Square Foot Gardening Blog

springtime snow

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:30:00 -0500

After a week of beautiful weather and lots of optimism about my newly planted square foot garden we took a beating last night as temperatures dropped and the snow started falling.

This is what I awoke to:

Not sure what the damage is yet but I am glad I have seedlings and containers that I brought indoors.

killer rabbits

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:15:00 -0500

Had a dream that killer rabbits came during the night and ate all my plants. Think I’m going to fortify my square foot garden and build a fence around it this week.

Roma

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:49:09 -0500

Took this close-up picture today and just had to share it. This is a Roma Tomato plant that I started from seed last week. It’s a beautiful sight.

Compost

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:07:58 -0600

Since I started my gardening project last fall I’ve done and learned quite a lot, but the most surprising thing so far has been how much I’ve enjoyed composting. I mentioned this to a few people and got some strange and even worried reactions. I haven’t figured out why seeing the steam rise while feeling the heat coming from the innards of the pile of decomposing waste on a cool morning is so satisfying. But it is.

I just used a large portion of the compost to fill my new garden and it was like reconnecting with an old friend. All those egg shells and carrot peelings along with the grass clippings and leaves that usually linger in the borders were now being put to good use. It was quite therapeutic.

I heard from some of the more enthusiastic folks at the master gardener presentation that there was such a thing as a ‘master composter’. Perhaps that’s something I should look into. I wonder if it pays well…

Here’s a picture of the beauty after she was emptied:

Great day!

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:12:45 -0600

A wonderful and productive day here. The sky is blue, the sun is out and it’s about 65 degrees. Lovely.

I put the soil mixture in the new box last night and watered it thoroughly so I could start planting this morning. The soil mixture is not exactly as prescribed but is pretty close. It’s an approximately equal measure of compost and peat moss with a slightly smaller amount of coarse vermiculite, then finished off with a bag of organic soil mixture (containing compost and peat moss) and all nicely mixed up. I’d guess that it’s about:

40% compost
40% peat moss
20% coarse vermiculite

I had a tough time finding the vermiculite here this week and finally found it at a nearby garden center yesterday. It was only available in small bags and was pretty expensive at $6.99 for an 8 quart bag. Not that I have ever bought it before but I wasn’t expecting it to be that much. Anyway, I got 2 bags to throw in the mix.

The string dividers were also added to split the box into 1 foot squares and I put the PVC frame up along the back edge where the tommies are. Then I added my plants and seeds.

Here’s what it looks like now:

a quick video promoting Jamie Olivers ‘Food...

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:59:13 -0600

a quick video promoting Jamie Olivers ‘Food Revolution’

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution USA

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:54:55 -0600

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution USA:

Join the ‘Food Revolution USA’.

British chef Jamie Oliver is bringing his campaign to get kids eating real, healthy food to the US.

Sign the petition

Collin County Master Gardener Association

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:40:00 -0600

Collin County Master Gardener Association:

more good info for the North Texas gardener. This is a better website than the dcmga

Denton County Master Gardener Association

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:39:00 -0600

Denton County Master Gardener Association:

go info for North Texas gardeners

My first 'Master Gardener' experience

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:27:56 -0600

I attended my first ‘master gardener’ presentation this week. The Denton County Master Gardener Association is putting on a series of seminars and this week the subject was square foot gardening. The guy presenting did a good job and related a lot of the generic square foot gardening information so it was specific to our area here in the North Dallas suburbs.

First the bad news - it turns out that the bargain I thought I had with the scraps of wood for my boxes wasn’t such a bargain after all. I was told not to use wood that had been ‘treated’ as the chemicals can leak into the soil. Not sure what the effects might be but as I’m intending to put food on my family dinner table I thought it best to err on the safe side. I went to Home Depot and bought untreated wood and quickly put my new 4ft by 4ft box together on Thursday evening after work. Ironically the guy at Home Depot told me I should use treated wood because it would last longer and he shrugged of my ‘what about the chemicals getting into my tomatoes argument?’. I guess everyone’s got an opinion.

I also purchased some PVC piping and put together a frame which I’ll run string across for my tomatoes and cucumbers to climb up. It looks a bit wobbly so I just hope it stays upright.

Random thought….I think I was the youngest person at the Master Gardener event and in spite of feeling pretty good about that, I was a little disappointed that there weren’t more from the 25-40 age group. Perhaps we need to start a ‘young gardener’ movement. Who’s with me?

I never thought compost could bring so much joy

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:04:00 -0600

I’ve had a productive and surprisingly relaxing morning in the garden. The weather was pleasant and so I took the opportunity to start cleaning things up and prepping some plants ready for the growing season.

