Several weeks ago at a local library introductory class I had a question. It was a question that I couldn’t answer. This was the question:”How do you stop spider mites?” It was a little embarrassing to admit “I don’t know.” But it was the truth. I haven’t had spider mites or hornworms-another pest that I just learned about in the past couple of days. Why have I never had any of these? I think the answer is in the simpleness of the SFG system. By not planting any one thing in mass quantities in close proximity to one another we’re able to control or not have any spider mites. I try to remember where I’ve planted my big items in the garden from the previous year. I’ll rotate the location for squash, potatoes, pole beans, tomatoes, etc. It’s an easy task. I don’t know all the scientific answers to why we have so little pest/bug problems in a square foot garden. I’m guessing that it has something to do with rotation, and I’m also guessing that it might have something to do with the fact that I plant a different thing in each of my 16 squares of a 4X4′ garden box. There won’t be many who understand this one because you had to be there to experience it. I just returned from the SFG 3-day symposium in San Diego. Besides meeting 10 unbelievably great folks who are so passionate about the cause, I got to hear from Mel himself. He had the class stand up and spread their hands in front of them-palms facing each other. He then told them to raise their hands so that their hands were above their heads, and had them close their eyes. Then he asked them to slowly bring their hands together-with their eyes closed until they felt their hands touch each other. Then he asked them to interlock all their fingers-eyes closed. Then he says “raise your trigger finger of there right hand,” which represented “build a box.” Then he asked them to raise their other trigger finger, which represented filling a box with Mel’s mix. He’d have them raise one pinkie and that might represent “a different crop in each square.” The other pinkie might represent “build a grid.” He did this for 10 different things, then asked the class to close their their hands again in the original interlocking grasp. He then asked them to try to separate their hands, which they couldn’t. He finally asked them to lower their hands in front of them and to open their eyes. He explained to the whole class that square foot gardening is exactly like their interlocking fingers. Everything meshes together perfectly in a square foot garden. He said “I don’t even know why it works, but it does.” And he’s right. Having a square foot garden is so simple that any person desiring to garden can have one-and a very successful one without any experience. The concepts are perfectly aligned with one another so well that is just seems to work. To all the folks that just left San Diego, you know what I mean. It was great meeting everyone and I wish you all the best of luck. If you don’t have a square foot garden yet, come on over and join us.
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We had our first snow last night. Whatever has been in the garden up until this point is now done except for a brussel sprout plant and a couple squares of lettuce. The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is take a quick peek at my garden-I even do it in the dead of winter-I don’t even know why I do it. Since it’s the Halloween season, I thought I would put a little holiday decorations in the garden to match the season. It’s not a lot, but it’s fun. My wife says “but nobody will see your garden!” Maybe-but I will. It was quick, cheap and easy to do. In a couple of weeks, I think I’ll decorate with a Thanksgiving theme followed by a Christmas theme shortly after. That way when I look at the gardens in snow, it wont’ be so boring. I don’t know if I will be gardening all winter now-I need a break from the season. Maybe I will only do 1 small SFG box, we’ll see. My squashes are hardening up in a dry place, as are my onions for winter storage. I will be digging up my potatoes in the next 4 or 5 days and putting those away for the winter. I’ll talk about how I store my potatoes in the next post. It’s important if you don’t want them to rot over the winter. My carrots and beans have been blanched and put in the freezer, along with my whole red tomatoes. Maybe I’ll include what I do with my tomatoes at the end of the season to preserve them. I can’t take the time to process all of them so I take the easy route.[ois skin=”below post”]
