Everything Is Sacred

Square Foot Gardening (My new obsession)

// May 9th, 2009 // Gardening

I promise that I started gardening before the Obama’s did…

So for some strange reason this year I decided I wanted to grow a vegetable garden.  Last year I started growing my own herbs and loved it.  I also attempted half-heartedly to grow a bell pepper plant that I bought for transplanting.  It lasted all of a week before some critter (probably a possum) dug up the poor little plant and ate it.  This year, around February or so, I decide I wanted to grow more.  As is usual with me, it started off with a small idea, and the more I read and learned, the more I decided to do.

If I were to do it over today, I would have decided to use a different border material, probably cedar or some other wood that is more aesthetically pleasing.  As it is, I used concrete blocks to create my first Square Foot Garden bed.  I’m not sure what I read that made me decide to use the SFG method, but I first checked the book out from the library and eventually purchased it.  The method is simple.  You create raised beds and fill them with your own special soil: a combination of vermiculite, peat moss, and compost.  The bed is raised so it is easier to get to, the soil is never compacted by being walked on, and should have relatively few weeds to deal with.  I don’t do many things small, so my first bed is a 4′ x 8′ (twice the recommended size that “Mel”, the author of the book, suggested).

I decided to plant many number of things, including some from transplant and some from seed.  I am keeping track of the progress of every plant using Evernote.  You can check it our or I can just tell you what I’ve planted so far:

Transplant

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Carnival Tomatoes
• Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes
• Sweet Basil
• Mild Jalapeno
• Queen Siam Thai Basil
• Red Sails Lettuce
• Chives
• Italian Parsley
• Thyme
• Asparagus

Seed

• Bush Beans
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Paris Island Romaine Lettuce
• Baby Spinach
• Bell Pepper
• Sweet Banana Pepper
• Green Bunching Onions
• Dill
• Cilantro