The problem with most of my hobbies which ultimately leads to their being put on the back burner is that I bite off way more than I can chew. Gardening is no exception. Why plant one tomato plant when you can have ten? Each year, I plant all sorts of things in quantities that would impress the local farmer’s market. It all goes very well until the weeds get the best of me and then the only thing I get out of my garden is whatever the weeds and bugs graciously allow to live.
A couple of years ago, I learned about a concept called Square Foot Gardening which forces you to only plant a certain number of plants in each square foot. The garden is further limited to two feet across so that you don’t have to reach further than two feet in any direction. It is a raised bed system and walking on the garden bed is absolutely forbidden so that the soil stays nice and loose and full of happy worms. I am here to tell you it works amazingly well.
Chad and I built the beds using railroad ties (forbidden due to their being treated but oh well, rules shmoolz). I have six beds that are seven foot by eight foot. This is a problem with the square foot concept (two foot rule) so I measured off the feet and left a big rectangle in the center that grew nice weeds last year. I planted about 20 different plants in four beds and while they all pretty much grew perfectly, I had the usual problem of being overwhelmed by July and pretending the garden didn’t exist. If you follow the whole concept, there are companion plants and plant enemies so you have to put on your wedding planner hat and make sure the seating charts matchie matchie. I planted marigolds to keep away the bunnies (and some of the bugs) but nobody told me how aggressively those suckers take over! Same thing with the tomatoes and basil. I feel like such a murderer to cut up and throw away perfectly good plants (also known as pruning to the hard hearted).
Two of the beds are permanent beds; one for asparagus and one for strawberries. These beds have been wildly successful. Last year, I got two or three strawberries at a time as a reward for weeding a few times a week. This year, I had a tough time keeping up with the bumper crop. Tough to say who harvested more, me or the ants and birds.
This year, I planted only about ten things and it is much more manageable. I also planted only stuff that I would use for sure. The basil was a no go in my house, with me the only one who likes pesto. I have temporarily given up on growing corn that will feed someone other than Tom Thumb.
So here are the boxes:
Box 1: One cucumber plant (the other three died or vacated for a more fun place to live, I don’t know), two egg plants, a yellow summer squash, and two pumpkin plants that were probably added way too late to become the 600 lb and 200 lb pumpkins promised on the package.
Box 2: One pink tomato plant, two regular tomato plants and three roma plants that are crammed all on one side very not square foot like. Two bell pepper plants and two sweet banana peppers. Oh, and sweet onions. This box also was planted with swiss chard, spinach and lettuce, none of which came up thanks to the wild flooding we had.
Box 3: The squash box! Zucchini, pie pumpkins, musk melon, butternut squash and watermelon.
Box 4: Water melon, hot banana peppers and jalepenos, kohlrabi (not sure we liked that well enough to replant), Seth’s giant cabbage which he brought home from school in a four inch pot that now covers three square feet (apparently a school contest but the cabbage is already larger than a basketball with 6 more weeks of summer to go), sweet potatoes and radishes that failed to appear (again, thanks to the flooding).
Chad built a gazebo that fits in the middle of the boxes that I planted grapes to go over which surprisingly enough actually have grapes! We have also planted peach trees which are a few years away from giving us peaches. I have acres of blackberries that need no tending at all which is my favorite kind of gardening. I am planning to plant blueberries in the fall because, you know, I don’t have enough to do.
The garden is slowly evolving and hopefully will be a permanent part of the property after we leave. I did the walkways with wood chips which turned out to be a giant mistake that the weeds loved. So we are now digging the walkways out and putting landscape fabric down and possibly concrete pavers. Not sure.
Pictures in the photo album!
Next up: What to do with the fruits of my labor and going local.
