Author Archives: Jim

About Jim

I'm a certified square foot gardening instructor that enjoys teaching others how to grow their own great, healthy, organic food. I also enjoy cooking, biking, playing my guitar, reading, and card magic.

What I’m doing now

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This week I’ll start to clear out squares in planning for a full fall garden. I also have a workshop coming up this weekend so I want to make sure everything is ready to replant. I love the workshops-it gives people all the hands on experience they need to learn all they can about square foot gardening.  They learn all the basic and general principles in the first class.  The workshop then helps them to really learn it.   We do all sorts of things-make Mel’s mix, build a box, make a grid, go over the spacing and how to do it, etc. We also spend time on learning how to custom make the vertical towers-where they’re placed and why. We spend time on showing how to attach the nylon netting-the most difficult part of square foot gardening, composting know-how, protection, and other nifty little tricks. Since I’ll have about 6-8 more weeks of growing(maybe more)I’ll want to make sure my compost bins are full. This will give me the time needed to use all the compost that I can make right now to eventually be used in my boxes at the close of the season.  Hopefully, you’re doing the same.  If you do it right, you should be able to produce compost in that amount of time.  I detailed this-with pictures-in my photo gallery if you’d like to see it.   I’m trimming back all the squash leaves and non-productive vines to help them finish ripening. I’m harvesting all I can to open up squares and pulling all my flowers at the same time. I’ll leave the potatoes in the ground for now because they haven’t turned brown and died off yet. The same is true for my onions which are looking fabulous this year. By the way-I know of a great deal for you. A local seed company here in Utah-Mountain Valley Seeds-is selling 14 packs of heirloom and USDA certified organic seeds. This normally would go for $30 plus shipping. Now they’re selling it for not $20 but for $10-and there is free shipping!  You can’t beat that!   Click here for more information. I’m going to buy mine tomorrow.  You won’t find deals like this around very often and it’s from the nicest people around.  I’m beginning to watch the weekly weather so I don’t get surprised by an early frost.  I still have basil that I want to protect, and a bunch of tomatoes.  Did I mention my plans to garden through the winter this year?  I think I’m doing it-I’ve done it before.  It was more work, but it wasn’t that much.  I also might be growing things for several folks as well and this will give me the chance to keep things going.  They won’t have all the fancy summer things like tomatoes and squash, but they’ll have some great tasting lettuce and other produce that’s harvested and picked within a couple of hours.[ois skin=”below post”]

Time for a change

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The Labor Day weekend is here and summer comes to an official close tomorrow.  Here in zone 6 we’ll be having a change in the weather-matter of fact, we already have had one.  The nights have a definite chill in the air and the days are not quite so hot.  This is the weekend many people start to pull up their gardens in preparation to shut them down for the remainder of the year.  And if you’re a square foot gardener that’s certainly an option for you too.  For me, it’s time to make a change in my thinking.  We’ll have at least 6 good weeks of mild temperatures before the harder weather comes to town.  We’ve had years in the past where it’s been mild until the second week of December.  Though that’s a bit unusual, we certainly have a good 8 weeks, maybe a little more.  I’ll begin to pull up some things to open up some squares.  I’ll take my scissors and start cutting back the extra leaves on my squash plants.  You’ll want your squash harvested before the first freeze.  We might have a freeze in as little as 2 or 3 weeks from now but then the weather warms up again-the Indian Summer will then have arrived.  So I want to make sure all my squash plants get a chance to fully ripen.  This pictures gives you an idea of what’s been growing in my 1X4′ box-banana squash.  I’ve already pulled 2-9 pounders off the vines and you can see at least 3 still up and growing.  There’s one more growing in the back that you can’t see.  So before I pulled off that 9 pounder, there was at least 35+ pounds of squash being grown vertically on that nylon netting.  You can imagine how strong it must be to do that.  You also might notice some powdery mildew on the leaves.  That happens often with squashes.  I will cut all those leaves off so that everything remaining on the vines can continue finishing to ripen.  I will also start to clear out my flowers to open up some additional squares.  This is the time to replant everything!  All those fun things you were able to grow in the spring are back in style.  I’ll start a whole new batch of lettuces, spinach and radishes.  This will be perfect for all the tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, etc. that I now have.  I’ll have to cover my gardens at night in a few weeks, but I don’t mind.  That’s easy work for me.  And since I’m growing items for several local people in my gardens, this will give me the chance to offer them the option of extending the season if they wish.  I’ve had more come out of my garden this year than I’ve ever had.  I’ll be able to give you an idea of what I was able to do this year in a future post.[ois skin=”below post”]

