Category Archives: square foot gardening

Potatoes in the square foot garden

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I don’t think I’ve ever posted about potatoes. If I have, it has been a while. The basic spacing of 1, 4, 9, and 16 in the SFG system is excellent, but with potatoes, I learned to change that up. Potatoes are planted 5 per square, and I always make sure each seed has at least two eyes in them. I do not hill. I do not let them scab over before putting them in soil. I just bury them 7-8 inches deep, cover, and start watering. In about 5 weeks they break the surface. I’ve grown potatoes in grow bags before, but I’ve never been able to match the yield than I can when planted in the square foot gardens. The soil really makes a difference. How much can you expect? I always harvest 5-7 pounds of red pontiacs every year. And the taste. 

How many carrots can you grow in 1 square foot?

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SFG instructors usually teach 16, and for the beginner SFG’er, thats a good way to start. After a while, you continue to learn how to make your SFG even more efficient. There’s 25 of the sweetest, overwintered carrots you’ll ever taste right there. I’ve got a few more left and thats it for the winter carrots. The summer carrots will be direct seeded in about another 2 weeks or so. They don’t taste as sweet as these but still better than what you’d get at the super market. These are Napoli’s, and they are very good.
Give a look at the two classes I’ve got coming up in the next little while. Learn how to be a great square foot gardener, and then learn why Mels mix is a one time expense if you want to make your own compost. Just a few things to learn and you’ll be off to the races. You can’t buy fertilizer as good as you can make at home. And, it’s not even close.

Cilantro in the square foot garden coming out of winter

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I’ve heard many people during classes mention the fact that they have a hard time growing cilantro. When did you try to grow it? “In June or July.” Well, thats probably the reason. Cilantro grows much easier in the cooler climates of the year. If you start it in mid-fall, it will even do well in the protected environment of a low tunnel, where you can harvest throughout the winters in our zone 6B. This particular crop of cilantro has been in the garden all winter, and still has a way to go before I’ll empty the square and replant with something different. 

For those interested, I have a first time class coming up in 2 weeks. Titled “The Doomsday Garden” 🙂 , this class is virtual. I’m hoping everything will work with the technology. The walk through went okay, but you know how things like this can go. This is the perfect time to get back into gardening. This method requires less work compared to other systems with so many other advantages. You can find information out about the class here on my blog. We’ll cover the basics of how to get your gardens up as fast as possible, and hopefully to reduce a bit of stress with the anxiety this has created for us all. 

My square foot garden coming out of winter

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It’s about time to start planting some things directly into the garden now. This is a picture of what mine looks like under cover. The empty spaces have been the latest things that I’ve been having for lunches and salads, and even a few things for breakfast(baby arugula in scrambled eggs?) Some have been replanted, and some I’ll hold off on to put transplants in the next several days. I’ve still got a lot of good eating under there. Claytonia, spinach, cilantro, onions, carrots, lettuce, tokyo bekana,  bok choi, and some green onions.

Today I direct seeded kale, more spinach, french breakfast radish, and some turnips. With the exception of kale, these will be up quickly and harvested long before the summer garden gets here. 

Herbs-parsley

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Its early but I’m putting out some of my parsley in grow bags. For those who have never used them, you might give them a try. They are made out of a soft fabric and will last for years. I now grow most of my herbs in these because I need the room in the regular garden for other crops.

The great thing(s) about these is they come in all sorts of sizes. This is a 5 gallon grow bag and thats all I need for my herbs. You can pick them up and move them around because they have handles, which is an advantage over the Smart Pot grow bags. You get healthy air-pruned plants that are easily contained. My favorites are from 247 Gardenmate. You can find them here. Mine are 5 years old and show no signs of wearing out.