Pictures of my First SFG!

Well I have been so pleased with this. I have everyone I know asking me about my garden lately. People are so jealous. This has been so much fun. I originally started this because I had a second baby not long ago and decided to stay at home with my 4 yr old and new baby. I wanted my four year old to have as many learning experiences here at home as she was having at school (an amazing montessori) so I decide we would start a vegetable garden and told my husband about and basically just started so he wouldn't have the opportunity to say no. My dad and he pretty much did most of the construction, and my dad I mixed up the Mel's Mix and filled the box up. I was very insistent on following Mel's guidlines even though some people were not so understanding. I planted everything just over a week ago and everything but the cilantro I planted has sprouted and some things are taking off! I have been so obsessed with checking on it and Sunday I know I was watching things grow before my eyes. I have learned so many things already and know I have so much more to learn. These are some pictures of what I have growing. I know I am going to need to add some trellises or something for the peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers, but I have no idea what or how to do that so another learning experience. Any suggestions very much appreciated! Also, watermelons and cantaloupes, how to keep those under control?



This is the garden. It is 6 3x3's all put together because our tiny back yard is full of utility lines etc. and the drainage area curves through most of the yard. Also, 3x3 since I have a 4 yr old I wanted her to have easy access while helping me.



This is a close up of the L shape, trying to avoid utility lines and drainage. Also, wanted to add the L part so that I had more room to plant taller plants that wouldn't shade the rest of the garden. My husband hates me taking pictures because he says it looks so home made, and I told him it is home made and I love it! We are going to reinforce the corners more soon.



So I know I need to do some thinning out! My 4 yr old went a little crazy with the seeds when I wasn't looking obviously. The radishes have gone nuts! I plan to thin them out this evening.


These are the green beans. I did bush beens. I did some of the Italian flat ones and some of the round traditional snap beans. I know I probably need to thin these some as well. This was taken last night and since I think they have grown 2 more inches. It is nuts!



These are the summer squash plants, I have yellow squash and zucchini. They are growing and sprouting quick as well. I am so excited to watch things come up.

Anyways just a glimpse at what I am doing. I am so new at this and I am sure I have made several mistakes, but I know it will just help me be better in the fall.

So fun! That's going to be me in just a couple weeks baby! I can't wait. I think your box looks very nice - hardly homemade looking! I love that you're doing it for your kids. That's one of my main reasons as well. Although I had no idea how exciting I would find it to learn all this cool stuff too!

Welcome aboard. Keep the pics coming - they're probably the most inspiring part of the forum for me.

Take care,
Tracy

The only mistakes you've made from the sounds of things is NOT SHOWING US SOONER!!

Your garden, despite hubby's opinion, is a thing of beauty! I wish mine looked so nice. Tell him, and your dad, congrats.

Welcome aboard, or welcome back, whichever applies. Your idea of cutting things down to 3x3 for the kids to help is pure genius, too.

You get 3 stars!!

Trellises will also be a cinch when you are ready to tackle them....and pretty inexpensive....especially compared to all that MM you have in there. Kudos for sticking with the book, by the way. You won't be sorry.

If you have Mel's book, Chapter 8 (page 145), is devoted completely to Vertical Gardening. If you don't have it, either run to the library and grab a copy or toss it into the cart while hubby isn't looking at Lowe's. (You can always blame it on the kids if he balks...just kidding.)

If you don't have the means to grab the book, just scroll down to the bottom left corner of the page. Type "trellis" into that search box and go crazy reading everything you can. There are some cool ideas in there, too.

Looks AWESOME!!!!

Oh, and don't tell BYBG, but the search button is at the TOP left of the page.

@clfraser

You have every reason to be proud. I should have done like you and got started before my honey had a chance to say no. I wanted my garden in something built up like yours and that's exactly what he did say, "no!"

I think you did a great job and your little girl will certainly enjoy the process, I'm sure.

