Square foot gardening.

[Lumpy]

[QUOTE=TheCyclingProgrammer;1595422]Can I ask anyone here who has grown cucumbers in their square foot garden, how did you support these vertically?

I’m growing them at one end of the 3x6 beds, one in each corner. My first thought was to simply mount some trellis to the end of the bed, or two posts on each side with some netting or trellis between them. When I search for ideas most people seem to have their trellis at an angle - why is this?

Alternatively, I’m wondering if those foldaway bush tomato support frames might be any use? Wilko sell these:

Wilko Tomato Support Cage at wilko.com

What’s the best option?

Similarly for my cordon tomatoes, do I need anything more than a 6ft bamboo cane in the middle of each square and tying the tomato in as it grows or is there a better way of doing it?[/QUOTE

I only grow bush varities of both toms and Q's.
The Q's have a planter each and I shove a short cane in the middle for some support.
Both are also outdoor varieties which mean the Q's tend to have thicker skins.
I think the Wilko idea will work but you'd have to be careful of bushy toms and Q's blocking the light to other squares.

[monkeyboy]

I have no idea if my onions are doing ok. Foliage looks healthy, but the sets still seem quite small and loose in the soil. Is this normal? When do they start to swell and grow?

Mine were like this for ages. Then it snowed. A few sets turned mushy and died. The remainder have been growing reasonably well with long stems.

Similarly for my cordon tomatoes, do I need anything more than a 6ft bamboo cane in the middle of each square and tying the tomato in as it grows or is there a better way of doing it?

When I grew my Gardener's delight last year, I initially used a bamboo cane and tied it with some garden twine. When I transplanted into the raised bed, I used the same tomato support as you linked (mine was from Homebase) and it worked quite well. I plan to do the same again this year.

In other news, I ordered a build-it-yourself aluminium frame and netting from gardening-naturally. I'm not sure how to trim it so it sits neatly, especially as the edges are hemmed:

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Can I ask anyone here who has grown cucumbers in their square foot garden, how did you support these vertically?

I’m growing them at one end of the 3x6 beds, one in each corner. My first thought was to simply mount some trellis to the end of the bed, or two posts on each side with some netting or trellis between them. When I search for ideas most people seem to have their trellis at an angle - why is this?

Alternatively, I’m wondering if those foldaway bush tomato support frames might be any use? Wilko sell these:

Wilko Tomato Support Cage at wilko.com

What’s the best option?

Similarly for my cordon tomatoes, do I need anything more than a 6ft bamboo cane in the middle of each square and tying the tomato in as it grows or is there a better way of doing it?

[chris_m]

Indeed, I currently have;
9 squares of onions
40 of assorted brassicas - calabrese, sprouts, caulis, romanescos, cabbages, summer PSB and the currently cropping PSB
4 of sweetcorn
3 of peas
1 of parsnips
1 of leeks
3 of broad beans
2 of marigolds

In addition, I sowed over the last couple of days;
6 of carrots
2 of parsnips
2 of nasturtuims
2 half-squares of lettuce.

In rootrainers and/or pots to go in when they are up and ready ready there are;
5 squares worth of leeks
5 more brassicas to go in when the PSB has finished.
10 squares worth of runner beans
2 of squashes
2 of courgettes

and finally, for sowing in later weeks;
the other 2 half-squares of lettuces
another 2 half squares of lettuces
3 of leeks
4 of carrots
1 of parsnips

That lot's in a patch roughly 17 feet square, including pathways along the ends of and between the 4 beds.

I've also got more sweetcorn in the back of the greenhouse, to be joined by more runner beans and squashes, two dustbins of parsnips I sowed at the weekend and seven tubs of spuds.

I might need another freezer ;-)

[cuffbertt]

My patch is going quite well so far

17 cloves of garlic over 2 squares, each of which is about 6-8 inches tall.
36 onions over 4 squares which are now 4 inches or so tall.
Half a dozen pea plants over 2 squares, which are just coming through.

It's surprising how much veg you can fit into quite a small space!

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Well the onions seem to be doing okay. I planted one square with little gem lettuce and added a plastic cloche.

I have no idea if my onions are doing ok. Foliage looks healthy, but the sets still seem quite small and loose in the soil. Is this normal? When do they start to swell and grow?

[monkeyboy]

My mangetout has germinated and growing well. Probably a bit too early to transplant outdoors.

[Lumpy]

Here you go MB - this is what I've done.
As I've lost one of my wall baskets (the one thats left is up for my sugar snaps) I've had to rething again my tiny and, yes I mean tiny growing space.
If it works great if not Hey Ho!

[monkeyboy]

I'll be growing my purple mange tout up both sides - across the corners diagonally and be able to move them around if needs be.

I've got some mangetout that I put in seedling pots to start growing before transplanting them out. Hadn't thought that far ahead about pea netting or support. Great idea.

