Garden Plan for 2014

Vash_the_Stampede 3/14/2014, 8:52 pm

Hello all,

Due to the possibility I may be moving sometime early next year my wife and I decided not to grow too much.

We plan to have a (because of spacing) 1 x 6 box with the following:

Lettuce x2
Radish
Beet
Carrot
Pea

I also wanted a separate box for watermelon, but I am not sure how big it should be. The ANSFG book states 1 melon per 2 squares, so should it be a 1 x 2 box? If so, should I plant the melon in the center with the trellis along the longer side of the box? We plan on doing Orangeglo watermelon which, I believe range from 10 - 20 pounds. Would the standard trellis Mel describes in the book be sufficient for the weight?

Any suggestions or comments are appreciated. thanks

**walshevak** 3/14/2014, 11:48 pm

As Mel says, Start small. And yes on the watermelon, although the individual melon(s) may need some hammocks as support IE old panty hose of t shirts.

Kay

**sanderson** 3/15/2014, 1:59 am

Vash, I grew 2 cantaloupe plants in a 1 cubic foot box and trellised them vertically up. My concern is the size of your watermelons. They trellis should be able to support the melons, but I would suggest one of the smaller fruited varieties. ?

One square of peas will not give you much, a snack here and there. Maybe there is something else for that one square??

Marc Iverson 3/15/2014, 2:11 am

sanderson, how many pods do you figure a square foot should get you? I was thinking of planting maybe half a dozen square feet ... are peas very productive?

**sanderson** 3/15/2014, 2:55 am

Marc, my 4 squares of vining snow peas did very well this fall and winter until I had to remove them a week or so again for new planting. I can't say that they are very productive (depends on the stomach of the beholder!) but 6 squares would certainly give you enough to eat with a meal every few days. Most of our pods never made it in the house! I know I will replant them again this fall. They survived our cold snap (low 20's) in Dec and really started rebounding in late January. They got so tall I had to rig a horizontal trellis from the regular 5' trellis over to the fence. So dense that I had trouble seeing the pods. This photo was taken Feb 25 and you can see all the new blossoms.

I have three 3' x 1' boxes with 8' trellises for "green" beans. Chinese Red noodle, rattlesnake and Purple Podded plus 3 squares of bush Dragon Tongues.

FamilyGardening 3/15/2014, 4:28 am

I bet you could run a trellis across the back of your 1x6 bed and plant a single row of peas....sugar snap peas are my families favorite Very Happy

...plant the peas single row for the first 5 squares and.then plant the lettuce, radishes, beets and carrots in the front of those peas....that would free up 1 SQ for something else that you could use the trellis for.....not sure about the watermelon.....

happy gardening and welcome to the SFG forum!
rose

Vash_the_Stampede 3/15/2014, 7:13 am

Hello all,

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Sanderson, that box looks awesome.

We're not too concerned about getting a large yield from our SFG this year as this is more a practice run for us. The only reason we have 2 boxes for lettuce is because we have a larger variety of seeds and want to see which are better.

I also forgot to mention that we plan on doing some tomatoes and peppers in pots. We were able to grow some of those last year even with our gravel-esque soil in Colorado so I figured in a pot of MM we should be golden.

As far as the trellis for the watermelon, I read in ANSFG that I could use steel posts instead of rebar to support the frame but would I need to double up on the nylon netting?

thanks

EDIT: Also according to Baker Creek, our peas (sugar ann snap pea) don't require support. Should we give it to them anyway?

**camprn** 3/15/2014, 7:52 am

hi Vash, Welcome to the SFG Forum.

I thought I would share about a few things.

I trellis my sugar ann peas, it keeps the peas from overshadowing other plants and simplifies harvest.

I support my trellis systems using U posts then tieing the conduit into those. I make my own netting using sisal twine. There should be no need for double strength nylon netting if you are growing small melons. You can make individual slings to offer the fruit extra support.

Vash_the_Stampede 3/15/2014, 4:16 pm

Hello,

How would you define small melons? I know the Orangeglo aren't the smallest but they are by no means the largest.

