First planting in my sfg!

Man, did I ever have trouble concentrating at work today. All I really wanted to do was get home so I could get my garden going!

Ok, I got both my 4X4s filled with Mel's Mix. I got one topped with the grid - gotta go back & get more lath for the second box's grid. And I actually planted 2 squares with bush beans! Yeeeeaaaa! I guess I should stop checking every fifteen minutes to see if they've sprouted, huh?

I haven't figured out how to post pics yet. I'll even have to learn how to use the digital camera again, it's been so long. I'm kind of technologically challenged when it comes to cameras. Not really much to see yet, anyway. But I've really been enjoying everybody else's great pics of actual greenery and vegetables.

This might seem like a silly question, but with four squares across the back of the box and a trellis at the back - should you plant all 4 squares with climbing veggies - beans, pea, cukes, tomatoes, etc? Or would that many plants be too crowded on the trellis? Would it be better to plant only 2 squares with climbers and something else in the squares between them? How do you more experienced sfgardeners handle this?

Thanks much.

Congratulations.

I had a trellis on the back 4 squares and I put in a Sugar Baby watermelon, 2 string beans and a tomato plant. Unfortunately, they didn't take off like I wanted them to so I had no problems with overcrowding. For the strings beans, I actually had them on strings suspended from a frame I built using PVC (not very aesthetically pleasing). See picture below. I did this last year and was my first time using SFG. Notice no grids, however, they came later. I made sure to measure before I planted though. If I did put the beans on the trellis I'm pretty sure they would have gone all over the place and tangled up with the watermelon. Hoping someone with more experience will chime in. Good luck!

Sherry Owens wrote:Man, did I ever have trouble concentrating at work today. All I really wanted to do was get home so I could get my garden going!

Ok, I got both my 4X4s filled with Mel's Mix. I got one topped with the grid - gotta go back & get more lath for the second box's grid. And I actually planted 2 squares with bush beans! Yeeeeaaaa! I guess I should stop checking every fifteen minutes to see if they've sprouted, huh?

I haven't figured out how to post pics yet. I'll even have to learn how to use the digital camera again, it's been so long. I'm kind of technologically challenged when it comes to cameras. Not really much to see yet, anyway. But I've really been enjoying everybody else's great pics of actual greenery and vegetables.

This might seem like a silly question, but with four squares across the back of the box and a trellis at the back - should you plant all 4 squares with climbing veggies - beans, pea, cukes, tomatoes, etc? Or would that many plants be too crowded on the trellis? Would it be better to plant only 2 squares with climbers and something else in the squares between them? How do you more experienced sfgardeners handle this?

Thanks much.

It is not a silly question at all. A lot depends on you.

If you are trellising tomatoes, you will need to keep them pruned so they don't take over the world.
Beans, peas and cucumber usually play nice, you might want to watch how they grow and maybe direct them to stay in their own lane, but they will not overwhelm anything else.

Now, when you are talking vining squash - that is different, they take two squares along the trellis.

Hope this helps.

Thanks AZDYJ2K and Furbalsmom, I am doing some tomatoes (what would a garden be without tomatoes?!) and will prune the suckers and start trimming the top if they get too aggressive.

I did buy some zucchini plants and will try them, leaving 2 squares for each one in the 2 boxes. If they look like they're taking over, I'll just pull them. Silly me, I'd never bought and tried to grow zucchini and kind of thought they would be vines & could be trained up, but these are bush types. Rookie mistake. I still don't see where it says they're bush plants on the plant description that came with them, but I looked the variety up online.

I have bush beans, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, bell peppers, cayenne peppers, jalapeno peppers, my fave poblano peppers, cilantro and parsley, also. I'm having fun with it and have high hopes that most will do well.

Thanks for replying and for your advice!

Territorial Seed Co does have a vine type zucchini, but $6.90 for 10 seeds Something to consider for next year.

vining zucchini