Tag Archives: square foot gardening

Wild Thing

After 7 weeks, it has become pretty clear that I did not give my garden enough space. While my father has always told me that plants grow better when they’re closer together, I think my makeshift square-foot method was too close.

Case in point:

It’s outta control!

The zucchini squash and cantaloupe in front have just started growing under the netting fence. Due to some recent rough winds from a storm, the tomatoes are all leaning precariously forward. The netting fence doesn’t seem to be doing much good at this point! Although maybe it’s keeping the deer and rabbits at bay? I’ve seen plenty of each in our yard, but none of the plants appear to be chewed up or missing from our garden (would I even notice at this point? If they were just nibbling here and there??)

Oh well, even it if looks a bit unruly, the veggies are growing! Tomatoes are cropping up, a few cucumbers are tucked under the leaves, and, what I’m most excited about… a cantaloupe! A baby melon on the vine!

Wahoooooo! I rationalized that if I got one edible melon out of this plant, it’ll have paid for itself, haha!

Vegging Out – Part II

I have finally taken the leap & planted my veggies in the ground! Eek! I know it sounds silly, but this was kind of a big deal for me, mostly because I have an uneasy feeling that every deer within a 10 mile radius is going to feast like there’s no tomorrow. And I’ll be left with a bed full of half-chewed leaves.

But anyways, let’s get to how it went down. First, I chose the area that I wanted to use, then Tom & I cleared it. I loosely referenced square-foot gardening guides, and decided to try a 3×6 area:

clearing the future garden space of leftover straw from the grass seeding

Tom used the end of a shovel to section off the area, and then we began digging up the grass. We added 4 bags of topsoil and mixed in 1 bag of manure. We bought the cheapest topsoil and manure we could find at Lowe’s (the brand is Gardener’s Pride). Once it was spread around to our satisfaction, we drew 1×1 foot lines in the soil with the edge of our shovel so I could break down plant placement within each square.

1×1 foot sections — ready for planting!

I lined up my plants, and once they were in the right spot, in the ground they went! Here’s a shot of the final product (before we draped them in netting to keep the critters out):

the finished product

I won’t insult your design-savvy eyes with the rudimentary Microsoft Word table I drew of the bed plantings. Just know that I have it for reference 🙂  Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we’ll be reaping in crops of tomatoes, green bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, cantaloupe and strawberries!

Have you ever tried square-foot gardening? What was your experience like?