My first SFG, Spring, 2012

My first effort! To cut down on cost, we tried very hard to use materials that we already had, and were somewhat successful. The boards are the old joists from a kitchen remodel, the grids are drywall corners (plastic), and the trellis frame is electrical condiut.





We have two, and so far, so good! I also made a chicken wire cage, but didn't think it through all the way, and so need to remove it soon, so the peas can start to grow up the trellis. I am a little worried about rabbits and deer, but used an old recipe that I found online somewhere and painted the boards (after the pic was taken) with 85% raw linseed oil, 5% dish detergent, and 10% water. We will see how it goes. :-)

I see all of your beautiful gardens, and with only a tiny bit of envy in my heart, think, "One day...one day!" Until then, I am happy with my little start-up SFG! :-)

Very Nice and Welcome

Don't worry about the peas. When the peas reach the cage then you can take off or peal back the chicken wire. If you take off the chicken wire then maybe replace it with black netting and drape it over the frame and the rest of your garden.

You will do fine. Depending on what you plant you may have another issue(a good one!!) Your plants could grow higher then two feet like my peppers(3' high) did so I had to take off the top of the cage.

Can't wait to see the final garden in full bloom!

Mike

My plan had been to just take the chicken wire cage off when the plants got big, but then I saw a rabbit in my yard, and now I am worried about that. The rabbits have not messed with any of the berry whips that I planted, so with the linseed oil, maybe the SFG will be fine.

Do you think the netting is necessary? Hard to say, I guess...

Thanks for the comment!

One of Two, as of today, 5.10.2012:



Two of Two, as of today, 5.10.2012:



From seed:

16 scallions, 27 bush beans, 9 snow peas, 9 shell peas, 1 cantaloup, 2 cucumbers, 13 beets, 4 swiss chard, 7 romain lettuce, 8 kale, 9 nasturtiums, 2 cauliflower

Transplants:

18 marigolds, 1 eggplant, 3 tomatoes, 1 hot pepper, 4 strawberry, 1 basil

Whew!

So far, we have eaten 3 strawberries, 8 romaine (with a little beet green thrown in) salads, and 6 sevings of kale.

I see all of your beautiful gardens, and with only a tiny bit of envy in my heart, think, "One day...one day!" Until then, I am happy with my little start-up SFG! :-)

I think you've achieved beautiful garden status asilcox Look how much they've changed in a months time!!

Wow, look at them grow! Lovely garden.

It looks awesome, way to go!

Right on!
Your gardens look great! Good work. I find it satisfying when all squares are growing something as you are. Wishing you a continuous green thumb.

Your garden looks awesome... now, I can look at your garden the way you were looking at those others.

I'm going to post photos once I have my eight boxes filled and the grids on. I'm praying to do it this weekend! *crosses fingers and toes for no rain*

What a beautiful garden! Well done!

You certainly seemed to have your MM done perfectly. Congrats!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! I am so proud!

Rooster, I am working on it. The plants sure do make the boxes look pretty!

BackRiver - I just planted my warm weather stuff, and it DOES make a difference to have all of the squares filled!

Moldeen85 - I was exactly where you are a few short months ago - you will get there!

Happy Gardening, everyone!

~Amanda

So beautiful! Great job...I hope I do half as well

I see you are on the Eastern shore of Maryland. How did you get beans and cantalopes growing so early? I'm on the Western shore, and I have to wait until May to begin planting seeds for bean and melons. Did you start them inside?

Beautiful garden by the way.

I sowed all of my seeds directly into the garden. All of my beans sprouted and I had to thin everything. I accidentally sowed the first batch in February when we had that really warm spell, and they survived in spite of me. The other 2 squares of beans were planted during the warm spell in March and then in April. The cantaloupes were planted in April, and only one of the two seeds that I planted survived the cool spells that we had and it hasn't grown much since the warm weather we had a few weeks ago. I might plant another seed in the square just as back-up.

Next year I don't think I will plant the cantaloupe so early. The beans did okay, though, so I will plant them early again if we get a warm spell.

I covered them at night with a tarp if it was supposed to get below 40 degrees, and I am pretty close to the Chester River, so that provides some protection against frost, too...

I guess the short answer is "I dunno. They just grew."

~Amanda

Mikesgardn wrote:I see you are on the Eastern shore of Maryland. How did you get beans and cantalopes growing so early? I'm on the Western shore, and I have to wait until May to begin planting seeds for bean and melons. Did you start them inside?

Beautiful garden by the way.

Hey Mike! I was curious so I looked up your location at this really cool interactive plant map. It says your last frost date is actually mid to late April!

littlesapphire wrote:

Mikesgardn wrote:I see you are on the Eastern shore of Maryland. How did you get beans and cantalopes growing so early? I'm on the Western shore, and I have to wait until May to begin planting seeds for bean and melons. Did you start them inside?

Beautiful garden by the way.

Hey Mike! I was curious so I looked up your location at this really cool interactive plant map. It says your last frost date is actually mid to late April!

little sapphire, that is a good interactive map. I live about an hour north of Washington State, nearest border town is Northport. How do I find a zip code for that town that I can enter into the search?

little sapphire, that is a good interactive map. I live about an hour north of Washington State, nearest border town is Northport. How do I find a zip code for that town that I can enter into the search?[/quote]


there is a box at the top of the page where you enter your zipcode says Zoom to Zip.

Northport, WA 99157

chjbr63 wrote:Northport, WA 99157

Thanks everone, that sure was fast. Now I will try and compare the information with the info I have on my city. when I look upp teh British Columbia maps, due to the mountains it is hard to figure out what zone I am in as we seem to have so many different ecosystems.