As for trellisses, there are some nice ones you can buy and just stick them in the right in your box. I used a couple of different types last year. something like this around the cantaloupe:



And for the peas something kind of like this:

Such a nice garden. You all should be very proud. And just think about the experiences for the 4 yr old.

Once you start harvesting, you probably won't hear a peep out of your husband except his thanks for all you have done.

clfraser wrote:These are the green beans. I did bush beens. I did some of the Italian flat ones and some of the round traditional snap beans. I know I probably need to thin these some as well. This was taken last night and since I think they have grown 2 more inches. It is nuts!

You know, you can plant 9 bush beans per square, so it doesn't look like these need thinning. The bush beans take very little room.

Enjoy!

I agree, it's a beautiful garden! It was made with "love" so how could it not be?! I love the layout too. Very easy to get to all that yummy food!

Furbalsmom wrote: You know, you can plant 9 bush beans per square, so it doesn't look like these need thinning. The bush beans take very little room.

Enjoy!

Great! I thought I could only plant 4 per square. Could I add some more? I want to make my own baby food too and I am hoping to use the products of the garden to help with that. More green beans can never hurt. How many pea plants can you have per square? I figured one squash plant and one tomato, pepper, okra, eggplant per square. I did 4 green bean it would be great to have more if possible. I did 2 pea plants and cucumber per square. Watermelon and Cantaloupe I had no clue I put one per square. Am I even close on these guesses?

Thank you all for the encouragement! The forum has been so helpful and encouraging. Also, I am going to look for some trellises like that, thanks for the ideas. I will also read chapter 8. My husbands grandmother is a backyard gardner but had never heard of square foot gardening and she is buying both of us the book now because she is so thrilled with our garden and she wants to start a square foot garden as well.

I am working on trying to set up a way to track what I planted in each square and also seed info as far as when things might possibly be ready. I am worried the time will finally come to harvest and I won't know when things are ready.

Whenever we come home form being out and about or when we wake up, both me and my daughter want to run out and check on the garden. It is so much fun to hear her asking if she can check on the garden and I am usually thinking the same thing.

Thanks again everyone.

clfraser wrote:Whenever we come home form being out and about or when we wake up, both me and my daughter want to run out and check on the garden. It is so much fun to hear her asking if she can check on the garden and I am usually thinking the same thing.

Awww, that's so precious. I just got a warm fuzzy feeling thinking of sharing those kinds of moments with my girls.

I am working on trying to set up a way to track what I planted in each square and also seed info as far as when things might possibly be ready. I am worried the time will finally come to harvest and I won't know when things are ready.

You'll pick up on things in time. But, there are so many ways to track your plantings. I am currently using a big desktop calendar with enough room to write on. Others use Excel and computer programs. Some don't do a thing. I am also kicking around the idea of drawing my squares and labeling them A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, etc. That way, I know what is where, too, before it comes up....and I can likely design things better. Either way, it's an individual thing.

LOL...as for the search bar, I've had better luck searching the SFG forum with the bottom one. The top one only searches google for me whether I uncheck the box or not. The bottom one allows me to search keywords in topics or individual responses to posts.

clfraser wrote:How many pea plants can you have per square? I figured one squash plant and one tomato, pepper, okra, eggplant per square. I did 4 green bean it would be great to have more if possible. I did 2 pea plants and cucumber per square. Watermelon and Cantaloupe I had no clue I put one per square. Am I even close on these guesses?

The good thing is you did not overplant anything.

The only thing I would change would be the Sugar Snap Peas and the Bush Beans.
Sugar Snaps can be placed 8 in a square, two rows of four each.
Bush beans can be placed 9 in a square, three rows of three each.
Go ahead and add those seeds now, it is ok if they are a week behind the others in the square. The nice thing is that both beans and peas freeze well if you do find you have more than you need at one time. These two veggies taste much better if blanched before being frozen and the quality is better too.

