Draft of SFG plans

kbachli 2/10/2015, 1:41 am

Hello,
I'm planting my first SFG and have three 4x4' boxes. After a lot of thought, here are the plans I've come up with for the plantings. Box one will be a "pyramid" and the center four squares will be raised to 14" for root veggies (carrots and beets). Boxes 2 and 3 will have a trellis on the north side. North is on the left. I did this in Word, then scanned it into a jpg. Couldn't figure out how else to do it, so I hope everyone can read it! I'd love input and suggestions. BTW, I have a 4 year old and am trying to do some stuff that will interest her, like sunflowers, "dragon's egg" cucumbers, rainbow carrots, and the watermelon.

Thanks!
Kelley

Draft of SFG plans Garden13

**sanderson** 2/10/2015, 2:53 am

Very nice. It is easy to read! thanks

It's thoughtful that you are considering your child's interests, also.

1. Beets don't need deep beds.
2. Some carrots are snack size and will do fine in regular beds. "Short and Sweet - produces 4 inch long, cylindrical shaped carrots, bright orange, good for containers, ready in 68 days." Maybe a square on the outside so your child can "watch" those grow. The long carrots can go in the elevated area.
3. The pyramid bed should look nice, as well as being practical! Draft of SFG plans 3170584802

4. Bush beans tend to get floppy. A little fencing around them would be nice. I bought several of these at the 99 Cent Store. Draft of SFG plans Fencin11

I thought you were going to put the 4 watermelon plants along the trellis and 2 squash in the opposite corners?? Typos? I would put the 4th watermelon on the trellis and just cage the cherry tomato that is displaced.

Looking good.

**AtlantaMarie** 2/10/2015, 10:10 am

Kelley, if you go w/ small carrots (i.e Little Fingers) and move those carrots & beets, you could put potatoes in...

kbachli 2/10/2015, 12:00 pm

I thought you were going to put the 4 watermelon plants along the trellis and 2 squash in the opposite corners?? Typos? I would put the 4th watermelon on the trellis and just cage the cherry tomato that is displaced.

Thank you so much Sanderson! sunny

Great to know the beets don't need the deep soil, as that frees up space for more carrots! I'll look for some of the 4" carrots too. And I'll look for some of the fencing you showed for my bush beans.

Regarding the watermelon, you are right, I was planning the 4 along the trellis. Not a typo, I just keep moving things around! But sounds good to go back to the 4 along the trellis. I also have three bush tomato plants (not in diagram) in containers.

Thanks again for all your help!

cheers

kbachli 2/10/2015, 12:04 pm

AtlantaMarie wrote:Kelley, if you go w/ small carrots (i.e Little Fingers) and move those carrots & beets, you could put potatoes in...

Thanks for the suggestion AtlantaMarie. Somehow I ended up with a child and DH that don't like potatoes! So that just leaves me... LOL Maybe I'll try some next year.

**sanderson** 2/10/2015, 12:49 pm

Containers with Mel's Mix can extend your garden. I have 5 buckets and 30 pots along with the 93 sq ft in boxes. The buckets and containers can be moved to follow the sun, or to put under shade cloth if needed. I love them.

**Turan** 2/10/2015, 1:18 pm

It looks very nice!

The lettuce in the desert will need some sort of shade. Maybe you can use sunflowers as a growing shade for them?

Are the beds arranged in a row as they are on your plan? I ask because if you could make your vertical supports meet over head of a path your 4 yo will love it. A tunnel is easy to pick from.

Draft of SFG plans 3170584802

**sanderson** 2/10/2015, 1:37 pm

Turan, Do you mean like a square arch?

**Turan** 2/10/2015, 1:47 pm

That would work. I made lean to trellis for my kids to go through picking peas and cherry tomatoes Very Happy

An arched cattle panel, 2 trelliis joined with cross poles to make a squared arch, an inverted V, all these make easier to pick trellis and great tunnels that kids young and old enjoy.

This particular gardener being in the high desert might want to arch over a bed with a cattle panel. But I imagine the 4yo would find the bed irresistible then and would climb in to play in that wonderful MM while eating cherry tomatoes. I know I would have Laughing

**AtlantaMarie** 2/10/2015, 3:30 pm

kbachli 2/10/2015, 4:26 pm

Turan wrote:That would work. I made lean to trellis for my kids to go through picking peas and cherry tomatoes
An arched cattle panel, 2 trelliis joined with cross poles to make a squared arch, an inverted V, all these make easier to pick trellis and great tunnels that kids young and old enjoy.

This particular gardener being in the high desert might want to arch over a bed with a cattle panel. But I imagine the 4yo would find the bed irresistible then and would climb in to play in that wonderful MM while eating cherry tomatoes. I know I would have

I LOVE the idea of a tunnel/arch that you can walk through! My current beds are not situated in a way that will work for that, but I hope to expand next season to try something like that. Trying not to be over ambitious this time around. It is so hard, I want to do it all at once! I've always wanted to grow gourds like that and have seen some really cool pictures of a tunnel trellis like you are talking about.

momvet 2/27/2015, 8:01 pm

sanderson wrote:Containers with Mel's Mix can extend your garden. I have 5 buckets and 30 pots along with the 93 sq ft in boxes. The buckets and containers can be moved to follow the sun, or to put under shade cloth if needed. I love them.

Do you hand water all the pots? I put tomatoes in buckets near my raised beds but realize that the best sun is in the entire opposite side of the yard (on a paved area next to our tortoise pen (used to be a dog pen but our dogs are spoiled indoor types). I wonder about the watering aspect.

**sanderson** 2/28/2015, 1:09 am

Most of the pots/buckets have drip lines on automatic and are topped with mulch. We had a family reunion in Missouri for 5 days last summer so we had to rig something up. We are limited to 3 water days and I often hand water with a hose wand on the other 4 days. The dog/turtle kennel sounds interesting for tying up the tomatoes. How tall is the fencing?

momvetkat 3/9/2015, 11:05 pm

Sorry Sanderson, didn't see your post until today. The fence around the pen is around 6 feet tall (small block wall topped by railing). Inspired by you I purchased 2 large grow bags and want to try one tomato and one zucchini (I am leery about how well I will do with either of these in the SFG - training vertically looks a little tricky, especially with the squash..and I LOVE squash!) I was thinking the fence would be helpful to support the plants. Time to make more Mel's Mix!

**sanderson** 3/10/2015, 2:08 am

I just planted one of the 3 plastic storage tote with sweet potato slips. I'm thinking of putting the 3 totes about 1+ foot from the fence and and make a lean-to trellis for the vines to grow up.

4 of the 5-gallon buckets are planted with tomatoes. What I am try this year is putting an inch of perlite in the bottom to see if the MM stays well drained. I laid one layer of weed fabric over the bottom holes, adding the perlite, then topped with a second layer of weed fabric to keep the MM from washing down into the perlite. I have potatoes growing in a cage with a weed fabric liner. I will make a cardboard wrap for it for the summer.

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