Square Foot Gardening Forum
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Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum.
There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.

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Square Foot Gardening Forum
[table bgcolor=#000000 height=275][tr][td]
Hello Again Toplef10Hello Again 1zd3ho10

Hello Guest!
Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum.
There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.

Hello Again I22gcj10Hello Again 14dhcg10

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» Onions. Walk on?
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rrsmith60
sfg4uKim
Too Tall Tomatoes
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Post  Too Tall Tomatoes 3/4/2012, 6:13 pm

Hello All........

Sorry I've been away for so long. I had some things to take care of but I'm back.

Now that gardening season is almost here, I'm getting pretty pumped up about it.

Hello Again 274447
Too Tall Tomatoes
Too Tall Tomatoes

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Post  sfg4uKim 3/4/2012, 6:16 pm

HEY! Welcome back!

____________________________

I have seen women looking at jewelry ads with a misty eye and one hand resting on the heart, and I only know what they're feeling because that's how I read the seed catalogs in January - Barbara Kingsolver - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle


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sfg4uKim
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Post  rrsmith60 3/4/2012, 6:21 pm

Welcome back "Too Tall"....

I think we're all getting pumped up. Maybee to soon, I was out putzzing in my SFG boxes this afternoon and it started snowing. Two day ago it was 64.

Go figure....

Happy Gardening
rrsmith60
rrsmith60

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Location : Georgetown, KY

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Post  Too Tall Tomatoes 3/4/2012, 6:36 pm

Thanks Kim and rrsmith. It does feel great to be back.

Today when I was redoing my compost bin, it was cold and breezy enough to wear a hooded coat.

I was at two garden expos in the past week and I really got the spring fever now.
Too Tall Tomatoes
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Post  RoOsTeR 3/4/2012, 7:18 pm

What's up TTT Hello Again 3170584802 Glad to see ya back around! I like your new avatar, but miss that big red tomato Very Happy

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RoOsTeR
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Post  Furbalsmom 3/4/2012, 9:19 pm

Nice to see you again TTT
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Post  Too Tall Tomatoes 3/4/2012, 9:48 pm

Hello Again 3170584802

My avatar is my inspiration for this year. It's what made me "tomato crazy" I guess. That was in my local newspaper last August.
Too Tall Tomatoes
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Post  shannon1 3/5/2012, 1:22 am

Hello Again 654548 back, love the avatar it is insparing
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Post  gwennifer 3/5/2012, 10:54 am

Oh hey there TooTall! I'd been wondering what had happened to you and if you'd be back once it was time to start growing those tomatoes of yours.

Still tending to the compost I see. Any of it ready to sift and add to the garden yet?
gwennifer
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Post  Too Tall Tomatoes 3/6/2012, 8:35 pm

Thanks Shannon!

Hey Gwen.....the compost pile is still where I left it last November. I'm sure the stuff on the bottom is done but I've put too much other stuff on top and now I just gotta wait till everything's done.

I haven't even built my boxes yet. I'm still tossing around a couple of ideas but I'm leaning towards a "Modified SFG". Basically it'll be two boxes 5ft wide, 10ft long, and 12 inches high filled with Mel's Mix. I'm going to skip using the grids. If I do all tomatoes, then that's the way I'm going to grow them. If I decide to do other veggies, then I'll probably have the two tomato boxes and a separate box(with grids) for the other veggies.
Too Tall Tomatoes
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Post  rrsmith60 3/7/2012, 7:25 am

Hi TooTall,

I’ll likely get blasted by others here in the forum, but I don’t use grids either. When I started SFGardening, I used the grids, but after a few years I found I preferred not to. I have lots of boxes and none of them use a grid. Now with that said, this is the way I choose to do it and believe it’s very important for those new to gardening to follow Mel’s advice.

All my boxes have hardware cloth bottoms (mole deterrent) and they're set on weed blocking cloth. I don’t have any 6” deep boxes. I do have some 8”, but most are 12”. However, I only use about 6-8” of Mel’s mix in the boxes, which is on top of a topsoil/humus/compost mixture (less expensive).

I once made a 5’x12’ box, but found it too wide for my needs, I’ve since (last season) reduced it down to 3’x12’ and find it much easier to handle. If you do go with a 5’ wide box, you might want to make a stepping board that fits across the 5’ width. I made mine s about 10-12” wide. You can then move the steeping board on the box to get to the middle when you plant and are working the bed.

Good luck.
rrsmith60
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Post  Too Tall Tomatoes 3/7/2012, 7:35 am

I would assume that as long as you use Mel's Mix in a raised bed, you could call it square foot gardening. Grids are just optional. Although, the grids DO sort of force you to plant in squares and not traditional rows.

If I do make my beds 5ft wide, I'm going to plant each row of tomatoes 1 ft in from the opposite sides. That'll give the tomatoes 3 feet of space between the rows. Something like this....

Hello Again Garden10

It's going to be expensive but I'm doing 2 of these beds. That'll give me 16 tomatoes. I'll probably plant some basil in the beds too.
Too Tall Tomatoes
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Post  rrsmith60 3/8/2012, 7:34 am

Hi TooTall, -- what a fine drawing!

In your proposed bed you’re growing 8 tomatoes in a 50 sqf area. If you’re growing in-determinate (ID) varieties you’re allowing 6-1/4/sgf per plant which is much more then you really need. Mel says 1/sqf in his ANSFG book. I raise my ID Heirlooms, figuring 1/sqf. per plant. They’re planted (4) at the back of my 4x4 boxes and they grow to a wood frame trellis. With this design, I never have to reach into the box more than 2 feet. Planting this way also allows for the front 12 sqf to be available for other plants like eggplant, peppers or basil. If all you’re growing are ID tomatoes (with a bit of basil and marigolds) you might consider "two boxes", 2-1/2’ x 10’ x12” deep. You could still plant at least 8 ID tomatoes per box and have plenty of room and save a ton of dough. Mel’s mix isn’t cheep..

Also, looking at the proposed garden lay-out; have you thought about how you’ll manage the back (or inside) portion of your tomatoes? Sorry for raining on your parade a bit, but I made the same mistake in my first big beds. I never make any boxes that are more than 2 feet to the center (i.e. 4”).

Either way, its gardening and that puts us where we should be…
rrsmith60
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Post  Too Tall Tomatoes 3/8/2012, 8:20 am

Hey Ron,

This is still in the planning stages so nothing's really set in stone. I have a source of hemlock boards lined up from a local lumber mill. I have my compost cooking as we speak(it's a pile about 100 cubic feet). I even have my brother-in-law lined up to help me build my boxes. I'm always open to suggestions though. Cool

From what I know, you can easily grow a tomato in a small space as long as you prune it to one stem. My goal is to be able to do that but just in case I get a little lazy with pruning and forget to do it or just don't want to do it, then there's room for that sort of thing.

There's going to be space (around 3 feet) behind the box for me to be able to walk around to tend to the tomatoes on the back edge of the box. I'm assuming that I can comfortably reach into it 2 1/2 feet from the back but maybe I should measure it just to be sure.

Now you have me thinking that I could shorten up the width and go longer. Give more space between each plant. Hello Again 27650

When I was at Lowes last night, I walked past their selection of veggie seeds and the wheels in my mind were turning. Hello Again 27650

Thanks for some ideas Ron. Hello Again 3170584802
Too Tall Tomatoes
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