a newbee

Good morning from playinthedirt located in the western gate to the sunshine state where thousands live the way millions wish they could ... Pensacola, FL! This is my first experience with a chat room (is that what this is?) and my first experience with square foot gardening.  I look forward to learning more about it.

Welcome, playinthedirt!

In chat rooms, people type live and can see what each other types instantly. All you do is hit return. The new stuff keeps popping up as the old lines scroll away and vanish up top while you watch. Afterwards, there's no record of anything. And regular users can't search for something interesting they saw; it's gone.

There are even some programs that let you see people typing letter by letter!

Here, it's a forum. You take whatever time you need to make a post and it hangs around, either for the life of the forum or until the people running the forum decide to purge the old stuff or put it somewhere else that's still accessible, what they call an archive. On most forums, that could take years.

So you can always go back and look at a post you saw that had really good info in it, treating it like a reference and resource to come back to again and again. Over the years, this forum has had great info posted on almost everything garden related. So looking back through the old pages manually, or doing a search for a subject you're interested in, can yield up lots of great stuff. Don't just stick to the first page or two, or just one subsection of the forums, or you'll be missing out. The current stuff is always just the tip of the iceberg.

Welcome.  I am just south of Atlanta.  But I was born in Pensacola and graduated from FSU.

Thanks for taking time to bring me into the 21st century.  I can see how this forum will be a great help as I try to get my head around the concept of putting 16 bush bean plants in a 12 sq inch space.  Living in almost tropical conditions, we have a lengthy growing season.  My yard is heavy in flowering plants and shrubs with very little devoted to vegetables.  I built my raised garden several months ago, finishing about 2 weeks before discovering the square foot plan.  It is fairly good size for a raised bed but I'm pretty sure I can still use the grids to separate plants.  All the growing areas are 3' or 4' across with a walkway in between.  What I'm wrestling with now is where to plant everything.  Do you use a trellis to support your heavy fruits, e.g cantaloupe,  watermelon?

I've been in P'cola for about 30 years.  My son graduated from FSU  (my wife and I from Auburn - tough day at our house during the 2013 National Championship game).  This is my first attempt at square foot gardening.  Very interesting!!

forgot to ask ... where did you live in Pensacola and do you make it back to visit?  I live off of Bayou Blvd in the Cordova Park subdivision.

playinthedirt.

Your name reminds me of when I really did play in the dirt.

Kelejan

You're right.  My fingernails stay dirty almost year round.  Now that I'm branching out to include vegetables, they WILL be dirty year round.  What is your growing season where you live?  I have been preparing beds and will start planting in the next 4-6 weeks.

playinthedirt wrote:forgot to ask ... where did you live in Pensacola and do you make it back to visit?  I live off of Bayou Blvd in the Cordova Park subdivision.

My dad was in the navy.  I was born there and lived in a Quonset hut (I guess on the base).  Moved away after 1 year and never went back.  Spent a lot of time moving back and forth to Jacksonville.  My parents retired in the Fla Keys (Marathon) so I visited them every year while they were alive.  Brothers and sisters live in Fla and all went to U of F.

My mistake when I said 16 plants in a sq foot space.  The breakdown I read somewhere was 9 per sq foot.  You had a very healthy crop.   Do you stagger the plant dates so you have producing plants throughout the growing season?

Playinthedirt, Welcome to the SFG Forum!

playinthedirt wrote:You're right.  My fingernails stay dirty almost year round.  Now that I'm branching out to include vegetables, they WILL be dirty year round.  What is your growing season where you live?  I have been preparing beds and will start planting in the next 4-6 weeks.

My growing season is much shorter in the Great White North than yours, playinthedirt.
I still consider myself a beginner, and I am hoping to extend my season each end this year by using hoops etc.  The snow is falling again right now on top the frozen remains of the last fall, but it does look pretty. About four inches promised by morning. Then some snow shovelling to do.  I would rather shovel compost. The ground is still frozen solid.
That's why we northerners visit other regions here so as to get our green fix.

very good advice that I'll keep in mind as I plan my garden.  What variety of bush bean do you recommend for our climate?  Also, do you grow any pole beans and, if so, what variety?

I have had really good luck with contender bush beans.  We like them so thats what we do.  I have friends in town who trellis pole beans and I  will ask em for ya.

playinthedirt wrote:very good advice that I'll keep in mind as I plan my garden.  What variety of bush bean do you recommend for our climate?  Also, do you grow any pole beans and, if so, what variety?

I grow rattlesnake beans.  They do well in my climate which should not be too different than yours in the middle of the summer.  They grow real tall and if you pick them while they are young, there are no strings.  If you let them get big, they do have strings.

I too am a huge fan of the Rattlesnake bean. Mine only grow to 6 feet because I cut down my trellis to that height. They make great dried beans as well. Very productive all season long.

Kentucky Wonder pole beans did well for me in late summer-fall. I will also do Rattlesnake starting late spring..

Kentucky Wonder pole beans have been my garden bean for over 50 yrs (my dad planted them too) but my Filipina DIL asked me to plant asian yard long pole beans in her garden.  I'm sold.  They are tasty, 3-4 beans make a meal for me and I don't have to have as many plants to feed me.  I used to plant 8 squares of KW beans but plant only 4 squares of yard long beans, 2 early and 2 three weeks later,  8 to a square .   But, I don't know how well they will grow in zone 10.  In the Philippines they are called Baguio Beans because they are grown in the higher, cooler elevation of Baguio City. 


Kay

Hi Playinthedirt!  Welcome from just north of Atlanta, GA.

Last year was the first time I tried beans, so not a lot of advice...  But glad you've joined us!

Welcome Playinthedirt. glad to have you aboard.

Thanks.  Everyone has been very helpful.  Speaking of needing help, do you plant corn in the square foot format?  My beds were designed and built before I discovered the SFG approach but they can be sectioned off without any trouble.  I could devote as much as 80" x 40" (22 square feet) to corn but I don't want to tie up that much space if my return is going to be minimal.

You're welcome!  We love to give advice...!

Yes, you can plant corn in the SFG method.  I tried 4/sq last year, which I think was probly a little much...  I'm planning on 2/sq this year.