If push comes to shove...?

Lotus-eater

I've made lots of vodka and gin fruit drinks the last few years, but all my beer making turns out to not be so tasty not sure what I keep doing wrong, but it never tastes good.

I should make fruit wine, but I never seem to find the time.

GreyQueen

I borrowed a library book on this a few months ago. The basic idea is that you make square plots, 4 foot by 4 foot and divide the square into 16 1 foot patches with string or something and plant different things in each square. Some larger plants like squash would have 4 squares to themselves (one-quarter of a bed). The idea is to avoid overcropping ,to garden manageably in a small area. I'm not ready to fulfill my long-term lottie plan to have edged beds as I'm working through a horror-scape of trash and couch grass (getting there one forkful at a time;)). It looks like something I will try in the future but has anyone on the forum done it so far? I'd be interested to hear the pros and cons. If nothing else, it's very attractive!

GreyQueen

Rummer wrote: »

We got all our home brewing equipment from freecycle so it didn't cost a penny to set up. We are also lucky to have a specialist brewers shop within traveling distance. My OH has had some success with his home made wine and we made full use of the brambles when they were out. Mind you sadly it doesn't last long as we gave a lot to friends as gifts.

Hello Rummer, I have a lovely friend like you who gave me some of her sloe gin for Christmas. It's lovely to share, but I'll have to get myself organised and make my own in the autumn. It goes down far too quickly........hic!

RAS

GreyQueen wrote: »

I borrowed a library book on this a few months ago. The basic idea is that you make square plots, 4 foot by 4 foot and divide the square into 16 1 foot patches with string or something and plant different things in each square. Some larger plants like squash would have 4 squares to themselves (one-quarter of a bed). The idea is to avoid overcropping ,to garden manageably in a small area. I'm not ready to fulfill my long-term lottie plan to have edged beds as I'm working through a horror-scape of trash and couch grass (getting there one forkful at a time;)). It looks like something I will try in the future but has anyone on the forum done it so far? I'd be interested to hear the pros and cons. If nothing else, it's very attractive!

mel Bartholomew

Personally, it is a great idea and I mix it into my beds so I grow small quantities of lots of things, almost on a square foot basis for the things that needs reat sowing, not things like potatoes and onions.

He is an engineer and the construction side of things has always struck me as rather unnecessary.

GreyQueen

RAS wrote: »

mel Bartholomew

Personally, it is a great idea and I mix it into my beds so I grow small quantities of lots of things, almost on a square foot basis for the things that needs reat sowing, not things like potatoes and onions.

He is an engineer and the construction side of things has always struck me as rather unnecessary.

I'm entirely in agreement about "big" crops such as potatoes and row crops which I like to be able to get up and down with my trusty hoe, but I fancy having some edged beds for the fiddly little things which are so easy to step on. or maybe I'm just clumsy......:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

I`ll jump on this sqare foot idea greyqueen. I have 2 tall triangular raised beds in my back garden and it is a sun trap. Each bed is 8 sq feet and they are just about full enough to get going this year, I`ll just pop some manure soil conditioner in each and they will be good to go. Carrots will do well unprotected as they are too high for the pesky fly and I`ll be putting parsley, chives and thyme in. Lettuces obviously and now this is where I get a bit stuck. What else? oh radish. tbh, I could do with a list as I`m not that good re small raised bed gardening yet

I just googled and there is plenty of info on the net particularly on utube. It looks as though all the sq foots are kept separate by vinyl strips. That isn`t going to do for me and I think I have only about 6 usable sq feet in each box. Mmm maybe some tall tomatoes and so on

RAS

Hi

As I said before, Mel is an engineer and tends to go for hard material design. I do not bother with any marking out, except maybe a twig to draw lines on the ground to give me a clue on distribution of seeds. Still use the basic idea though.

There is quite a good little leaflet on the Garden Organic web-site - the school/education resources section.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I have been thinking about buying hubby a beer making kit...

does anyone know how much it works out per pint to make?

Lotus-eater

Depends on the price of the kit you buy

The basics you need are a fermenting plastic tub, a pressure barrel and the beer kit itself. Then a few other little bits such as sterilising powder or liquid.

That's about it, the quality and cost of the beer kit makes a difference as well.

dreaming

I sort of used the square foot principle last year by accident. I had only just moved in May and wanted to get some stuff growing. I bought Linkabord raised beds a half metre square but then divided them into 4 and grew salad stuff in them (radish/spring onions/cut&come again lettuce and herbs). I started one of beds off like that then sowed the other a couple of weeks later which meant I had successional sowing without having too much for one person. I will try something similar but hope to expand the range. I am hoping to get some patio fruit trees to go with my blueberries, raspberries (rescued from garden centre sale) and strawberries.
I have the book (present last year) but much prefer Carol Klein's Grow your Own Veg. I also had a really good book about growing veg. in containers but it seems to have got lost and I can't remember the name of it. If anyone can suggest a title?