How Many Square Feet Do You Have?

Just 16 right now, starting out small to see if this works for me, and what I can do, when it works out well I'll expand (I also have another approx 6x6 square that I've been using as a raised bed, not got Mel's Mix in it, but it's where potatoes and such grow).

4 - 4x4 = 64

3- 2x8 = 48

so 112 right now, with plans to add 2-4x12's and maybe another 4x4. ( aiming for 254 square foot by summer 2012)

I have 5 mouths in this house and Mel's recommends 50 square ft per person for canning/storing veggies for later.

~100 at my house and another 60 at my friend's who is ill and needs fresh veggies. Now her daughters visit more for fresh produce :drunken:

jkahn2eb wrote:~100 at my house and another 60 at my friend's who is ill and needs fresh veggies. Now her daughters visit more for fresh produce :drunken:

How wonderful!

All my beds are raised beds made of engineering bricks and mortar built on concrete foundations and are three foot deep to allow me to cope as a disabled gardener .

The whole thing is part of a grander scheme that will see full landscaping
and minimum maintenence of things as disability gets worse .

I'm confessing to 12 off 3x3 , 1 off 4x5 ( almost ) asparagus , 8 off 3 x 3.5 so just over 124 Sq ft

The 12 & 1 off beds are still as genuine local soil but will slowly be changed over as funds become available to buy the materials and the compost is produced .

It's my birthday very soon and I think I'm going to be given four 120 litre bag of insulation grade vermiculite chips and two 10 cubic feet bales of compressed peat.

The new beds ..... 8 off 3 x 3.5 ,are under construction , the builders come back in the morning if the snow has held off .

These are due for a charge of MM to a depth of 18 inches as soon as they are weathered , half filled with earth & a weed membrane is in place .

plantoid wrote:
It's my birthday very soon and I think I'm going to be given four 120 litre bag of insulation grade vermiculite chips and two 10 cubic feet bales of compressed peat.

My husband is the envy of all of our friends because he gave me a compost bin a few years back and I was thrilled!

All the other guys.... ....

(This should only done by trained professionals!)

Began with 16 square feet last spring. Just added a second 4x4 this fall. I found a couple old light fixtures that are about 6" x 3 feet that I'll use next spring, so that's what, about another 3 square feet. I guess that equals 35 square feet, and I think that'll be plenty for me.

2 2x12 = 48
1 4x4 = 16
1 1x4 = 4
1 1.5x12 = 18 (odd size to fit by the drive way - worked well for Eggplants last year

so that would 86

Adding in the next couple of weeks - 4x8 = 32
asparagus bed - 2 x 12 = 24
strawberry bed - 4 x 6 = 24
misc bed - 3 x 8 = 24

and then in Jan/Feb - the big daddy - 4x16 = 64

that just about runs me out of room... so hoping for 168 new squares this year to total out to 254

nothing wrong with odd sizes - 1.5 X anything would be good for lots of things!

Started with a 4x4=16, added another 4x4=16, and converted a 4x8=32, totaling 64. Contemplating another bed, possibly a 3x10, if I could trim a tree back to have more sun upon my new bed. It's funny how you quickly learn a few squares a just not enough!

Rose,
I'm really sure that it's just because gardening gets to be so much fun instead of work with the raised beds, lack of weeds, and phenomenal success with growth. We start off thinking that it would be nice just to have a tomato, squash, and lettuce, and the next thing you know, kohlrabi, gai lan, parsnips, and rutabagas start to look like an adventure! Need more squares!

Janezee
I flipped when you said rutabagas, I love them. Is there any special tips you'd like to pass along?

hehehehehe I've never heard of anyone but Mom flipping for rutabagas!

This is my first year growing them, and I really don't have any secrets. I planted them 4 to a square, and plan to keep tulle over them next year, since cabbage moths found the leaves this year. I don't eat the leaves, but they were having such a party there that I fear their return. I have only two squares, and the second I put in too late to get much growth before frost. They're under a cloche, waiting for longer days. The other square was attacked by slugs early on, and I have two looking good. I haven't harvested yet, because I wanted to see if frost made them sweeter than store bought.
Come to think of it, my beets were SO sweet, even before frost, I should go out there and harvest one just before a hard frost, and the other one right after, and cook them separately at the same time. Ah, a new plan! I'll let you know, since it should be soon.
Thanks for asking, and making me think of the current crop, rather than tomatoes and catalogs and web pages of a hundred independent growers. (dream)

So we're confessing the size of our obsession...

first year I did (2) 4x24
2nd year I added another 4x24
3rd year I added yet another
(although it is actually 3 4x8 beds, still 96 ft)
4th I added 3 4x4 beds

192 + 96 + 96 + 48 = 336

I am not adding any this year.

Another confession. I did check prices at the lumber yard for 2x6 rough cut cedar. At only $5 each, I might need some of that...

790

Jay Bird wrote:790

Well, that's a few LOL

144 providing for my family and friends!

1 4x4 bed this year was planted with strawberries... yum. I am ever hopeful for a bountiful harvest next year... bird netting is ready to go on next spring!

I want one more bed since I lost the one bed to strawberries. I may try a table top garden and see how I like it.

Mark

Rutabagas Rock Janezee! Something about that sweet earthy flavor mashed with butter. It was a childhood sidedish comfort food only served at Thanksgiving. If Mom thought they had the slightest bitterness to it she mashed a potato or two with it and it cut the bite. Can't wait to grow them next year thanks to you mentioning it.

Squat_Johnson said:

I am not adding any this year.

Another confession. I did check prices at the lumber yard for 2x6 rough cut cedar. At only $5 each, I might need some of that...

Well, SJ, this year IS almost over! What about adding more NEXT year?

I have: 8 ~ 4'Lx1'Wx18"D cedar planters
1 Earthbox 3'Lx1'Wx12"D
various circular pots 8" ~ 15" diameters
AND 8'Lx7'W community garden plot with a trellis on one end

Total = 120sq ft?

Not bad for an apartment dweller!

3=4x18
1=4x4

No more . . . until fall!!!

Not bad for an apartment dweller!

Excellent for an apartment dweller. WOW.
I currently have 88 square feet in Mels mix, and am gradually changing over another 200 square feet of raised beds over to mels mix, might not get it all this year though...

12

Right now I have none but I'll be building two boxes at 4ft x 10ft.

That's going to be a lot of squares!

Right now I have a 2 x 23 but hope to add three 2 x 6s = 82

Gonna be working on a school project that will have 232 squares!