Hello from Vermont - the ice box -

I've been using the Square Foot Garden method since 1981 when the first book came out. Yup we double dug our beds back then, down to at least a foot! And yes I used 12" wide boards for paths...oh what difference it is now. I got my Teacher Certification when they first became avaiable. I was teaching classes at our local Coops for two years before that. Peolple love the class. I decided to give Mel's All New technique a try on a section of lawn we wanted to convert to garden. Of course I taught a class at the same time having complete faith that it would work. The 6" depth was my one concern after putting so much work into the double digging to 12" deep beds previously. I had already started to use boxes and had made my paths wider before the book. And I was using trellis' that were over 20 years old so I knew everything else would work. The 6" boxes were a complete success and I'll never go back to double digging. This year I plan to trial small plots of wheat to see what kind of yield I can get. Every year I add something new. Outside is frozen now but I grow big batches of salad green indoors through the winter. I love to garden. Peter

Hi Peter, to the SFG Forum! I am down south of you a ways in Keene, NH. I am so glad you are here! If you have any photos of your garden please do post them.

See ya 'round the Forum, Neighbor!

Hi Camp,
Thanks for the kind welcome. I have lots of photos I'll post as I get more familiar with the site.

Welcome to the forum Peter. It'll be nice to have an expert who's seen it and done it all. Your experience will be an advantage to us all.

Not having to double dig is a big change from years ago and a great one. No sense bringing those dormant weed seeds to the top so they can sprout. I like to keep those buried and just add fresh compost to the top 3 inches of soil. Works a treat.

Hope to see pics of your garden in the spring. Again, Welcome.

Welcome Peter Boy those boards bring back memories! My friend and I went to a library to hear Mel talk about sfg and we each bought an autographed book and got started. We each did it our own way. She did the boards on the ground so she probably double dug. I did the 4' x 4' beds. I am trying to remember but I think I only had a few beds. Our soil was so bad and funds were low. Those were the days when we mixed 1/3 of our native soil in the beds!

After a few years my beds started falling apart. I had nailed them together. I was so busy working, taking care of my husband and family and I just went back to row gardening. Boy was that a lot of work, rototilling every Spring, measuring out the rows and trying to keep them straight and most of all, pulling weeds constantly!

I went back to sfg about three years ago and I didn't know there was a new way of making MM so I did it the way I did before. Now I am trying to make enough compost to replace all the stuff in my 9 beds that are 4' x 6'. The wood on the beds is 8" deep but I had dug down another 4" and put my weed block fabric down. So I actually have my beds 12" deep but there has been some settling. This was before I got on this forum and slowly realized there was the new way of making MM. I also had lots of ferrel cats using the beds as their litter boxes for several years no matter what I tried, so I am sure that is partially why some of the beds did terrible growing things. I ended up having to set traps because nothing else worked.

So when I remake my beds, I am going to move that soil out, hopefully reuse the weed block and not have them deeper than 8", except where I grow potatoes and maybe carrots have those boxes deeper.

BTW, did you know there is a Second Edition of the sfg book that is coming out in February? I only had the old book and was planning on getting the ANSFG book but saw this one and ordered it.

It is nice to have you join the forum and have your experience! We have lots of great and knowledgeable people here and we all like to see and read about each other's experiences as well as help when we can!

Welcome Peter.
That reminds me of when I started SFGing I had had the 1981 book on my bookshelf for years and years, ( a 50c copy bought by my husband from a garage sale), read it several times and promised myself I would start veggie gardening.
I remember I was going to start digging the following day after reading the 1981 book yet again, but luckily for me I decided to see what I could find on the Internet and lo and behold what comes up, but Mels' website and I found that there was a later book published and I NEVER HAD TO DIG AGAIN but just lay my new beds on top of whatever there was. I was soooo happy. Then I found that there was a Forum connected to the site, and here I am, one commited SFGer. In addition, due to this site, I am also a commited compost wormer.
All the best to you.

Triciasgarden.....Isn't the new book coming out about garden recipes? I didn't think it was a new ANSFG.

quiltbea wrote:Triciasgarden.....Isn't the new book coming out about garden recipes? I didn't think it was a new ANSFG.

There was a SFG Answer book that came out in December and the All New Square Foot Gardening Book, Second Edition will be released in February 2013.

Oooh, that means I'm going to have to add to my bookshelves. I can't miss out on a Mel's book.

I thought that we already had two editions of Mel's book, then I realized that the first and second titles were different, by the additon of the word NEW. So this will be the second edition of the NEW book.

Hi Quiltbea, Triciagarden and Kelejan, Thanks for the welcome. I have Mel's cookbook too and it is really good. I was kind of skeptical when I saw it but I have tried many of the recipes and like them a lot. My family like the Roasted Potato dish.