Were you able to pick up a copy of Mel Bartholomew's ALL NEW SQUARE FOOT GARDENING? It was published in 2006 and has so much good information. For example, not only how to make Mel's Mix, but why you need the specific ingredients he lists. In addition, the plant spacing is in there for many common garden veggies. There is even a section about vertical gardening and how to make trellises that are really inexpensive, but very sturdy.

Enjoy your garden!

Your SFG looks great! Tell your hubby to stop being so modest.

Thanks for the pictures! Here's hoping for many more updates.

Furbalsmom wrote:

clfraser wrote:How many pea plants can you have per square? I figured one squash plant and one tomato, pepper, okra, eggplant per square. I did 4 green bean it would be great to have more if possible. I did 2 pea plants and cucumber per square. Watermelon and Cantaloupe I had no clue I put one per square. Am I even close on these guesses?

The good thing is you did not overplant anything.

The only thing I would change would be the Sugar Snap Peas and the Bush Beans.
Sugar Snaps can be placed 8 in a square, two rows of four each.
Bush beans can be placed 9 in a square, three rows of three each.
Go ahead and add those seeds now, it is ok if they are a week behind the others in the square. The nice thing is that both beans and peas freeze well if you do find you have more than you need at one time. These two veggies taste much better if blanched before being frozen and the quality is better too.

Were you able to pick up a copy of Mel Bartholomew's ALL NEW SQUARE FOOT GARDENING? It was published in 2006 and has so much good information. For example, not only how to make Mel's Mix, but why you need the specific ingredients he lists. In addition, the plant spacing is in there for many common garden veggies. There is even a section about vertical gardening and how to make trellises that are really inexpensive, but very sturdy.

Enjoy your garden!

Edited because you just said your Husband's Grandmother was buying the book for you and one for herself. I missed the time to edit on my prior post. sorry

Beautiful garden! I look forward to seeing more in the future. Thanks for sharing with us!

Excited to be planting more green beans and peas today!

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:
LOL...as for the search bar, I've had better luck searching the SFG forum with the bottom one. The top one only searches google for me whether I uncheck the box or not. The bottom one allows me to search keywords in topics or individual responses to posts.

Do you mean the Jump to button, or am I missing something, I know I need glasses, but that's all I see, and now it's going to drive me nuts.

FarmerValerie,

Keep scrolling down, it's alllll the way down in the bottom corner below all the latest topics.

I wondered what happened to that search button. It used to be at the top.

Here is an update on the garden. Things seem to have really started growing for the most part. I've had one radish, the others seem to be kind of puny still even though it has been about a month. Could the heat have prevented them from growing?

Some things look sick though.


onions - I think I maybe could add the onions from another square to this one, but I want big onions so maybe not?


carrots - It may be entirely too hot here for these to actually be successful, but some of them have come up and we shall see.


cucumber - sick maybe or infested by bugs? They have finally started to bloom, but they don't look completely healthy.


Sick or damaged green beans? I know the bugs are swarming the green beans, but I don't know what kind. There are also little squiggles on the leaves of several plants now. Not sure if that is the sign of some kind of bug or not.


Green Beans - Bush Beans


Patio Cherry Tomato - It has looked this way for a while and nothing else has bloomed - not sure if maybe it was mislabeled, or if this is just a giant tomato, or if it is ever going to start turning red.


Celebrity Tomato - Looks a lot like the cherry tomato in the square next to it. It is not growing very much and nothing other than this tomato has bloomed. It is frozen at this size.


Yellow Pear Tomato - it was getting taller and taller and it finally has some little tomatoes on it! This was an exciting day for me, and it seems to keep producing more.


TAM Jalepeno - It has blooms! I was so worried about my pepper plants. This morning they all had blooms, except the banana pepper.


From the top left clockwise - Yellow Pear Tomato, Celebrity Tomato Cucumber (next row) Husky Cherry Red Tomato, Patio Cherry Tomato, Green Bell Pepper
(bottom row) Okra, Okra, TAM Jalepeno
The okra is sort of making progress.


