Square Foot Gardening In Singapore

+1!

jimmy cee wrote:In my case, when a plant has reached the end of it's career, I will plant another.
Weather of course in my climate being a factor.
For example, tomato's are done, pull them out...add compost....plant items that do well in cool / cold weather.
snow peas / chard / spinach / broccoli / lettuce / etc.   Some of these plants needed to have been started previously in small containers.

In Singapore we dont have climate change. .....

Yslow,  In your area near the equator, you have the option to let a crop grow and produce as long as you want or until it is no longer producing enough to make it worth keeping.  This may mean months or even years.  As long as you keep adding more compost to feed them as the months go by.  Some plants like lettuce or basil will go to seed and this usually means the good eating is done. Corn is done when the ears are ready to harvest.

jimmy cee wrote:

yslow wrote:
In Singapore we dont have climate change. .....

To me that would be heaven on earth

LOL. It is really hot and humid in this country.

Lots of plants produce in waves. Farmers tend to grow those so that they can harvest as much as possible all at once. Bush varieties of beans and tomatoes are familiar crops grown that way.

However, a bush variety may produce in multiple waves, so if you don't have to tear out the plant for whatever reason, you can still enjoy the produce from it. That can be great, since the plant is already well-established and won't take months to build up to the point of production like a new plant can. I've gotten three to five flushes from some bush tomato plants, and sometimes the last flush before winter is the biggest one. Same with peas.

After a while, though, many plants start to produce fewer and/or smaller veggies, or fewer and smaller leaves to help grow the veggies. And after a while, a plant may start to face the diseases of the new season or finally become overwhelmed by the ones it has been fighting all its life. Then it's time to say goodbye.

Bush beans can do the same thing.  I've cut some down after harvesting the dried beans and had them come back for another batch.

Is planting 1 stalk of corn possible in SFG? Has anyone done it before? Have check that corn is a cross breeder. Thus it need more than 1 stalk. Any advise? Thanks.

Yes, you can:

Q: Can one corn stalk grow alone where no other corn is planted? (E-mail reference)

A: You can grow just one corn plant but you need to take the pollen from the tassel and dust it on the silk. Full-size ears will not develop unless you do that. It will grow as long as the seed is viable (alive), has adequate warmth, light, water and nutrients.

You will only get between 2-4 ears/plant however. I think some folks doing SFG here have planted 4/square. Go to the "SEARCH" box in the upper left corner on this site and search for corn, and you will get tons of hits. I have done corn in SFG, but only once. It took up too much real estate, and for the yield it just wasn't worth it for me, plus long season. Early varieties are an option, but they typically produce less ears/stalk.

Above reference is from the North Dakota Extension Agency, USA

And be aware that bees LOVE the pollen from corn!  At least, mine did...

2nd attempt at SFG. Except the mixture is a bit messy with home-made compost which is wet and smelly top up with a layer of mixed soil. A third layer of substrate followed by organic compost mixed with 1kg of peat moss.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f21/19/34/28/78/dsc_0110.jpg

Cute little bed. We could call that "Experimental Size."

It's perfect! Very nice!

Scorpio Rising wrote:It's perfect!  Very nice!

+1

Nice !!!

Hi,
    I'm having aphids , leaf miner and squash bug on my squash plants and tomatoes plants. Can anyone advise any type of organic pesticide as my squash plants looks like dying.

Good old soap & water sprayed on both sides of the leaves!

AtlantaMarie wrote:Good old soap & water sprayed on both sides of the leaves!

Thanks. How often do i need to do this? As Singapore is having raining season, will it be effective after it rains?

Oh...  yes, you'll need to reapply after the rain stops.

Also - are you getting ants bringing in the aphids?  Ants will use aphids as necter "cows."  Ants hate cinnamon, peppermint, etc...

Soap and water first. If you need more killing power, Neem oil solution as a last resort. Spray at dawn or sunset as it is toxic to bees and other pollinators.

Soapy water, and hand remove/smash. Daily!

Hi SFG members,
    
     Can anyone advise how to keep dogs poop off my SFG box? Seems there is a dog that goes to keep pooping on my SFG Box and smart enough to bury it under my compost. 

You do not want a dog or cat anywhere near your compost.
Food they both eat, and given the nature of their digestive systems
can be very dangerous to humans.
Whatever you need to do, keep them away from your SFG beds

Get some critter repellant, spray or granules, and put it around the perimeter of the SFG.

In the All New Square Foot Gardening book, Mel describes how to build a chicken wire cage.  Here are 2 photos showing how I kept my cat out of the beans and corn.  She likes to chew on the corn stalks and bean leaves.