Square foot gardening.

[chris]

Mines still not filled up - just planted two pumpkins, sweet spud, aubs, erm and harvested a load of turnips - Wow, amazing when they're goal ball size, really hot .. almost like horseradish.

[Davyburns]

Just a thought for planting out a square foot bed. If you make cut some 12" squares from plywood and draw lines at 4" spacing both vertical and horizontal you could drill small holes at the intersection points and you have a template that you can drop you seeds/plants through at the correct spacing. Another board could be made for your 3" spaced seeds/plants.

You could drill all the holes in one board, and colour code them green for 16, blue for 8, yellow for 4 and the hole in the middle

[El Greeno]

Not suitable for me due to my whole back garden (3m x 6m) being paved and west facing, however I will have to point my dad and oldest brother in this direction as it looks like a good system for both of them.

Big Mally, I'm jealous of those beds mate!

[Patchninja]

TO be honest - it's over-complicating things to say you need a template to plant a 12" square! Just plant 1 / 4 / 5 or whatever. you really can't get it wrong. 12" is a tiny space!

[Suky]

To be honest I haven't worried too much about spacing either. I just plant things If the recommended spacing is 5 to a square and I have 6 then they just have to squash up a bit.

I have just harvested my onions which took up 5 squares dotted around the bed and have had a really good harvest, 36 white and red, with some pulled small 'cos I needed an onion!

I hadn't planned to grow brassicas in this bed because they take up so much space but I did pop in a couple of small cabbage. They were flanked by onions and garlic on most sides and they had absolutely no caterpillars and the cabbages hearted up beautifully. My broccoli on the other hand, in another bed are inundated with the little beggars and I have an egg squash fest most days to try and keep them clear. Next year I will plant onions in with my brassicas and see what happens.

[Bigmallly]

One veg I have been impressed with is sweetcorn. I didn't expect them to perform after previous chats. I put 4 to a square and are now approx 3 foot tall & really healthy. 4 swede to a foot is too much, next year I think I will also leave brassicas out of the SFG. Brilliant for beetroot, leeks, onions & garlic so far. Flowers inter mixed must have been beneficial. Cheers Snadge for that tip last year.

[chris]

Hmmm, so yeah.. the two pumpkins I Put in there.. wow! They do grow large don't they? I'd planned on running them along the sides of the bed, but the vines have split into two, and have started to take over the bed Next time, I'll put them in the middle of the bed, along the sides I think incase it happens again. Quite pleased with it, bar digging down and finding cat poo in it - so will have to protect it next time around I think.

Have harvested a lot, but I think my PSB is too large for them (didn't help that I sowed 5 to a square, thinned out now, but one is leaning over the radichicco stuff now - a perfect place for slugs to hide on and munch my leafs!!). The leaning one is spearing, so i'm looking forward to having that lightly steamed.

[Nordmead]

i know its a bit early but i've just planned my square foot garden just need to know a few things

first thing would be are the spacings correct?

ive also read that you shouldn't plant tomatoes near sweetcorn i read somewhere else it was because the get attacked by "the same worm" would this be tomato horn worm? and if so what can i do to prevent it?

finally, can anyone recommend pea seed or yellow onion sets? (ive looked at Sturon and Stuttgarter)

[katholicos]

i know its a bit early but i've just planned my square foot garden just need to know a few things

first thing would be are the spacings correct?

ive also read that you shouldn't plant tomatoes near sweetcorn i read somewhere else it was because the get attacked by "the same worm" would this be tomato horn worm? and if so what can i do to prevent it?

finally, can anyone recommend pea seed or yellow onion sets? (ive looked at Sturon and Stuttgarter)

I'm just wondering how you will tend to each of the square foot growing areas because you don't seem to have left yourself a pathway and generally speaking raised beds should not be walked on. Ideally you want to be able to access all of the squares in your bed

[Nordmead]

its not really a bed its just part of the garden i should be able to have a foot or so between each row hopefully

[Patchninja]

Nordmead, that's not a SFG. It's not just a case of using your veggie patch and dividing it up into squares. You need to get a book on the subject to understand the principle. The idea isn't to have 50000 squares on an allotment. It's to have 1 or 2 squares, divided to 9 or 12 squares near to the house so you keep an eye on it and grow small quantities in quick succession. It's also for those of us who don't have the space you have to grow in a traditional way. From the looks of your plan, you have a biggish plot.

[Bigmallly]

If you have a 10' x 7' area, I would make 2 beds each 10' x 3' with a path down the middle. Assuming you can walk around the beds, it will still give you 60 squares to grow in.

[Nordmead]

If you have a 10' x 7' area, I would make 2 beds each 10' x 3' with a path down the middle. Assuming you can walk around the beds, it will still give you 60 squares to grow in.

good idea dunno why i didnt think of that

[Bigmallly]

Thought I would raise this from the grave...................I'm surprised at the lack of update pics so thought I would post some myself. As we are well into the season & is my first year with this method, I would just like to say I have found it perfect for the small garden & also the small family. I would imagine it would be a chore on a Lottie or a substantial garden plot. These pics were taken this evening.

[Patchninja]

Looking lovely, Bigmally.