Lessons from the 1st Year Square Foot Garden

Please add what you've learned this year in your SFG!

Notes to Self

Remember.. over all the garden was a smashing success. A few ideas to get it going better next year.

3 Sisters Garden.. DON"T wait until the corn is 10 inches high to plant the winter squash. Next year I will plant those seeds just one week after the corn. DO wait to plant the beans until the corn is at least 6 inches high.

Beans.. ok, even "bush type" lima beans VINE (much to my dismay).. so trellis, trellis, trellis. At the NORTH end of the garden square, not the middle or front. But green and yellow bush type beans.. not so much vining. There ok.


Get the watermelons in ASAP.

Put a tin foil neck at the base of all squash/pumpkin type plants when transplanting. Tired of those darn vine borers.

Next year buy my onion sets at the local garden supply store rather than at Lowes.. I can buy just the # I need and pay by weight for a square foot garden rather than a bag where I waste over 3/4 of them.

Plan better rotation, and also plan better for planting for more crops. Mark this on my calendar. Start seeds indoors, and make my late fall project a building seed starting area in my basement. Put these dates on my 2011 schedule NOW.

Take a vacation day the week of the last frost date (May 15 for me) to have one extra day off for garden planting.

Take a vacation day this fall after the last frost to get the garden beds ready for next year.

Before the end of the summer, do an all day sun map of the yard to figure out where I can squeeze in a few more 4x4 squares that will get at least 8 hours of sunlight a day.

Most excellent notes!!!! I like the sun map idea a lot!

· my family doesn't need more than one zucchini plant

· figure out if the plant is a vining plant before you plant it

· plant enough beans early in the season so the Japanese beetles and the heat of summer don't stunt the growth

· snip all the suckers on the tomatoes - it REALLY does make a difference

· cut worms cause wars

· plant the cukes and zuchs and squash earlier in the season

· plant a second round of zuchs and squash

· swiss chard and arugula did really really well for me in the heat of summer

· Eat my cilantro faster

· stake my tomatoes before the have their growth explosion

· remember to water the mm when the box is half full, then fill it with mm to stop it settling so much

· the forum in invaluable for tips and tricks - there is so much knowledge here to be shared

· for every failure or questionable success I have 2-3 times super successful crops


and most important...
I have gotten 10 times more enjoyment out of my garden than I ever dreamed of