My transformed row garden to a beautiful SFG

Here is my transformed row garden, all nice and ready for SFG this year. Planted already are some broccoli plants and seeds for carrots, radishes, lettuce, peas, beans, corn, some flowers picked by the kiddos. The asparagus I transplanted from one of the buckets you can see at the end of the garden. Those will eventually be transformed with Mel's Mix and used for potatoes. Compost pile in back corner for now, not sure if it wills stay there or something else will be used to make my compost..







I covered my entire old garden in weed fabric. Rows are pea gravel, boxes are cedar deck boards, so slightly wider than 1" by 6". Grids are just lath from Home Depot. I had to use medium Vermiculite, but am watching for coarse and will mix up my next batches with it hopefully. A few squares could use a bit more Mel's Mix, but they don't have anything in them for now. Some boxes are marked off for what will eventually be planted there. I am using plain old craft sticks and a sharpie. By the time it fades off I will be able to tell by sight what is growing there.

I have three conduit trellis built, just waiting on the netting and then I will put them out as well.

It looks awesome! Are you excited to see how much different it is from your row garden?

Ooh, everything is so neat and orderly & looks great. With the location of your compost pile it will be really handy for tossing spent plants & trimmings.

Thanks everyone! My favorite part of it so far is how neat and tidy it all looks. I am planning to plant the same things I have tried over the past 10 years in my row garden. The little 1x1 box belongs to my 4 year old. He wanted his own garden.

WOW auntiemommyit looks great! VERY neat and tidy!

Whats you little one going to plant in his very own SFG?

Keep us up to date as your progress!

My little guy (4) has decided on strawberries for his own SFG. We picked them up yesterday afternoon at the garden center. His little brother (2) had to have one too, so I gave him a square in one of the big beds to plant his strawberry plant in.
I got a water wall! I filled it up yesterday, and put a tomato plant in! Way early for MN, but this water wall will help protect it. (At least it is supposed to)
For the first time ever my garden has flowers, just to be pretty, flowers! I usually relegate them to the pots in the front only. They make me happy looking at the little pansy flowers.

How beautiful your garden looks already! Neat and tidy as everyone is saying. You will love having flowers in there.

I'm excited for you and your little ones. What a gift you are giving them.

Have a happy gardening day.

Claire

ooh pretty!

my kids love the sfg, too!

and the best part is, i (and you!!! will) have eager gardeners to pluck weeds. only be warned, they may forget there aren't many weeds and end up plucking up the brand new turnips that sprouted . . .

not that i had that experience recently or anything. *grin*

flowers in sfg are such fun! we love our flowers. only i must admit, we try to stick to edible flowers because the youngest kid will (and does) eat anything.

i have three kids, 6,4,and soon to be 2.

bettyann

Nice work! Hope the little ones have success with their planting
choices! Our youngest grandson discovered one could eat certain things
right out of the garden, and now he goes out to check for strawberries
and sugar snap peas everyday after school.

It's very handy to have the compost pile/bin close to the garden so
stuff can get easily be tossed in as you work in the garden. Your
pictures show your compost pile in the corner of the fence, and you
mentioned you may move its location. I would agree with moving it away from the fence.

We found that if the compost is left against the fence,
it can lead to the fence boards discoloring (turns the wood black), and
perhaps rotting, as compost stays damp. A fence-wire circle bin, or a
wood-framed bin, set away from the fence a bit might save the fence from premature disintegration.

Thank you for sharing your pictures. Happy growing!

Thanks Jollo, that's what I was afraid of. I am going to pull it out of the corner a bit and do some sort of enclosure. That is on the to do list.

Here is the latest picture of my garden's progress. I started on the hoops for the covers, but the drill needed to be charged before I could finish it. I have the trellis' up way before they are needed, just because I was so excited about it. The water wall encloses a tomato plant. Way early here for tomatoes. We have a chance of patchy frost tonight. But the covers will be finished by this evening.

Great looking garden! You've done all the hard part, can't wait to see the harvesting results. Good luck, to you and the little gardeners. I too converted over this year and can't wait to see how different it is.

Alright.....what gives? I'm a zone 4 MN gardener and my garden doesn't look near as far along as yours! Nice going!
When did you start planting?
Wowie!!

I planted the first peas, lettuce and radishes on 4/14-4/15. The rest have been slowly added. I put the tomatoes in the ground about 2 weeks ago, just after our last good frost. I have been seeding a few squares every few days between there, adding in some transplants of peppers, herbs and broccoli from the garden center. I have a couple squares to plant yet, and the radishes will be ready to replant soon.

I got my first broccoli today! So excited. My garden has never looked this good, this early before.

Very nice. What are the hoops for on the long garden? Bird netting or will you be using plastic to extend the harvest or just in case you need them?

So far I have used them for the last frost. I have just left them there for now, I may use them to help shade some spring crops if needed, but their main purpose is for this fall, to extend the harvest with plastic. I can easily remove them, but they aren't in the way, so I just leave them. Then I don't have to remember where I put them come this fall.

Aunti
Your garden is some place I would want to sit and sip some tea

Ha-v-v

Early July, huge changes! The beans are climbing the white poles actually! Bonus use for them. I just replanted carrots, added a square of cucumbers, heat resistant lettuce and some radishes.

Wow, it's sooo lush. Totally envious. Did you just plant a few stalks of corn, or am I off my rocker.

Only 3 stalks made it. I had planted 4 each in 2 squares, but no go on those. They will make good climbing poles for the green beans.

Thanks so much for posting your amazing progress. I am getting ready to mow down our row garden, its done for the year, and put in the square foot boxes. My plan was to do just like you, put the plastic down over the whole area and use pea gravel for the aisles. Your garden looks beautiful, I am so excited now that I have seen what it can look like. Thanks again, and keep posting those pictures!!

You've done a great job, everything looks so good.