2016 - Our First SFG!

This is our first year to REALLY do a Square Foot Garden.

I first picked up Mel's book at a library in 1985. I was so very impressed with the idea and it stayed with me for all these years.

Over the years I have had several gardens, but I have always wanted to do a SFG. I found this site on the internet and showed my husband. He was really impressed with the results all of you are getting and we have decided to try it this year.

I am really looking forward to having a garden that looks like all the posts I see on the internet.

Here is what it looked like in March.





And here it is now.




Here is our first little harvest!

You've done a great job!  Your SFG is beautiful.

Very impressive, leone.  I like that you have chosen three squares wide as I feel that is much more comfortable to plant and weed for people who do not have long arms (like me ).

The two squares deep against the fence is good as well.

Altogether, 10 out of 10.

Lovely!  What are the leaves on the lower left?
CC

CapeCoddess wrote:Lovely!  What are the leaves on the lower left?
CC

Those are baby Boc Choy leaves, a type of Chinese cabbage. They like really cool weather. I am a little surprised that the plants are already starting to go to seed. They are delicious when young like that to put into salads.

Just wondering..... are there others out there that stand in their window with the binoculars and watch their garden grow?!

Leone wrote:Just wondering..... are there others out there that stand in their window with the binoculars and watch their garden grow?!

Yes!  Or variations of it.  I live in a suburb so I just have to step out the back door and practically touch every little plant.

No binocs but I have to go out there multiple times per day, like 6 or more. And sometimes I just stand over them and watch them grow.
 
CC

I just sit out under the old oak tree and marvel at all the things growing.

Lovely, Leone. Yes, we are a little obsessive around here....you fit right in!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Lovely, Leone.  Yes, we are a little obsessive around here....you fit right in!  

I never check my plants more than 12 times a day.

love it! Wish I could

Hi Leone. It looks wonderful! Congratulations!

And welcome from Atlanta, GA...

Kelejan wrote:Very impressive, leone.  I like that you have chosen three squares wide as I feel that is much more comfortable to plant and weed for people who do not have long arms (like me ).

The two squares deep against the fence is good as well.

Altogether, 10 out of 10.

+1!  I agree that the 4ft wide beds are challenge for the short armed! (imagine T-rex-waving-arms emoticon here.)

Leone - great looking garden...I love clean, simple lines.. 

I just picked the last of my Toy Choy for stir fry last night...great paired with the sugar snap peas. I'm waiting for my kale leaves to get a bit bigger...had a friend describe brushing leaves with olive oil, sea salt, pepper and grilling over coals.

Like your husband, I was impressed with the SFG method...and it's proved to be a winner with some of my past harvests.

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:

+1!  I agree that the 4ft wide beds are challenge for the short armed! (imagine T-rex-waving-arms emoticon here.)

That T-Rex thing is so funny I almost fell off my chair.
 

trolleydriver wrote:

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:

+1!  I agree that the 4ft wide beds are challenge for the short armed! (imagine T-rex-waving-arms emoticon here.)

That T-Rex thing is so funny I almost fell off my chair.
 

Please make sure you have your seat-belt fastened, TD.  We don't want to lose you.
I laughed at the T-Rex thing as well.

You folks are great and full of laughs!  I'm glad I'm not the only one "obsessed" about SFG!


So..... we just got our All New SFG book last week. As I was reading I came across the thing about the compressed peat moss expanding and that you should use the fluffed measure for the mix.  Oops!

I was wondering why things were growing so slowly and the beans and tomatoes were looking so weak and yellowish.

We bought some more compost today (Worm castings, Steer manure, coop poop, yard and produce compost). We took out some of the wrong mix and added the extra composts in. Kind of hard to do around the little plants, but we did the best we could. Hopefully things will start to pick up a little.

T-Rex had short arms, didn't he? Duh.... it took me a long time to finally get it!

Landarch, those are beautiful vegs! We are looking forward to bountiful harvests too (once the mix problem is fixed).

Leone wrote:We bought some more compost today (Worm castings, Steer manure, coop poop, yard and produce compost).

Sorry to tell you this but some people tell us to not use Steer Manure because it contains too much salt.

Yeah, just depends on what you get. Post often, so we know what you are seeing! That way folks can weigh in on what might be going on!

Regionals are a great place where people are also very helpfulL

It was actually "Black Kow" from Lowe's. Has anyone had problems with that?

Leone wrote:You folks are great and full of laughs!  I'm glad I'm not the only one "obsessed" about SFG!

Oh, Leone... Welcome home!!

Most of us who post regularly are obsessed with various aspects of our gardening, lol! Come slug season, you'll see us talking about our "official slug hunting outfits" - slippers, bathrobe, a flashlight that we wear on our heads to keep both hands free...

And spouses who occasionally lock us out of the house (or at least thing REALLY hard about it)!

Leone wrote:It was actually "Black Kow" from Lowe's. Has anyone had problems with that?

I love the Black Kow cow manure compost.  That used to be my favorite until I started making my own compost.  Now I also add a bag of Black Kow to my compost before I add it to the beds to give my compost a little kick.

Hi Leone -- yup, T rex has short arms.

I used Black Kow to top off my designated tomato squares this spring. No problems yet, the small number of weeds (from blown in seeds) looked healthy before I plucked them, and the transplanted tomatoes look fine. I figured part of the reason for using multiple composts is so that any problems like high salts are diluted out. I've also heard mushroom compost can also be high salts because it's partly-used manure-based growth media. I put some of that in my beds this spring, too. I've even read you shouldn't use any compost that doesn't list the salt levels on the bag, but I've never seen it listed (but I'll admit I didn't look hard, and wasn't looking at expensive stuff.) My understanding is that plant based composts tend to be low in salts and would thus be particularly good at balancing higher salt manure-based composts -- and you've got yard/produce compost listed.

AtlantaMarie wrote:
Most of us who post regularly are obsessed with various aspects of our gardening, lol!  Come slug season, you'll see us talking about our "official slug hunting outfits" - slippers, bathrobe, a flashlight that we wear on our heads to keep both hands free...  

And spouses who occasionally lock us out of the house (or at least thing REALLY hard about it)!

Ha! That's hilarious! We just bought one of those flashlights last week. I hadn't thought of how handy it will be when in the garden at night!

Okay, so we might be alright with the Black Kow. Thank you for your answers. This morning the plants all look really happy, standing up tall and looking greener.

Thanks for the information about salts BeetlesPerSqFt. So, I suppose if all goes well I will keep mixing the composts in order to put a scoop in for the next plantings.

Leone wrote:. . . So..... we just got our All New SFG book last week. As I was reading I came across the thing about the compressed peat moss expanding and that you should use the fluffed measure for the mix.  Oops!  . . .

I was wondering why things were growing so slowly and the beans and tomatoes were looking so weak and yellowish.

You aren't alone!    When I first started, I used a Kellogg's mix as the 1/3 compost part and it wasn't long before things quit growing.  I had to use a weak fertilizer until I got more compost ingredients, especially bagged composted chicken and cow manure. Making my own compost became an obsession and continues to be.

PS folks,  I'm already on night patrol for snails and slugs.