Moving a Square Foot Garden

After big success last season with SFG, I have been burdened with moving my entire operation to my new house.  I will probably dig out the new plots this weekend with the 50 degree weather forecast.  After that, I will probably wait until my MM dries out a bit at the old house and load it all up in 5 gallon buckets.  I will then transport them via SUV and fill in the new beds.  During all this, I will have to start my seedlings indoors.  This is gonna be a busy start!

I have one nagging issue that hopefully works itself out.  I cannot tell how much sun the new beds will get since i haven't been around long enough to measure the growing season sun.  I have a large tree that may block a lot of the morning sun and large trees that might block the evening sun.  In my old setup, I had unlimited all day sun.  Hopefully I can get at least 6 hours a day.  I used the suncalc.com tool to see the track of the sun, but I wasn't sure if the trees would block a substantial time block of sun. 

I hope everything works out!

We had a morning tree and the west neighbor had an afternoon/evening tree. We cut down the morning tree, which ended up giving the beds the first half of the day sunshine. Then the neighbor cut down her tree and up went the sun shades to protect the beds from late scorching sun! Hopefully you end up with a decent sun shine.

Question, why are you bothering digging out the new plots? Why not just put down fabric or cardboard and set the new boxes down? Just a question.

My yard isn't as level as I wish it to be so i will dig into the slope a little bit.  Not a big deal.  I lay newspaper on the bare dirt and throw the MM on top.  I have done it twice and it works great to prevent weeds at the beginning.  Last year I also threw almost composted old leaves on top of the newspaper and got good results.  I used a lot less fish emulsion throughout the season to boost green growth.  I cannot wait to get my hands dirty again! 

I am using veterans compost again this year, loved the results last year.  I will also spring for the veterans seedling mix.  I love helping out a great cause!

Ah, ha. Thanks.

zackshea, I hope all goes well.  Do you have any help?

Yes, my wife and brother will help. If they want produce this year

You have a solid plan , Zach, and experience!  Even better!  Keep us posted, OK?  Pics please!

I will post pics hopefully this weekend.  It looks like it will be almost 60 degrees!  What a tease of spring weather

This is the old garden at the old house.

I am leaving the cinder block bed for my in-laws to use.  I will keep the strawberry plants I have in the cinder block holes since they only live 5 minutes away and I can harvest them on my way home from work.



This is the MM from one of the 4x8 beds.  These buckets all fit in the back of my Explorer. 



Here is the new bed. 20x4.  i will also put in a couple 4x4's for green beans.
The location is not perfect in regards to the shadows, but i do get a good 6+ hours in Feb. so far.  With the sun angle getting higher each day, I think I should get 8 hours.  It is the only spot in my yard flat enough and far enough away from trees.  Hopefully it works out.

I think only a SFG gardener would understand why you would transport the valuable MM! Will the new bed be the taller height or are you making 2 levels, one for regular plants and taller for deep root crops?

Yea, I can't leave that MM behind!  

I am going to make the whole bed the two boards high.  This was just an unfinished picture.  I can use the cinder block bed at my in-laws for root crops. 

I just scored the mother lode of newspaper for free on Facebook yard sale site to lay down on top of the grass. Hopefully there are crossword puzzles in those too for an added bonus

I grow my tomatoes in those black grow bags that you see in the picture.  Saves space for other plants.

You mentioned that you planted strawberries in the holes of the cinder blocks.  Did you have trouble with slugs & snails??

Hmmm, not that I know of. I put them in last spring and I didn't notice any issues. Most survived the winter without cover, but I lost a few. This winter I will cover them with straw. I planted a ton of the daughter plants in pots and wintered them in my garage. They look good too.

Nice! You have a great garden going there!