I took a trip to the garden center this week and bought a selection of young plants to get me going. I also have some seeds going to but am hedging my bets by trying out both. I’m starting things out in containers as there is still a chance of frost for a few more weeks here in north Texas so if the weather does turn bad I can bring everything inside.

So far I have a couple of different types of tomato, along with spinach, spring onions, basil, cilantro, parsley, strawberries, and mint. I’ve started seeds for several other vegetables such as carrots, lettuce, broccoli, and cucumber. I’m also going to be planting some flowers (marigolds and nasturtiums are supposed to be good insect repellents) and I also bought some seeds to grow sunflowers which are supposed to grow to around 6 feet tall – should be good entertainment for my girls if nothing else.

Part of my plan for this project is to keep things as cheap as possible so I’m reusing as many containers and things that I already have as I couldn’t see the point in buying plastic pots or fancy kits from the store. I’m using old egg containers and other plastic cartons to start my seeds. I’m particularly proud of my ‘gainer container’ (see picture). I have big hopes for anything that goes in those.

To assemble my ‘square foot gardening‘ frames I found a little corner in the lumber section of my localHome Depot that sells leftover pieces of scrap wood for 51 cents per piece. I took one visit per week and over the course of three weeks I had 2 boxes done for a total of four dollars and eight cents. Beautiful.

The compost is looking good – very good. I’ll soon be using it in my ’square foot’ boxes that I recently assembled. Over the last 6 months I’ve discovered that there’s something oddly satisfying about digging into a compost, turning it over and experiencing the sight and smell of decomposing matter. Weird that it makes me happy – not sure what that’s about but you’ve got to get your kicks where you can.

I’ll leave you with a quote from today. This one comes from my oldest daughter, Della (aged 2yrs 10mths). While helping me transplant a mint plant into a larger container she remarked, “Daddy, I smell toothpaste“.

Suburban gardening project

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:15:41 -0600

I am a passionate yet inept gardener. I am also persistant in my horticultural attempts despite having a horrible track record. Each year I get excited about the propsects of growing my own vegetables and each year I am bitterly disappointed with my failed crops, my diseased plants and my pitiful harvest. I have decided that 2010 is going to be different. The popularity of urban gardening is on the rise and as I live in the ‘burbs I am going to begin my very own suburban gardening project.

A major motivation for doing this are my children. It’s important to me that as they grow up they know where real food comes from and how to grow it. I also want them to be able to taste what fresh, homegrown fruits and vegetables are like. I want to take the food I’ve grown to the kitchen, use it in a meal and then sit down and share it with those I love. My oldest daughter is only two but we already planted cherry tomatoes together this summer and the look of delight on her face as we picked the first few (and only) pieces of fruit from those plants and shared them together was pure magic.

I usually grow fresh herbs, tomatoes, some peppers. I’ve tried growing spinach and eggplant and peas and I have pretty much failed at each one every single time. I have had some success with Basil and Rosemary and use herbs a lot when cooking at home. I mostly blame the weather or the quality of the soil or the local wildlife for my failings but this time I am planning to employ a different strategy.

A little background: I spent much of my childhood summers in England helping my grandfather in his garden. He grew almost everything you could possibly think of and every year he would supply the entire family with fresh produce. I have the strongest memories of pulling ripe, juicy tomatoes straight from the vine in his greenhouse and just eating them. To this day, the scent of a tomato plant sends me back to my childhood and back to my grandfathers garden. He was doing the organic urban gardening thing before anyone had coined the phrase, but to us it was normal.

The Plan: A couple of years ago I discovered Square Foot Gardening but never really put any of the great information from the book it into practice. I recently re-read parts of book and consulted with the website. I am also inspired by some relatively new books that I purchased this year by a couple of my favorite celebrity cooks (Nigel Slater and Jamie Oliver) that are promoting the use of locally grown and home grown vegetables. Another source of fuel for this project is what I consider to be one of the most important books of the last few years, “In defense of Food” by Michael Pollan. If you have any passion for gardening and are concerned about the quality of food we’re consuming this is a must read.

At this point things are looking good. I have the motivation, the inspiration and I have the information I need to be successful. My first step is complete. To make sure I have the best growing conditions next spring I bought a simple compost kit from Home Depot. It’s not elegant but I think it will work. I have been loading it up with leaves, grass clippings, scraps from the kitchen and I have collected coffee grinds from local Starbucks (they have them sitting out by the door in my local Starbucks making it easy to pick up on the way out).

Next steps are to begin preparing the area that I’m going to put the garden and then on to building my own square foot garden boxes. I’ll continue to post updates on my suburban gardening project here and welcome any advice you have to help me make this a success.