Sanderson's Urban SFG in Fresno, California

I must print a copy of this so that  WHEN  I ever get to England my brother can get something like this made for us.

I am sure his grandson would love to make something like this for his granddad. His grandson has a business demolishing  old  houses and building new ones, or at least remodelling them. Just like you see on  TV.

Everything you do sanderson and your husband is first class work.

The only consolation for me is the plants grow anyway, thank goodness. My beds are at the end of their lives and would be due for renewal this year to raised beds.

No idea when I will get to England now, so I will plant a couple of beds, keep the garden tidy and under control and hope for the best. At least I can get outside and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, unlike millions of other people.

trolleydriver wrote:Wow that looks great. Well done both of you.

What a job!

Thanks, guys. I went outside this morning and I still love it!

KJ, When you get to England, you can just show grandson these photos in this thread.

sanderson wrote:Thanks, guys.  I went outside this morning and I still love it!  

KJ, When you get to England, you can just show grandson these photos in this thread.

You bet I will, sanderson.  I will get the whole family indoctrinated.

April and May are the prettiest months in the garden.  No disease, no aphids, no red spider mites or dead leaves.  There are 2 replacement beds, the 2'x8' table top which is now ground level with cement board as the bottom, and a 2'x3' TT up on cement blocks.  I have 28 sq ft in beans, Rattlesnake, Dragon Tongue, bush Blue Lake and Pole Blue Lake.  There are 10 Snow Fairy tomatoes (saving seeds is the main goal), and 9 heirlooms in the BTE strip, 2 large paste and 1 Sun Gold for snacking.  



Dragon Tongue beans, empty garlic bed, sweet potato totes and some of the heirloom tomatoes in the BTE.

L-R.  New bed and 2 potted large paste tomatoes, Hale cantaloupe and 2 luffa for overhead shade, strawberries and winter squash.

Blue lake pole beans.  The 2'x7' has eggplants and peppers.

New bed with Snow Fairies and some peppers. All of the SF have tomatoes!

Part of the BTE strip with 9 heirloom tomatoes.

New 2'x3' bed on cement blocks.  Leveling the dirt was the hardest part.

Before.  The bed was built in 2014 and had 1/2" plywood as a bottom.

You make really good use of your space, sanderson.  All so very neat and productive.

Thank you!

Cement board? Interesting... What made you decide on that, Sanderson? (Gonna have to do some work to my beds. This is a definite idea!)

The cement board is an experiment. The reason I have elevated table tops is because of root invasion I discovered a year after the first on-ground beds were built. I figured if SFG beds can be set on driveways, steps, patios, etc. I would try on cement board to imitate a cement slab. My thought is that it could be a solution to invasive tree roots for some folks. The extra water seeps out between the wood frame and the cement board. The bed is lined with durable weed fabric to hold in the Mel's Mix.

sanderson wrote:The cement board is an experiment. The reason I have elevated table tops is because of root invasion I discovered a year after the first on-ground beds were built. I figured if SFG beds can be set on driveways, steps, patios, etc. I would try on cement board to imitate a cement slab. My thought is that it could be a solution to invasive tree roots for some folks. The extra water seeps out between the wood frame and the cement board. The bed is lined with durable weed fabric to hold in the Mel's Mix.

I'm going to be watching this carefully... :-) I'm planning on re-designing the garden to meet my current (physical) needs. And, of course, I'd prefer things not break down after a couple of years, lol!

Oh, my gosh!  I noticed it's been 10 months since I posted here.  I have not been as active on the Forum I would like due to life getting in the way.  September and October 2020 were ruined due to the forest fire.  It was like a "nuclear winter" those 2 months.  Then, November and December were dedicated to PT for a tear in my left hip and improving overall strength and balance.  January was just the blahs.

February, I started my seedlings.  As of 3-12.  Yes, I had to buy a Bonnie Cherokee Purple as I didn't have any seeds.




In February, I also braved telling my husband my hopes and plans for the garden.   He took it rather well.  The experimental cement board would have to be elevated to 2' for my hip.  He kind of knew that.  Then, I wanted to expand the garden out further into the dead lawn area, and tie into the unused lawn sprinklers, as the line dedicated to the existing garden is maxed out.  Then, re-seed the dead lawn area under the gazebo, which would mean re-doing the sprinkler system in that area.  Over all, he took it quite well.    
Right now he's outside finishing up the irrigation changes to the back "lawn".  We're moving the 2 rolling 2'x4' beds over to the new area and raising them up on cement blocks.  Adding 2 "Pink Lemonade" blueberries bushes in pots or individual beds.  Hopefully dwarf lemon and lime trees and 2 cordon cherry trees.  A new table top bed 1.5'x8'.  Okay, scratch the lemon and lime trees for now.  They are not available in my area!!  I did locate Stella and Black Tartanian cherry trees.

The cordon tree design in a stock photo.

Last fall, I sprayed the back lawn with Roundup to kill the Bermuda grass and start over.  The weed fabric was rolled across so I could access the back flower/garden beds without stepping in mud.


