Square foot gardening.

[Lumpy]

In the £ shop you can get loads of the skinny green canes (I think there's 20 in a bag) so I just use 2 in a cross pattern to hold them in place.
I also use the 1 ltr plastic bottles for smaller plants in the same way.

[monkeyboy]

So I spent yesterday transplanting the remaining veg - celery, cauliflower, broccoli (calabrese), and sowed one square of radish and one of lettuce. I had to change the layout around because it's a bit more awkward to get the middle back squares once the frame and netting is in place.

Somehow, I managed to forget to germinate any courgette so I sowed some seeds and hoped for the best.

My peas are doing okay. One of the aubergine leaves has been nibbled at in the twelve hours since I removed the plastic cloche. Garden pearl toms are flowering nicely. The moneymaker and gardener's delight toms are still growing in growbags (not in the SFG as originally planned), a few flower buds starting to form.

Potato leaves are growing rapidly and I've earthed them up twice in two weeks.

[monkeyboy]

Mid-year update:

I need to rethink my layout and choice of veg to grow in SFG.

1. Radishes - french breakfast - came out small and thin (like a green chilli), small and brown (like a date), or otherwise deformed. The one radish that came out the right size and colour had been nibbled at by something.

2. Spinach - doing okay

3. Lettuce - slugfest.

4. Kale - didn't really grow as overshadowed by broccoli

5. Calabrese - doing surprisingly well. But taking up more than one square foot each.

6. Courgette - never got beyond shoot stage. Then again, it was sown directly in the ground.

7. Celery did well but stayed short at 6" tall.

8. Calendula - didn't germinate

9. Onion and garlic - did well albeit small but need to get proper bulbs and sets. The garlic was grown from supermarket bulbs, and the onions were from a mix bundle of sets I was given.

10. Carrots - didn't germinate

11. Aubergine - initially grew well to 6" tall but nothing thereafter. Most leaves have been eaten, presumably by slugs.

12. Mangetout - should have sown directly in the ground. They were fine in the propagator but didn't really use the supports I had set up once transplanted.

13. Garden pearl - don't want to grow bush toms again - too much spread.

14. Gardeners delight and moneymaker. Grown in separate pots but they need something more solid than a blowaway. The moneymaker plants had fallen over in the storm we had, so their roots were disrupted.

15. Padron and jalapeno peppers - not very successful this year compared to last year and I'm not sure why.

[monkeyboy]

I've removed the broccoli plants as the second mini-broccoli were largely consumed by slugs. Annoying when I'd bought Nemaslug and had applied it twice now. Hopefully there will be more nutrients for the other veg.

The lettuce had bolted so I just dug them out.

Calendula now growing well. I really should have sown these much earlier in the year.

Cauliflower - there's a small head with a few florets but the leaves have almost been completely destroyed - the main rib and veins are there but the body of the leaves have been eaten. Look like skeleton leaves.

Aubergine - one plant was decimated by slugs. The other one has now flowered.

[monkeyboy]

I need to plan again for this year. I've already sown garlic last month.

Things I do not wish to grow again this year (I may try next year):
- radishes, lettuce, spinach, cauliflower

Things I will grow again this year:
- calabrese, kale, courgette, carrots, garlic, onion, toms, jalapenos, padrons

Not sure about:
- aubergine (a lot of work for not much), celery (small and weedy), mangetout (didn't pick early enough)

Still thinking of a plan and layout. Any advice would be welcome.

[fivequidnote]

how long, how wide and what orientation are you square foot beds monkeyboy?

[Scarlet]

how long, how wide and what orientation are you square foot beds monkeyboy?

See post #784 ( I think!) there are photos of his set up.

[monkeyboy]

Fallen behind

I was going to post this in SFG thread but that looks like it's been archived.

I think similar towards the end of last year, I've been incredibly busy this year with work and home life and very little time for the garden.

Good points
Garlic - planted out in December; doing well. Flowers are starting to develop.
Onions - again, doing reasonably well
Sweetcorn - growing well, the bushy top flowery things have developed
Potatoes - growing in buckets really well despite my lack of watering
Calabrese - the calabrese that's outdoors have started to make the little bud that develops into calabrese

Bad points
Calabrese - I didn't get a chance to plant them all out. There are some still in small pots in the propagator and they're in need of transplanting and feeding.
Padron peppers - again, need a larger pot. These have the whitefly things on them that they had last year. Not doing well.
Celery - again, turning light green and pale due to lack of space, feed and water.
Tomatoes -still indoors, need larger pots and feeding; flowers developed and I spotted a tomato growing last night.
Carrots - seem to be growing okay in a container.

Will they catch up once transplanted into their final positions with feed and water?

Really bad
Strawberry plants - the flowers have developed and are turning into green strawberry bud things but they're getting damaged or eaten or something. I need netting over them. One plant has turned brown and I don't know why.
Blueberry plants - still small and hasn't grown much.

[veggiechicken]

Monkeyboy - I've moved the SFG thread back and merged your post so you can post on it now.

[monkeyboy]

Update. A difficult year as some family issues and work issues meant I wasn't able to look after the plants as much as last year. Less watering and less feeding.

SFG:

Garlic - I probably left to grow for too long and should have cut off the flowers that had developed. The bulbs were much smaller.

Onions - some reasonable sized onions, others were very small. No pattern but I suspect 9 per square is too many. I will reduce to 4 per square next year.

Sweetcorn - grew well but I didn't get a chance to harvest apart from one cob. Was small but reasonably formed and tasty.

Celery - small. Not sure why. I may give up trying to grow these next year.

Calabrese - grew well but time constraints meant I didn't harvest when I should have and flower buds were opening. Tasty. Will grow again.

Containers:

Potatoes - some better sizes than last year but again, probably overcrowded. One seed potato per container next year.

Padron peppers - no flowers. Poor growth.
Jalapenos - as above. Think they need a minigreenhouse or similar for warmth.

Tomatoes -better now they're in self-watering containers. I didn't feed as often as I should have. Again, needed warmth which we lacked this year.

Carrots - small. Overcrowded. Will try again in larger containers, different medium, less densely packed.

Strawberry plants - a few berries but not many. Will see what happens next year.

Blueberry plants - still small and hasn't grown much. No fruit for year 1.

[veggiechicken]

Which of these ^^^ are you growing in SFG and which are in containers/ground?

[monkeyboy]

Which of these ^^^ are you growing in SFG and which are in containers/ground?

Edited. I have been using this thread as a personal log to track what's happening rather than use a separate blog thread.

[veggiechicken]

Its best to keep to SFG posts on this thread as it can be confusing otherwise - especially for newcomers to SFG who use it for advice.

[rary]

I have been considering trying THE SFG method myself, I have been reading Bartholomew's book but I have doubts about the recommended spacings like 16 onions into one square and I note the m.b thinks 9 per square is too many so will have to rethink on what system I will use

[Martin H]

I have been considering trying THE SFG method myself, I have been reading Bartholomew's book but I have doubts about the recommended spacings like 16 onions into one square and I note the m.b thinks 9 per square is too many so will have to rethink on what system I will use

9 onions per square works fine for me.