San Diego-a great place to be on October 11-13th

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For those wanting to know the “whole story” about square foot gardening-this is a great event to attend.  Mel Bartholomew, the genius and inventor of the SFG, is running a 3 day symposium during these dates.  You know the weather will be great.  You’ll get to know how it all started, why it started, how it evolved, and the reason why Mel’s book eventually become the biggest gardening book in America.  He’s invited me to participate in a few things, but the workshop on the final day is the culmination of the whole course.   After completion you’ll receive your official certificate to be a certified SFG instructor.  You’ll also get to know other SFG instructors from your graduating class that will probably be lifelong friends.  You’ll meet all the great folks behind the scenes that will do everything in their power to be a successful gardener and instructor.  These people are the best!  The best part?  The interaction with Mel.  The “Father of Raised Beds” will be actively participating and teaching.  I hope if you’re able to attend that you will.  It’s not too costly and you’ll have an absolutely great time.  Click here to learn more.  There’s a lot of information out there on square foot gardening and how to do it.  You won’t have to rely on any of  that from now on if you can join us.  I hope to see some of you out there.[ois skin=”below post”]

The smells of summer

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In a few short weeks we’ll all miss the smell of freshly snipped basil on our hands.  Right now my time is taken up with pretty much harvesting-and having a hard time keeping up with some of the things.  Keep harvesting those pole beans while they’re still a decent size.  If you don’t, you’ll end up with these pithy tasting beans, which you’ll end up throwing away.  By keeping them harvested, the plant knows it needs to still produce more.  If you stop harvesting, the plant believes it’s time to start shutting down for the season.  Keep the top of your basil plants pinched off.  I also end up cutting off any brown or yellowing leaves on all my squash plants.  Keep your lettuce well watered and shaded.  In about another 2 weeks it’s time to put in your fall-Labor Day gardens.  That’s for those who want to get one more harvest out of the season.  It’s the best time to do it.  All the things you grew so well in the spring can successfully be planted again-without the snails and slugs.  I’ve still been planting squares of lettuce-right through the summer-so that we have some available to enjoy with the other salad fixings from the garden.  Maybe start thinking of your compost right now.  You should have a bunch ready to go on Labor Day.  If not, you’ll need to start hunting around for places that carry a good quality compost.  I’ve already mentioned what I believe is the best commercial compost available in a previous post.  If you’ve made no compost, this is the stuff you want to buy.  I can’t believe summer is almost over but it’s time to think about either extending the season or shutting down the gardens for the remainder of the year.  Keep in mind that in many areas where the first frost hits, there is usually another 4-6 weeks of cooler weather to still plant for those who still want to.

The looks of summer

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It’s sure been a great year in the square foot gardens.  We’ve had 64 ears of corn in a 4X4 box.  We’re just now getting a lot of Roma and other types of tomatoes.  The lettuce and radishes have and continue to grow and do very well-even in the heat of summer.  That’s a little tougher to do and I’ve talked about how to do that in previous posts.  The squashes, cucumbers and herbs are all doing good.  And, with only 150 square feet of garden space I’m able to not only grow this produce for our family but also 4 other people.  They have gladly paid me for it-$125 for a 6 week period.  Sure it’s a way to make extra money, but the real fun of it is that you get to see the look on people’s faces when they get that newly harvested box of organic produce that you were able to grow.  I actually think I’ve saved them a few bucks along the way because I have ended up delivering the items.  The price is the same as you would find at places like Whole Foods, but the items they’re receiving has been delivered within 2 hours of harvest.  It’s a very easy thing to do on a Saturday morning.  This picture shows just a small sampling of things that I pulled the other day.  Zucchini, carrots, green and yellow beans, basil, and Swiss chard.  Right now it’s hard to keep up with all the beans.  What do you do with all of them anyway?  That will be a topic in a new ebook that I will be working on in the near future-harvesting and storage.  Don’t forget to try and plant all those fall crops if you can.  If you plan it right, you’ll have some great and tasty things back there when all of your friendly neighbor gardeners are done for the year.  And you can do it so easily with no pests around to speak of at this time of year.[ois skin=”below post”]