Fishtell - 2021 SFG

Hello Fellow SFG folks,
Below are photos of our completed fully enclosed 20x40 ft raised bed garden w/about 300+ s.f. of growing area   
   *   We are located in a Asheville, N.C. suburb on 9 acres. 
   *   The beds made of cedar 
   *   24" in height
   *   paths are over 3 ft in width , with pea stones and fabric underneath,   
   *   have 16" of topsoil purchased from local stone yard
   *   6" of Mel's mix with chicken and Cow manure  for the  composts.  
   *   We water by hose as needed.  
   *   We marked on all the seed packages the number of seeds per s.f. and are mostly following that, except for our neighbors that are planting completely free style.  
   *   I think we are following the SFG  philosophy except for the grids 

We have two neighbors that helped with the construction and we have assigned each of them about 50 s.f. of space in  to plant their own veggies.   

I've purchased a large pressure cooker/ canner and a Dehydrator  for preserving.   



PROBLEM/ISSUE:  or is it a problem? :   
   *  I went out and purchased over 500 linear ft of moulding to construct grids 
   *  I constructed beautiful grids  (for a small 2x20' section of the garden)  with bolts that fit inside the beds  
   *  My wife removed the grids and has planted what you see in photos without any grids. 
   *  I now have a large 8'  long box full of moulding that can't be used  (for now) 
   *  The neighbors didn't say anything as they are guests in the garden
 
WIFE'S ARGUMENTS AGAINST USING THE GRIDS: 
   *  The grids take up too much space 
   *  The trellises and grids get in way of each other 
   *  Bugs come and eat wood  
   *  We don't need to be so efficient 
   *  Grids impose too many restrictions on where and how to plant.  
   *  We have more space than we need, we can't eat or preserve all the food we can grow.   


MY THOUGHTS /COMMENTS: 
   *  We are not concerned presently about having enough growing space or having not enough food  
   *  I don't believe the grids take up space that the veggies would be using 
   *  I believe it makes sense to train ourselves to grow as efficiently as possible now and not when under any pressure should food become more scarce. 


Any comments or thoughts ?  


Fishtell 

Thank you sir

Hello Ohio, 

The only issue they have is with the GRIDS 
My wife's and my neighbors points:
   1.  They are getting all the benefits of Mel's Mix without using the squares. 
   2.  Don't have to Till or Dig 
   3.  They are growing more than they can eat or preserve
   4.  No need to use squares and increase efficiency 
   5.  They are already getting benefits of less work because of using Mel's Mix.  

My point was....
     *    I have to agree with them in that there is no benefit to using the squares if we have more space than we need 
     *    I'm trying to convince them we should train ourselves to use the squares to  prepare ourselves for a potential severe food shortage.  

What say you sir? 

Fishtell

Whatever saves the marriage.

That said, if you bought the 3/4" x 1/4" moulding, it does not take up too much space. If it was understood that you wanted to try SFG, then the grids are part of it. Maybe some of your designated beds can have grids. You plant those and your wife plants her half. Or grids are used for planting/sowing then stored away until the next planting/sowing. The neighbor can do what he wants. ??

Fishtell wrote:My point was....
     *    I have to agree with them in that there is no benefit to using the squares if we have more space than we need 

Do you have your complete group in place? Or might more neighbors be joining? The grids make it feasible to share (split) beds between individuals.

---

The SFG Foundation explains all things SFG in the "Essentials" videos on YouTube. Show this one to your wife!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejk4jqNPaGE

Personally I like the grids but I've always struggled to keep them neat-looking. I bought this SFG planting template, which helps me stay accurate as I plant--and be grid-free afterward.

Fishtell that is one magnificent garden, how ever you and your team plant it!

I love to come to this forum and see what you great gardeners are doing but just don't have the  discipline to follow the  instructions. We love our raised beds, and love our trellises. Like you said  we can't eat everything we grow so a bit of random is OK.

For some reason I just received all these responses to my older post.   I can't figure out how to respond individually to each post so I'm responding here to all.   

I like that template idea...I emailed that to wife and neighbors.... I'll work on getting them to check it out.   Not bringing in anymore neighbors.   They also have 8-9 acres and might be building their own garden next year or year ofter.   They helped build this garden and we are letting them use space to grow.  

thanks for the s.f. gardening, promoting the grid video... I sent it to neighbors and wife. 

I'm not involved in any of the gardening.  I helped build it and its a full time job maintaining the 9 acres we have.  Wife is in charge of the veggie garden.   We are eating food from the garden every night and its hard to keep up.   I'm pickling some of the cucumbers, dehydrating some of the zucchini and other veggies....   and have a pressure canner ready to go this fall and winter when the outside work ends.   

Fishtell in Asheville, N.C. area

Hi Ohio, 
My question was .... is there a way to post a reply to each specific person?  I know how to reply if there is only one response to my post.   In my case I saw more than one response to my post and wanted to reply separately to each person's post.   I couldn't figure it out, so I was forced to reply to all in one post or reply by me.  

Fishtell

Fishtell wrote:Hi Ohio, 
My question was .... is there a way to post a reply to each specific person?  I know how to reply if there is only one response to my post.   In my case I saw more than one response to my post and wanted to reply separately to each person's post.   I couldn't figure it out, so I was forced to reply to all in one post or reply by me.  

Fishtell

Yes,  In the upper right corner of the actual post that you want to respond to is a green button that says QUOTE.  Click on that button and a screen will appear with the original post on the top with a yellow background and below that Is a white area.  Click on the white area and respond to the post.

yolos wrote:

Fishtell wrote:Hi Ohio, 
My question was .... is there a way to post a reply to each specific person?  I know how to reply if there is only one response to my post.   In my case I saw more than one response to my post and wanted to reply separately to each person's post.   I couldn't figure it out, so I was forced to reply to all in one post or reply by me.  

Fishtell

Yes,  In the upper right corner of the actual post that you want to respond to is a green button that says QUOTE.  Click on that button and a screen will appear with the original post on the top with a yellow background and below that Is a white area.  Click on the white area and respond to the post.

Thanks Yolos.  Lets see what this looks like