Square foot gardening.

[Sylvan]

Saw this and thought of you...

PVC Watering Grid.

[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?

[Aberdeenplotter]

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

[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.

[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]

Earthin up?........never heard of it, just dig a hole with a bulb planter 9" deep add a few chicken pellets & drop yer tattie in the hole, cover & leave.

[BertieFox]

Sorry to disagree with you, Bigmally, but can you really say you don't get lots of tubers turning green doing that? Every time I've never got round to earthin up (and I don't do it for fun as it's damn hard work!) I end up with lots of tubers round the neck of the plants which are turning green. As the 'tubers' are swollen leaf stems, not roots, it seems natural that that should happen.
Any way of avoiding earthing up or keeping light out and I'd love to know but I've been gardening for almost 40 years and have found it to be necessary over and over again.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Bertie, I'm a long in the tooth gardener as well. I've found that some varieties are worse than others for throwing tubers out of the ground which then become green. In a sfg set up, the shaws (perhaps haulms to you)will perhaps be packed so tightly as to keep out the light?

[Sheneval]

Earthin up?........never heard of it, just dig a hole with a bulb planter 9" deep add a few chicken pellets & drop yer tattie in the hole, cover & leave.

BM - If this works for you I might give it a try over part of my plot - my main advisor on the allotment curses the time, sweat and effort involved in earthing up to such an extent he is reducing the numbers to be planted this year. What type are you growing?

I would like to grow Rooster and Sarpo because of their Blight resistance.

[Bigmallly]

I'm growing King Edwards saved from last years harvest. I did not earth up at all last year however I did cover with straw when frost was forecast & left it there until ready to lift. Maybe that helped.

[Paulieb]

After scrapping 6+ inches of snow off my raised bed I've just measured and its 4'6 by 6'11. So I'm planning my first square foot adventure for this year. Planning 24 squares, so will it make much difference if the squares are 13*13 or 14*14. I guess I'll just need to make sure each square is 'full' to limit weed growth?

[Bigmallly]

It shouldn't make any difference Paulie, my squares.......... are gonna be 1'x2' this year.........

[Sheneval]

I'm growing King Edwards saved from last years harvest. I did not earth up at all last year however I did cover with straw when frost was forecast & left it there until ready to lift. Maybe that helped.

Ta much

[BertieFox]

I guess the main difference here (with tubers going green) is in variety. Bigmally says he grows King Edwards which are a late variety with lots of dense foliage (I think... don't grow them myself) while I grow earlies which have sparse (relatively) foliage which dies back early on, exposing the tubers to the summer light. I must try a late variety and see how that goes. I will cover my earlies with straw this year.

[rabbit]

Hmm. I think I'll try this this year. I have four 6ftx3ft beds and I'll try on two or three I think. I have lots of flowers to interplant so I think it'll be pretty.

I have good (heavy) clay soil, the area has been a veg plot for years (not by me, I've just moved) but I hope not too much has leached out of the soil as it was empty except for weeds last growing season.

I wonder how many sunflowers I could get in each square?
Are summer squash equivalent to courgette in the scheme? How about winter squah?
I'll put little trellises up to try and contain them I think.

Now, need to buy some string, try and scrounge some water pipe or electrical pipe for cloches (pidgeons, cats, deer and slug-o-rama round here) and to work out which is north.

Also, I've read this whole thread and I'm very tempted to add sweetcorn to my already stupid list of seeds I've bought.