Sick Peas? I don't know if bugs have gotten to my peas as well, or if they are sick. Not enough water? Too much water?


Japanese Eggplant - Lots of little holes and a few little squiggly things on here, but it looks like it may start flowering or whatever it is supposed to do.


Peas, Eggplant, Onions, Radishes. The radishes are still pretty small after a month. Don't know if that is normal or not, but I thought they would be ready to go by now.


Summer Squash - Several of the leaves on the plants look this way. But they do keep growing.


Summer Squash


Grape Tomato - Some are just about ready to pick!


Summer Squash, Peas, Onions, Grape Tomato, Cilantro, Sweet Banana Pepper (The peppers have not changed really since I planted about a month ago.)



Watermelon and Cantaloupe - Making progress slowly but surely.

I know my placement is a little off probably, but I am working on how I should adjust things for the fall. I am trying to decide how bad my bug problem may really be. I am excited though to see the progress from when I started. Just about everything has really been growing, and it has been a lot of fun to watch.

How do you water? You might need to water your garden a bit more.

What is your compost mix?

You definitely have some flea beetle damage there especially on the eggplant. You need to get a handle on that or they will destroy your eggplant. Try a combo of neem oil and insecticidal soap. If that doesn't work go get some Rotenone and treat your eggplant with that. Radishes make a good trap crop for flea beetles, so you could try planting some more radishes around your eggplant.

Are you still having problems with cucumber beetles?

I water once a day. I use a hand held sprayer and attempt to avoid getting the leaves wet as much as possible. It is very humid here. My compost is cow manure, chicken manure, mushroom compost, leaf compost, black hummus, another type of cow compost, cotton bur compost.

I knew I had some pests, and see things crawling around, but everything is going so quickly. I plan to treat today. Thanks for identifying that as flea bettle damage. I have yet to see another cucumber beetle. There still appears to be damage however. I am hoping I can get them under control soon. it is sad to see things not healthy.

Thank you for all the advice!

Your compost mix looks great, so I don't think that nutrients are an issue.

You might increase your watering and treat for any insects you see.

That's a great looking garden!

Now that I've seen the damage, I agree. It looks like flea beetles. The white squiggly lines on the leaves are leafminers. Neem should take care of both pests.

As for the yellowing of the leaves. Has the temperature in your area been fluctuating? It almost appears to be a nitrogen problem, but beans and peas shouldn't have that problem. Over watering and/or lots of rain, which can flush nutrients, and temperature fluctuations can both lead to it. This will slow growth down and yellow stems and leaves starting from the bottom up. It's unusual in legumes like beans and peas, because they pull nitrogen out of the air and "fix" it into the soil, but I guess it's possible that their fix could be getting flushed. Blood meal, fish emulsion or a mulch of fresh cut grass would fix it pretty quick, and then then the soil should right itself. Your tomatoes and peppers are doing great, so I would be careful using any nitrogen around them. Too much nitrogen will cause blossom drop on those type of plants.

Pull back some of soil to check for moisture. The top layer will usually look dry, but an inch under the soil will be very moist. If it's still moist then hold back on the water. Do that daily, and when it seems to be drying out, then soak it good. It may be a couple of days, or it may be a week. As it gets warmer, use mulch to maintain the moisture.

ps. I love those TAM jalepenos!

Great advice. I may be watering too much. This morning I dug down pretty much to the bottom of the box and things were very moist. It was almost muddy at the bottom. So I probably do need to hold off some. The top was so dry and crusty I was worried I was not watering enough.

I am going to get some neem oil today. I am waiting till we get out for other things because with gas prices so high we only make trips when we have multiple things to do/get. I am glad SFG does not require using gas because I would be very sad at the expense.

My husband is going to maw today. Can I just take some of the grass and sprinkle it around the plants that may need it?

With yalls help I think I can save my plants! Thanks for the suggestions and I will see what works.