Square Foot Gardening (Merged Thread)

2cats1kid

Yeah, I'm definitely going to put a grid on, if for no other reason than stopping things like salad leaves "bleeding" into the next bed when I sow them.

If that cane thing works the way I'm picturing it, then I like that idea a lot.

I will ultimately have 4 beds of 3x3 squares. Maybe 5, but that depends on taking a tree out, so that's further off. So I'm thinking in terms of having 36 squares available. Now if I grow 36 things with one square each I am less likely to repeat a crop, but I know my family uses lots of onions, carrots and broccoli, so I will have multiple squares of those crops and that will increase the chances of them going into the same spaces. I think this may just be a case of going with the flow and seeing how it pans out on the rotation thing - should be interesting anyway.

I am so sad - I keep going out into the garden to admire my veggie beds LOL.

JenniO

Rotation is a tricky one and this being our first year haven't had to really face that either. We have kept one 'bed' as our brassica bed and simply pulled everything out reasonably within a space of a few weeks last early spring as our first attempt at brassicas didn't take off but we did replace the soil with fresh mix and saved and re used that soil on other things. Its that club root that scares me the most! Same bed - different soil. Worked for us.

2cats1kid

Yay, back from a few days holiday and the turnips are up, and so are the swedes. No sign of the carrots yet, and despite my best efforts the cats have been at the carrot squares, so when they come up they won't be in nice rows like my turnips are. I put 2 seeds in each hole, but needn't have really as it looks like they have all come up. The squares look great, but I really do need to put a permanent grid down to make them extra fabby.

2cats1kid

OK, just popping in with the next development.

The rosemary cuttings worked to keep the cats off up to a point, and then their effectiveness started to wear off, so then I used canes, except now I need them for my runner beans. So looking for a better solution, I sent DH out to Homebase for some chicken wire to put over the top. He came back with this stuff called grass protection mesh - it's basically a plastic grid that you put on your grass to protect it if you are going to park a car on it. It is £15 for a 5m x 1m roll, which sounds a lot, but my beds are 1m x 1m so it will do all 5 of the beds I am planning, at £3 a pop, and will probably last forever, so not as bad as it sounds. I've secured it along one side of the square with U shaped nails (they probably have a real name LOL, but hopefully you know what I mean), and it just rests on the opposite side. I've put one cane across the middle to give it a bit of support half way between the two sides it's resting on, and when the plants get a bit bigger so the cats won't use the bed as a litter tray it can roll up and get tucked behind the raised bed for the next time I plant the bed up. Haven't worked out what to do when I have seeds in one bit and big plants in another bit, LOL, but it could even conceivably be cut into 3 strips of 1m x 33cm to protect some bits of the bed and not others.

Hope this helps someone.

BigDonut

I'm thinking of trying a bit of sfg.

Have a small area available at the back of flats that is shared with everyone else but hoping if I only do a small 1m x 1m noone will mind.

Question is, is it too late to start planting anything now?
Also I've read stuff about sfg but I can't tell if the boxes you build should have a base on them or not. Should they?

Many thanks

2cats1kid

Mind don't. Don't think they "should" as I've seen examples where people have just plonked them on top of existing grass etc.

I've been looking at companion gardening, and wondering instead of making a permanent fixed grid, whether making my grid lines from marigold, chives etc. would work. That way I'd have them there protecting, the grid lines would be there, and it might look quite pretty too. Whaddya all reckon?

Oh, and as for the PP's question, I've just put out swiss chard, spinach and spring onions, so there are things you can do now. You can put in broad beans for an early spring crop too, if you get the right variety.

Larumbelle

I think it depends how deep you are building the beds - unless they are fairly deep you'd probably need to put them straight on the soil. If you do that be careful of weeds - I have had dandelions force their way up through 18 inches of growing medium :eek:

2cats, I would say be careful of marking out your grid lines with other plants - some of the spacings are fairly tight already and you'd be amazed how far marigolds and chives spread their roots! Also remember that chives spread outwards in clumps, and that wile they are beneficial to some plants, they are an allium and some plants hate them too.
I marked my grid using wire and those u shaped nails (yeah I've no idea what they're called either!) I had an extra few inches down one side so I'm using that for companion plants as well as the odd radish.

2cats is right about what you can grow now. You could also grow some radish and lettuces for nice late salads?!

2cats1kid

OK, I'll go back to the original plan. I was just visualising a nice bright orange grid in my patch - and it looked great in my mind's eye.

I've got my third box in place now, but no compost or owt in it. That's my next job.

BigDonut

2cats, I should have clarified that I was going to put it on an existing raised bed that has been overgrown for the last few years.

I've cleaned it up and trimmed back the hedge that it on the back of it.
Since its not been used by anyone for so long I think it will be ok for me to use it.

As far as depth goes, I've got various bits of wood I can use. Possibly 12 inches. Would that be deep enough to include a base?

Also regarding wood to use. I have som mdf...would that be ok for use?
Some of the other stuff I have is varnished...would it be ok?

planning to make it only 2ft deep and either make teo of them 2ft by 2ft or make one 4ft by 2ft.

Not a fan of radishes but do like good lettuce so will def. try some
WAs hoping to do some carrots and potatoes too. Is it too late?

2cats1kid

I put in some carrots a couple of weeks ago - I think they were called Autumn King or similar. They may still be ok to go in?