Does anyone have any pictures of their trellised melons being supported by a hammock of sorts?

meatburner 3/15/2014, 5:07 pm

I don't remember where I saw it but some lady went to the dollar store and bought a woman's bra tied to the trellis to use as supports for, maybe, cantelope or mellons. Looks kinda strange but she said it worked great and was cheap. cheers

yolos 3/15/2014, 5:12 pm

Here is my sugar baby watermelon. Sorry, did not use a hammock last summer. The summer before, I just cut out the front of a t shirt, tied the ends to heavy string and tied the strings to the opposite supporting braces of the trellis.

Vash_the_Stampede 3/15/2014, 7:29 pm

yolos wrote:Here is my sugar baby watermelon. Sorry, did not use a hammock last summer. The summer before, I just cut out the front of a t shirt, tied the ends to heavy string and tied the strings to the opposite supporting braces of the trellis.

Hello,

That looks and sounds good to me.

thanks

**sanderson** 3/16/2014, 3:12 am

Vash, I was thinking Sugar Baby and then Yolos posts a photo of them!

Vash_the_Stampede 3/16/2014, 3:43 pm

Hello,

Well, given that the orangeglo are a fair bit larger than the sugar babies will I need to do the extra-strong vertical frame that Mel mentions?

Also on that topic, what type of fence post is he suggesting and is that the only change to the frame otherwise?

thanks

**sanderson** 3/16/2014, 4:45 pm

I'm picturing a very strong metal support (maybe L- or I- or T- shaped, to which metal lattice type fencing would be attached. Cattle panel or hog fencing?

Looking at Yolos photo is looks like the 1/2 metal electrical conduit works on small melons but I have no idea about family sized watermelons.

Anyone have experience growing large melons on EMC?

yolos 3/16/2014, 8:36 pm

sanderson wrote:Looking at Yolos photo is looks like the 1/2 metal electrical conduit works on small melons but I have no idea about family sized watermelons.

Sanderson - that is a 3/4 inch emt trellis. It is free standing (not attached to anything) so I thought a 3/4 would work better.

When the nylon trellis material wears out (this will be the third year), I plant to replace it with cattle panels.

Vash_the_Stampede 3/16/2014, 8:48 pm

Hello Yolos,

How do you plan to anchor the cattle panels to the ground if at all?

thanks

yolos 3/16/2014, 10:13 pm

I am just going to attach the cattle panel to the existing EMT structure. The nylon trellis will not last much longer. My goal in gardening is to set it up so you do not have to do too much work to keep things going. Cattle panel attached to the existing EMT structure should last a long, long time.

If I did not already have the EMT structure, I would just use some T posts to help support the cattle panel.

Vash_the_Stampede 3/17/2014, 8:17 am

yolos wrote:I am just going to attach the cattle panel to the existing EMT structure. The nylon trellis will not last much longer. My goal in gardening is to set it up so you do not have to do too much work to keep things going. Cattle panel attached to the existing EMT structure should last a long, long time.

If I did not already have the EMT structure, I would just use some T posts to help support the cattle panel.

Hello Yolos,

That sounds like a good plan to me.

thanks

dabo 4/18/2014, 7:19 pm

What is EMT?

boffer 4/18/2014, 7:35 pm

Welcome!

EMT is electrical metal tubing aka light gauge conduit.

It is what yolos used for her trellis in her picture several posts above.

**Kelejan** 4/18/2014, 10:28 pm

$glad you\'re here$ dabo. Are you a beginner in Square Foot Gardening?
Lots of help here on this forum when you need it.

Kelejan Garden Plan for 2014 1280598131

**sanderson** 4/19/2014, 1:40 am

Dabo, Welcome! Introduce yourself and let us know what you are up to as far as gardening. Do you SFG?

Vash_the_Stampede 8/3/2014, 5:58 pm

Hello All,

My plans for my 2014 Garden have been changed quite substantially as I no longer reside in Kentucky. Work has taken me to Washington state, so my Wife and I are readjusting.

We got our backyard fenced off this week and we've gathered what info we need on where to put the garden based on available sunlight (and the fact we have this gargantuan pine tree in our backyard). If all goes according to plan the SFG (now 2x6, up from 1x6) should be built and filled by months end.

Honestly, I'm not sure if we could/should plant anything at this point or if I should just cover the SFG with a heavy layer of mulch and wait till next year.

Thoughts?

thanks

**donnainzone5** 8/3/2014, 6:10 pm

Where are you in the PNW?

I live in Central Oregon and have already planted peas and beets, with Asian greens, spinach, lettuce, radishes, broccoli, etc. to follow.

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