Poll: What % of Your Garden is SFG Style?

First year with 2@ 4x12 plus numerous odd buckets, pots , boxes and some rain gutters on my tool shed for lettuce. Now at 20% hoping to continue yearly to increase the %. The salad fixins, greens and herbs have done quite well. Most other veggies not very well especially compared to the regular gardens mid season side by side output. Plan to make leeks boxes like Camprn has pictured for next season. Otherwise % may slowly grow as performance warrants.

Okay, I'm only at the over 75% level, because my Sweet Million tomato is in MM in a pot on my deck. So, for "truth in advertising" I can't say 100%.

I had to put less than half despite all the SFG space I have. Currently have 6 4x8 beds as well as 6 deck containers and another 4 large pots with MM. I would have to win the lottery to convert our large garden space all to SFG....not that I don't want too!

over 75%. I did put some horseradish at the edge of the yard. And if it becomes invasive in the pure clay that is my little corner of the world, I will be impressed. I have peppers and tomatoes in pots, but only because I had higher than expected germination and couldn't bear to see the little guys sprout then be murdered because of a lack of space. My containers are 100% MM, though, so not sure if they count as SFG or not.

Edited to add that I gave away as many plants as I could before resorting to containers. The don't get enough light where they are, so this winter's argument with my husband will be more boxes or fewer seeds. (um, I just ordered a bunch for fall and overwintering stuff, so wish me luck on winning the more boxes sided of the "discussion"

Deleted this posted because the "edited" version also posted.

I just planted one of my three SFG plots yesterday (yes, July 5th!). The weather around the Puget Sound has been horrid and I didn't even try to start indoor plants until last week. I have both hot- and cool-weather plants in, so whatever the weather, I might get something!

At any rate, the bed I planted is 4'x8'. It is totally Mel's mix. I planted two bush tomatoes, spinach, romaine, bibb, radish, carrots (2 kinds), snap peas, broccoli and beets. The other two beds are 4x10 each, and I'm waiting to get more stuff to make Mel's mix. It takes a lot!

The only things I have outside my SFG are two long-ago established blueberry bushes, my upside-down tomato plants, and tomorrow I am going to plant some potatoes in one of those black, holey plastic bins from Territorial Seeds.

I am hoping against hope that this area has a growing season into mid-September...

Good luck everyone!

I counted my containers. I have most of my herbs in pretty containers on the front steps, then I have raspberries along the fence line, and just a few things planted out of the boxes because I ran out of boxes. :o)

Just now decided to post percentage. I'd say almost two thirds of the garden area is SFG. The hold-out part is hubby "That's-The-Way-I've-Always-Done-It" PapaVino's row planting of corn and beans, and the bean tepee I planted to appeal to the grandkids. Even the old berm area along the north side is being improved with solid sides and will be officially square-footed next year (except for the asparagus section). A big thank you for the inspiration I get from y'all each and every day.
Nonna

I would say 75% as I don't coun't the stuff in pots because I did not have room for them in my beds but they will be there next year providing I can afford the Mel's Mix as I need to upgrade my existing beds with covers etc., so that I can make the best use of them.

I have a total of about 54 squares so far. I would be intersted in seeing a list of the total squares that others have. I started last year with 32 squares.

I also have 16 square feet of potatoes in my compost box that should have been filled with MM.

This is my first year with SFG's - converting my 'row (read MESS)' garden into boxes. I probably have about 90% in SFG's now, and approx. 160 feet. I also have a converted compost pile which is now surrounded by hay bales and filled with the last of my incomplete compost and topped with composted manure. It is growing volunteers: Pumpkins, sunflowers, and one tomato. If it works well there, I will grid it up next year and that will give me another 24-30 squares. Hubby is ready to kill me.....

GG

Goosegirl, I, too, have a bale bed, made of six hay bales left over from when when we raised cattle. The space in the rectangle is filled with a sandy compost half way up, then a grid of hardware cloth to repel moles, and Mel's mix for the top half. The bale is planted in corn, scarlet runner beans and winter squash (3 sisters). The difference between the corn and beans (planted by PapaVino in his traditional row method) and the bale bed is astounding. The bale bed, planted two days after the row crops, is a third more mature. The winter squash planted in holes hollowed out at the junctures of the bales is more than twice as far along as the same varieties planted in rows. In fact, I've put out a plea to my daughters-in-law for their panty hoses that have runners (a panty hose cut into strips makes the perfect tie for fastening up plants like squash: cut the legs into strips, and retain the crotch part to put the growing squash in when you fasten it to the trellis). Looks like we'll have lots of winter squashes to share with all the family. Unbelievable....no, not true, SFG HAS made a believer out of me. Nonna

Nonna - my bale bed is 6 straw bales and rectangle-shaped as well, short sides are east and west and long sides are the north and south. Splitting down the middle, the west end has the pumpkins and one tomato plant nearest the west edge, with sunflowers lining the back of them - not by design, that is just where they came up! The east end is where I was throwing all the 'new' compostables until I got my real compost bins set up. The pumpkins and sunflowers are hiding the compost and my propane tank nicely and are growing better than any pumpkins or sunflowers that I purposely planted last year! Next year I will definitely grid it up, adjust the mix, and call it an SFG!

G.G., So glad there is another experimenter out there to share the wonder with me. Really, I think we'll put in another bale bed for next year for another three sisters planting (but not so many squash!), the current bed will be amended with additional compost and planted in eggplants, peppers, perhaps a tomato or two with a PVC arch to make it a hoop house. The soil/Mel's mix in the center of the bales warmed up so much earlier than even the SFG raised beds, and it retained the warmth. I want to see how much earlier I can get produce with the bale beds. Should be fun....and tasty! Nonna

Nonna - I hope mine works that well through the winter and into next spring. I just set mine up this spring when I tore apart my straw bale compost bin. I had them stacked double, 3 on top of 3, in a U shape. I would love to have some ground that is usable before April! Now, if only the snow will cooperate.....

Reading these old posts is my winter entertainment. This one was especially interesting. I can't wait to see how our latest crop of SFGers post.

I had to vote "less than 50%" because I'm so disorganized, but I think I'll be in the "over 50%" category next year, because of the 25 new boxes we're putting in.

Everything we have is in raised beds and containers (since the deer wiped out my BTE). I use what Mel calls "humanitarian" mix instead of regular MM because we have so much chicken manure, compost, leaves, rabbit poo, aged goat manure/bedding, and aged horse manure. With all those natural ingredients, plus a huge pile of wood chips, I just can't justify the expense of MM. I did fill one bed with it a couple of years ago, however, when they were still selling it premixed at Home Depot, so I am legit (and I bought both books new, so I supported the cause that way, too.) I now have an almost unlimited supply of bamboo for grids, so all I need to do is get my act together, and I think I'm almost there.

The veggie and berry garden area has to be about 90% SFG. This does not take into account the multiple flower beds and large lawns.

My produce garden is 75% in grided SFG beds or a few pot/buckets with Mels Mix. The remaining 25% is a 50' x 1' strip of dirt in a pseudo BTE method with new compost added each year and re-topped with wood chips. The rest of the front and back yards are either grass lawns, or BTE which never need fertilizer.