A lot of weed seeds sprouted recently so I will spray again when hubby is finished with the sprinklers.  I'm using the basic Roundup so it can be seeded within a week of the last spraying.  The lawn will be under the gazebo and the wood chips and expanded garden will be in the forefront where you can see a ting of green from the weed seeds sprouting.  


Here are trenches he had to dig for the lawn area.  Did I mention we have hard pan?  Only the top inch was decent dirt.  See the puddles after only 0.2" of rain?

The sprinklers under the gazebo are finished and the area roughly graded. Today I played around with the area. New storage totes for sweet potatoes and 2 large pots for the blueberries. The area for the table top bed marked off. Buckets representing sites for potato buckets and other plants I don't want in the beds.

Wow, that will be nice when you have it completed.

Everything is so nice & neat...!  Are you sure you don't want to come & re-do MY spot, lol?  

The garden extension is at a point where I can truly say that I love it.  My poor body is looking forward to the PT session, today, as I really over worked it.    We only had 5 days after the rain to get all the work done before he left for a small family reunion.

We removed the 2 beds on wheels over to the new extension on cement blocks.  The results are that I won't have to bend over to tend and harvest  and moving them opened up the small patio for a more open view.  The bottom of one of the beds was starting to rot, so it was replaced with 2 solid layers of cement board.  Another one of Sanderson's experiments. As one can see, I never cleaned the beds last fall. Once cleaned and the area weeded and topped with more new wood chips, it will look much nicer.


Then I rolled out durable weed fabric over the extension.  Bending over for rolling, cutting, staking and fitting was painful, making me so glad that I have table top beds.  


The wood chips are all spread.


Playing around with the 8 containers for 2 blueberry bushes, a lime tree, a lemon tree and 4 cordon fruit trees.


The 2 blueberry bushes are planted using the special blueberry Mel's Mix that Docwas described in the blueberry thread.  4 parts fluffed peat moss, 1 part coarse vermiculite and 1 part blended compost.


We also redid the common area in the front yard.  We bought 2 large pots for Erysimum Bowles' Mauve plants.  The 5-gallon buckets mark the spots for the pots.  

Starting Sunday, the nights temps are supposed to be 50*F and above, and the day temps in the 70s and 80s.

That looks great.

Follow-up to the Sanderson project. I have been crippled with pain for the last 5 days. The critical part is my right arm, especially the elbow. Everything hurts, legs, back and arms. But, it's my right arm that does 99% of every activity. Lesson learned - a 72 year old body shouldn't try to do what she could at 60.

Ken was gone the 5 days and is back home now. Guess who will have to clean and amend the beds? Plant the remaining trees? Screen more bagged compost? Yep, the man who considers anything smaller than a tractor not to be real gardening.

All that work?.....It's a wonder your arm didn't fall off! I do hope your arm's feeling better soon. Seems like the older we get, the longer it takes to recover or restore. I think it was worth the effort (and pain) it looks fantastic.

Well, the jury is still out about the arm falling off. Problem is the right leg is in stiff competition. The sciatic nerve is in bad way. I have to keep a running log on total mg. of Tylenol, Ibu, Codeine with Tylenol and now Prednisone.

sanderson wrote:Well, the jury is still out about the arm falling off.  Problem is the right leg is in stiff competition.  The sciatic nerve is in bad way.  I have to keep a running log on total mg. of Tylenol, Ibu, Codeine with Tylenol and now Prednisone.

Sanderson, you make me feel lucky in that for the last several days I have been spending 90 minutes in the garden getting rid of overgrown ivy and those salmonberry canes.  There is a deadline of another four day when the city wagons comes around and collects all the garden waste, especially good for people like me who no longer have transport.

It is great to finally get out in the garden and do some physical work. I may plant some seeds to leave for the next owner but with Canada making our second vaccine shot four months after the first, my plans are on hold so I may as well take time in the garden and enjoy what I am doing.

At least a new owner would have the apple, and two cherry trees, the blueberry bushes and the perennial other plants.

The actual SFG beds are on their last legs and if I was staying then would have  been renewed but as raised beds.  (Just a thought; they are not raised beds so how can they have legs?)

Reading back over this thread, yes, I will show my newfound family what can be done.  Mind you, they have  two and a half acres but my own small space will be of my own choosing.

sanderson wrote:Well, the jury is still out about the arm falling off.  Problem is the right leg is in stiff competition.  The sciatic nerve is in bad way.  I have to keep a running log on total mg. of Tylenol, Ibu, Codeine with Tylenol and now Prednisone.

Oh, my.....  Sanderson, I hate to hear this!!!  Sending healing your way!!  {{{HUGS}}}

sanderson wrote:Well, the jury is still out about the arm falling off.  Problem is the right leg is in stiff competition.  The sciatic nerve is in bad way.  I have to keep a running log on total mg. of Tylenol, Ibu, Codeine with Tylenol and now Prednisone.

So sorry, S. The only good thing I can say about my useless left side is that I have no pain. I sure hope you can get yours under control, soon.

Hope you get well soon S.

Thank you, guys. Day 10 so far. Perfect weather for setting out the starts and sowing seeds.