.  The weather is reporting that by Sunday it should be in the low 50’s.  With that, my 2X16′ garden will be ready to plant in about a week.  I’l try to get some good pictures of the apparatus that I use to protect my gardens.  It’s all rather simple and just takes a little bit of time to put it all in.  I have a series of three pictures in gallery 1 that shows what I have done to amend this particular bed.  I do the same with all of my beds but this gives you a visual of how it’s done.  The picture is a 2X4′ bed that has been emptied of its contents, leaves added and then finishing the whole box off with homemade compost.  All those leaves?  When I turn the soil over with a trowel-the only tool you’ll need in a square foot garden-all of them will be gone.  They will be completely decomposed.  The result is a rich, vibrant and healthy soil that you can grow just about anything in.  Because you never walk on your soil and you’ve amended it with compost you no longer have a need for heavy equipment like rototillers, shovels, etc.   That soil is going to plump right up.  It’s so lose, friable and even fragrant that you can almost hear it saying back to you ” please plant me!”  Start thinking of having your own square foot garden this year.  It’s the only way to go.  No weeding, no heavy digging, no hard work, no kidding….

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