Square foot gardening.

[BertieFox]

I have regularly grown potatoes, using one tuber per square foot, and it works fine. The main problem is finding a way of 'earthing up' which is difficult in the confined space. The easiest way is just to pile compost or soil from another part of the garden (or bought in... eg mushroom compost) around each plant, or you can use straw. The only problem with straw is that it shifts around a bit and lets light in so some of your tubers might get touched with green, which makes that part poisonous. I think it is still a very productive and high yield per space way of growing potatoes though.
I haven't tried it, but I would think growing them through black plastic would be perfect except for the little slimy things which might find their way under it to munch the spuds.

[Bigmallly]

Good thought Paulie but like AP says, it's the foliage that would cover more than a square foot. Unless you could use a stake & string maybe. Even then they would be quite tall I would think.

[Aberdeenplotter]

at ground level, that may be ok but spuds through up leaf growth that needs a huge lot more space that 1ftx1ft.

[Paulieb]

Has anyone tried including potatoes in sfg. I'd guess max 1 spud per square.

Only negative I can think of is would the new spuds grow under adjacent squares?

[Sylvan]

Saw this and thought of you...

PVC Watering Grid.

[Patchninja]

Bigmally, your beds are looking fab. I find my nasturtiuma seem to drape over he edges ofnthe beds. PerhapsnI haveba droopy variety....

[veggiechicken]

I like that ^^^. Looks a lot simpler to manage than having 100 squares. What happened to the rhubarb? EDIT just read the answer at http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1077150

[Bigmallly]

I always have nasturtiums - very pretty!

Funny you should mention Nasturtiums Patch, I have just marked out the bed 1'x2' rectangles, I think they are going to be more manageable. There are about 100 Nasturtium seeds dropped from last year but I'm just gonna dig them in if they appear as they took over last year and dwarfed some of the veg............

[Patchninja]

I always have nasturtiums - very pretty!

[Bigmallly]

You may be onto sommat there as Leeds colours are yellow, white & blue.................maybe not..

[veggiechicken]

Something white would be good too .....white cornflowers?
EDIT - Ignore that ^^^. You wouldn't be able to plant 3 colours symmetrically enough to keep you happy

[Bigmallly]

So now I've got to go looking for cornflower seeds, anything else whilst I'm out there?...........

[veggiechicken]

I knew you would go with the opposite of whatever I suggested - but you've reasoned it out and it sounds like a good plan You could mix Marigolds and blue cornflowers -that would look stunning

[Bigmallly]

Decision made. I'm going with 1 down the middle & 24 across the bed...............My reasoning?........well, due to my dodgy back I was thinking I could have the same crop from the edge to the middle rather than have 2 different ones & leaning over one to get to the other, my 2nd thought is to have a row of marigolds either side of the middle line (so that's 48 plants, 1 in each square) reducing the reaching distance even more.....plus it'll look pretty...........

[veggiechicken]

I've "planted" my kitchen floor tiles in different layouts and concluded that it might be better to have 3 down the middle! Then you could plant the inner rectangles with taller plants or those that are in situ for longer, and plant the outer rectangles with lower growing or quick maturing plants that need more attention. All purely hypothetical and I know I'll get the blame whatever you do!