Category Archives: square foot gardening

All ready for a small winter garden

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This is just one small area where I use a sunbox to grow winter salad greens. It’s less than 2 feet deep and just short of four feet wide. This uses very inexpensive wood(2X4’s laying around the house), and a window frame that cost me $5 at Restore for the top. I’ve got two different kinds of lettuces, arugula, and spinach. I’ll wait until it gets a little deeper into the fall season before adding another layer of wood. If I put it on now it casts too big of a shadow at the front edge of the box. Maybe in 3 weeks it’ll be a better time. I usually end up leaving a small opening in the box by simply moving the glass cover back about 2 inches. I don’t every really worry about closing it all winter unless we have single digit temperatures at night, which we have on occasion.

Tomatoes coming on like crazy

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I’ve got 8 foot walls of tomatoes! Took a little longer than usual but with the cooler weather they’re now producing heavily. A few more weeks to go and that will be it for the summer/fall season. Temperatures going to the high 40’s coming up. My standard cherry tomatoes have been so sweet, and I’ve also discovered two other great varieties. Unfortunately the label name has washed off so I’m not sure what they are. One of them was given to me by a friend so maybe I can track it down.

Cool, wet spring has slowed me down

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Weather has put me behind the eight ball a little bit. It’s picking up now, but my cucumber, cherry tomatoes, beans, and basil are off to a late start. Of course, now we’re going from one extreme to another, with forecasted temperature in the mid-90’s for the remainder of the week.

One of the things I learned about planting beans from the master-Mel Bartholomew, is to soak them in water for 2-3 hours before putting them directly into the ground. They will begin to swell a bit and it speeds up the harvest time. I’ve usually grown pole beans but this year have gone to bush beans. I ran out of vertical space with 28 cherry tomato plants going.

Starting Leeks

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Here’s the way I do it. I just add potting soil to an empty container and sprinkle 30-40 seeds on top, moisten to water, and then put the top on for a few days. They will probably all come up, but I only need 3 squares of them. That means 27 leeks.

Theres been times when I’ve kept leeks, chives, or green onions in their container for 9-10 months. At some point they stop growing. Then all I do is locate the container in the garden(I keep them outside all the time), and separate the leeks to drop into their respective holes. It’s a good way to always have things ready. Its worked for me anyway.

Tomato cloche

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Got a little wet and cold the past couple of days. I’ve had my early cherry tomato plants out and didn’t want to take a chance of losing them. Just an old orange juice container with the bottom cut out and placed gently over the plant has always done the trick for me. If it gets colder at night I will put the cap on but am sure to remove the cap by morning.