Mar
26
Written by:
Tina
3/26/2009 8:55 AM
Last year, Peter built a frame for me and we grew two tomato plants and a ton of weeds. I'm the type of person who needs clear instructions when I start something with which I have no real experience. So I bought a book on Square Foot Gardening. It's perfect for our needs - it's tailor made for people with a small amount of space.
We are CSA members so we get plenty of produce to eat throughout the growing season. But there are still a few little gaps that I'd like to fill - our CSA starts a little later so we don't generally get much lettuce, for instance. I also started canning last year and I'd like to do more of it. It only really makes sense budget-wise if I grow some of the food myself.
Last year, Peter built a frame for me and we grew two tomato plants and a ton of weeds. I'm the type of person who needs clear instructions when I start something with which I have no real experience. So I bought a book on Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew. It's perfect for our needs - it's tailor made for people with a small amount of space.
The first thing I was supposed to do is build a frame 6 inches tall and no wider than 4 feet on one side. You can make it longer, but the idea is that 4 feet gives you the ability to reach into the garden and tend your plants without stepping on and compressing the soil. Ours is 5 feet by 6 feet and 12 inches tall. Close enough, lol.
Next I needed to cover the bottom of the frame with a weed barrier so that none of my existing soil mixed with the good stuff I was adding. It's supposed to keep down weeds. I think it's also supposed to keep you from attempting to amend your existing soil, which is fine by me. Our soil, like most in this area, sucks. It's pretty much just clay. Instead of purchasing a weed cloth, I simply put down a few layers of newspaper. Free is good.
Then I had to mix up Mel's soil recommendations. It's supposed to be 1/3 compost (5 different kinds), 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 peat moss. After calling around to several local stores, I found that Frank Otte is the place to get the vermiculite. They have it in huge bags, which makes it more economical than purchasing a bunch of tiny bags. It's still not cheap. It cost $29 to buy a bag for my garden. The good thing is that I'll never have to buy it again - I'll only add compost to the garden from here on out.
Here it is after I've mixed it up and added it to the garden:
The last step before planting was to build a grid on top to clearly demarcate the individual squares. I bought a bundle of 10 lath strips from Lowe's for $6.78. I sawed the pieces for the 5-foot side with a hand saw and then got out my handy dandy electric screwdriver and screwed all the pieces together. (Yay! I used power tools!)
The next day, we planted 4 of the little squares with carrots, broccoli and lettuce. Since tomatoes apparently don't go well with a lot of the vegetables I plan on planting in this box, I think I'll make another box for tomatoes, peppers, and basil. Basically it'll be my salsa garden.
I'll let y'all know how it goes. I'm really hoping to be able to can salsa, pasta sauce, and pizza sauce since we use so very much of that stuff. We're also hoping to have a good potato crop so I'll have to build up a little of my 1-oot tall bed to give those guys more dirt.
Piper's also having a great time with this. I think it'll be so much fun to let her have this experience. So far, she's been mostly interested in digging for worms in our flower garden.
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2 comment(s) so far...
Re: My Square Foot Garden
This is fantastic! I have to get this book. We are growing everything in containers this year (well, in theory we are growing things - I have had bad luck in the past, but am ever hopeful) since we have the house for sale. Do you think you could frame in a plywood bottom and then be able to move the box? Of course, it would have to be very small or else it would weight a ton. But I wonder if the wood at the bottom would rot? What do you think?
By Tiffany on
4/2/2009 11:36 AM
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Re: My Square Foot Garden
You should definitely get hold of a copy of the book. I don't have it in front of me, but he does include instructions for adding a plywood bottom. I think the important thing was adding drainage holes. I'm not sure how he attached the plywood to the frame though... You can make these any size.
By Tina on
4/2/2009 2:52 PM
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