Square Foot Garden Part Deux

So we figured that we needed to do an update on our Square Foot Garden.

After about a month or so the garden was looking very good and healthy. The snails really seemed to like it and wouldn't stay out of it. So I had to purchase some snail killer which really slowed them down.

In this picture you can see that everything has sprouted and is doing well. You can barely see the 8 (of 18) spinach plants that the snails or grasshoppers have not completely clipped off yet. The lettuce never sprouted.

The bell pepper (front left) is looking healthy and strong. A little after this photo was taken, the top half of it got nearly cut off by some stupid bug that just chewed half way through the stem. It even had 2 tiny little peppers starting to form.



BEHOLD!!! The FRUIT of our labors. This was the first harvest from the garden.





Shortly after we got our first crop (yes the single cherry tomato) the Bakersfield summer decided to arrive. And arrive it did with 108-112 °F temperatures for more than a week straight. It pretty much finished off the peas. The tomatoes were doing ok and had a few more tomatoes on them. The pumpkin and zucchini both looked sick, and the carrots never got more than an inch tall, but the corn seemed to like it. It would put on as much as an inch or more of growth a day. The weather cooled down (100-105 °F) and things looked like they may still have a chance. The zucchini was looking good finally. Then we left to Utah for a baby shower and the temps jumped back up.


The peas all died. The zucchini killed over. The pumpkin gave up the ghost. The bell pepper never came out of its coma. The poblano pepper produced 1 tiny little pepper the size of a silver dollar (if that). The corn has some tiny miniature ears on it (about the size of those little salad sized ones). The cucumbers keep making little cucumber buds that then shrivel up. The cantaloupe is about the same (the ants seem to like farming aphids on it though). All in all we collected about a dozen cherry tomatoes, 4 Park Whopper tomatoes, and 4 snap peas; but boy howdy were they tasty (which they should be at close to $10 a piece). So as you can see from the photo, we can't be held down, and are re-planting peas and zucchini to see if fall gardening works better. We will triumph over nature!!!

Signs of Life

Woohoo! The heat (triple digits during the day) plus lots of water seems to be working. We planted the garden last Thursday night and today is Tuesday (5 days exactly) and we have sprouts. The corn, the zucchini, and one tiny little spinach plant have all sprouted. There wasn't anything poking through last night either. After I mowed the lawn we checked on the garden and got our hopes up, but it was just stray grass clippings. But today the corn is an inch tall, and the zucchini has definitely pushed through the dirt. The spinach looks very delicate still. Now I hope the heat and sun doesn't kill the little sprouts.

The zucchini is also about an inch and a half tall.

The planting method is to put 4 corn plants in one box. Here you can see 2-3 plants in each location, which will need to be thinned down to 1 per spot.

Quin's Garden

For quite awhile now, we have been wanting to put in a garden. We have debated on where to put it, which trees/shrubs will need to be ripped out, how big will it need to be, etc. Well when Natalie went up to Women's Conference her dad introduced her to "Square Foot Gardening". Square Foot Gardening was developed by a Civil Engineer as a means to condense the traditional garden by 80%. The condensed gardens can then be planted in urban areas with little space and used in developing countries where resources are limited. Since I do not want to dig up my back yard I decided to give this gardening technique a try.

First I scouted out a lovely spot next to the fence where earlier Natalie removed a stump by herself with only a shovel. Then it was off to Lowe's for the box and dirt materials. After a FEW phone calls later to Garth (Natalie's dad) on where to find everything and how much and of what, we were off. We slowly put it all together (in the dark after dinner) over a few days. So far it has been quite fun and very easy.

Here are our results thus far:

We used 2 x 8's for the box.

Here's Natalie teaching the baby how to use a rake. You have to instill a strong work ethic in your child labor force while they are still young and can't revolt. (Note the dark grainy pictures. Once again we built it in the dark and the camera was left in Utah, so we had to use the cell phone.)

We used old cardboard boxes for a weed barrier.

The ingredients for Mel's Mix (1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite), or the dirt for the garden.

The vermiculite and peat moss are very dusty when they are dry so I got to wear this fashionable dusk mask (I think it brings out my eyes).

The finished "dirt" is very loose and easy to work. It stays moist all day and drains extremely well at the same time.

A five gallon bucket and tarp are all that is needed to mix everything together.

We used 1 1/8-in lattice for the grid.

We planted a few starts and seeded the rest. The biggest threat to our garden now is the snails and the 100°+ heat.

The hardest thing about the whole process was deciding what to plant and where to plant it. So I made a sketch of the garden.

The cost of the "dirt" is a bit scary ($142.87 with all the parts and pieces--Yikes). The creator of Square Foot Gardening says you don't ever have to replace it though. It just keeps producing year after year.

*note from Nat: In case the socks and sandals didn't tip you off, Quin made a graph and a table to inform you of his engineer/nerd factor.