Category Archives: Summer gardening

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.

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.

Wow…look at that red onion!

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I dont usually grow onions in my square foot gardens. They just seem to take a long time and you can buy them cheaply during the summer months. The last time I grew them was probably 15 years ago. I wont be doing that anymore. These red onions were the best I’ve ever tasted. Much like garlic, they are sweeter and milder than store bought. They look perfect. Given the fact that the square foot gardener can grow 9 in just one square foot, I can certainly give up 3 or 4 squares during the growing season, which will give me 27 or 36 onions. The taste is certainly worth it. I don’t know, maybe I’ll grow more than that and store a lot of them for winter. The things that come out of the home gardens continue to amaze. And everyone who tastes the delicious things harvested during the season always comment on it. I’m certain the the soil used also makes a big difference. In this case, it’s 100% pure homemade compost. And it’s made in a manner that beats anything you can buy commercially.[ois skin=”1″]

Harvest basket from the square foot gardens

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Just a sampling of what my neighbor customers get every Saturday morning. Not much work really, just several washes of the greens and off they go. The one item that’s been very surprising is the small yellow squash in front. Angel hair spaghetti squash. This was my first year growing it, and it’s just delicious. You can read all about it here. Give it a go next year, you won’t be disappointed.

Chard, arugula, zucchini, basil, cherry tomatoes, golden egg squash, green onions, cucumber, kale, lettuce and carrots.[ois skin=”1″]

Spring salad mix

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Hopefully you’re beginning to harvest the work you did in springtime. Its salad galore! This is a combination of 8 different greens, one of which is something I’ve grown for the first time: endive. I always associated it with the frilly, sharp, bitter, and what I would describe as unattractive in salads. But then I learned about the different kinds.

This variety was not bitter at all. Chicory’s have been a bit of a challenge for me to grow for this reason. I think it has to do with the season you try to grow them in. My radicchio variety was very tasty in the spring, but got bitter when I grew it in summer. The ones I grew later in the year returned to less bitter.

Regardless, it’s very tasty in this mixed salad. Add some fresh fruit, cheese, homemade croutons, candied nuts(sorry!),avocado, and a great blush vinaigrette and you’ll have yourself a great tasting salad for the evening. Fast, great tasting, easy, cheap, and very nutritions[ois skin=”1″]