[Lumpy]

I've got a 12in square planter that has had a pound shop solid trellis (cut down a bit as it was too wide) then stapled some old pea netting on it.

I'll be growing my purple mange tout up both sides - across the corners diagonally and be able to move them around if needs be.

SFG also applies to pots in my garden.

[monkeyboy]

Well the onions seem to be doing okay. I planted one square with little gem lettuce and added a plastic cloche.

[monkeyboy]

Can I join in the fun?

I recognise that username from MSE!

The colour coding helps me see what needs sowing when, indoors or outdoors, and when to harvest.

Love the chart idea and it's much better than my plan of marking calendars.

[lolie]

Can I join in the fun? I’ve got a new fruit and veg garden and I’m using the SFG method. Here’s my current plan, subject to some tweaks (maybe swapping the parsnips and chard around):

[ATTACH=CONFIG]77420[/ATTACH]

I’m just using a spreadsheet (Numbers on my Mac and iPad) to track what needs growing when. I tried a few apps but found them all a bit of a faff. My plan looks a bit like this, if anyone wants to copy the format:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]77421[/ATTACH]

The colour coding helps me see what needs sowing when, indoors or outdoors, and when to harvest. It’s not an exact science but it gives me a good idea of what will be in each square when and when there will be some space for intercropping and succession planting.

I think one of the keys to being happy with SFG is being willing to pull plants when they're starting to wane and before they're fully spent. You want as much of your patch at peak production as possible at any given time.

Making sure that there's always something ready to go in the ground whenever you pull something also helps.

Varieties don't matter a whole lot with some stuff, but they matter with things like cabbage and cauliflower - even the dwarf varieties take up a lot of space so you need to ask yourself whether it's worth tying up a square for a prolonged period of time for not much payoff.

The best type of support will depend on what type of tomato you're growing. A determinate which produces large fruit will require something fairly heavy duty. I find that my pepper plants grow to over a metre tall and that I need to give them some support as well.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Can I join in the fun? I’ve got a new fruit and veg garden and I’m using the SFG method. Here’s my current plan, subject to some tweaks (maybe swapping the parsnips and chard around):



I’m just using a spreadsheet (Numbers on my Mac and iPad) to track what needs growing when. I tried a few apps but found them all a bit of a faff. My plan looks a bit like this, if anyone wants to copy the format:



The colour coding helps me see what needs sowing when, indoors or outdoors, and when to harvest. It’s not an exact science but it gives me a good idea of what will be in each square when and when there will be some space for intercropping and succession planting.

Of course it’s early days as there’s not much to plant yet. I’ve got my strawberry bare roots in and have planted out my garlic (Messidrome) and have three different onion sets and some broad bean (aquadulce claudia) seeds to sow this weekend.

I’m not using “mel’s mix”. I first heard about SFG on the QuickCrop website which is where I bought my beds and soil mix. It’s a 50/50 mix of sandy screened topsoil and a good compost. It seems pretty well draining. Because it settled in the beds I topped each bed off with a bag of Miracle Gro vegetable compost and I’m using blood fish and bone as a general purpose slow release fertiliser for anything that needs it.

I’ll add a few scoops of good quality compost to each square whenever I replant. I’m tempted by the Enivirogrind compost that QuickCrop sell, remains to be seen if it’s worth the price (£12 for a 60l bag - twice the price of most composts).

The first year for me is about experimenting and seeing what works and what doesn’t. I’ve had some success with chilli growing so I’m hoping I will get good results outside with the tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers if I choose a good variety. I’d planned to add trellis to the front of the beds to support the tomatoes and cukes but I’m now thinking a thick bamboo cane would be simpler.

I’m looking forward to seeing how it all goes and buying seeds early next year. I’d love to hear which varieties people have had success with using the tighter spacing of SFG. I’ve chosen Flamenco strawberries as I’ve heard everbearing varieties work better in a tight space.

[lolie]

Thanks but very hard for me to do. Part of the reason I want to plan is so that I can create an idiot-proof calendar for me to follow eg what am I doing today/this week? It avoids the entire "when did I do xyz? So when should I do abc?".

You can't really create an idiot-proof calendar at planting time. Mother nature doesn't give a toss about averages, so some of your plants are going to grow faster than average and some will grow slower. When you'll need to do most stuff will be determined by looking at your plants rather than the calendar.

One thing which is worth doing mostly by the calendar is amending your soil. Although the SFG theory is that you plant into perfect soil and amend it after harvest and before reusing the square, few of us use perfect soil. I quickly lose track of when I last fertilised so I need to start writing it down.

First year out, I'd definitely write down any pests/diseases which cause problems. Even though these can vary from one year to the next, your own specific area will be more prone to some than others and it's helpful to start each planting season with whatever you need to combat them already on hand so you can act ASAP (some can destroy a crop in a day).