My Traditional Garden 2011: What I Learned....

1.  DOUBLE PLANTING THE ROWS of veggies worked great and almost doubled my harvest.  Tomatoes didn't do too well for anyone this year, but I still had plenty for all the salsa I wanted with the 28 plants I had.  And I plenty of beans too.

Corn Crop after the Wind Storm

2.  After CORN comes up, pile dirt around the bottom couple of inches to create BRACE OR PROP ROOTS so stalks won't blow over in the wind.  (I lost half my crop.)  Kmetzsch's corn fell over too, but they propped it up asap and staked it and they preserved their harvest by doing so.

3. I planted two CORN varieties, Serendipity and Ambrosia, but the SERENDIPITY did best, with the longest, fullest ears at harvest.

4.  The Kentucky Wonder POLE BEANS were much better than last years, but still a bit stringy.  If I plant pole beans again, I should find a way to extend the fence up another 3 to 5 feet and try an even better variety.  I could put rebar down the fence posts and run four inch chicken wire between posts.

5.  I need to plant double or triple the GREEN PEPPERS for eating and salsa.  There is never enough.  i had enough of the other peppers, but should plant more of those too so that I will be able to share.

6.  American Fork neighbor, John Cox told us that he dumped a pile of sand and a pile of COMPOST from the GREEN WASTE PLANT into his pasture.   Over the next couple of years, he said, weeds grew like crazy out of the sand pile, but nothing grew in the Green Waste compost, which means it has no nutritional value.  It is good for TILTH or as a GROUND COVER MULCH, but that's about it.

7.  Plant three or four SUCCESSIONS OF CORN so we can enjoy the harvest well into the fall.

8.  PICKLING CUCUMBERS did next to nothing.  Aunt LuAnn supposedly planted a different variety of cucumber that was long and skinny, good for slicing and pickling.  I need to find out the variety and give it a try.

9.  July is too late for planting PUMPKINS.  Got some nice vines though.

10.  Putting LANDSCAPE FABRIC down right after planting eliminated a lot of extra weeding.  Just make sure the seeds or seedlings are not covered.

2011: What I Learned from my new Square Foot Garden This Year

1.  Plant PEAS in the back row, next to the rose hedge.  They are the tallest thing in the garden and I never make it around to the backside to check on other things growing.  It would also be easier to water if the peas were in the back.

2.  WATER FREQUENTLY- every other day.  (It is a spring garden.)  It dries up quickly.  And don't run over the brand new metal watering attachment that you paid big bucks for so that it would last forever either.

3.  The TOMATOES did next to nothing in the SFG- maybe 5 or 6 off of each plant for the whole season.  And they had squash bugs all over them.  Gross.  The tomatoes did better in the traditional garden, although it was an off year overall for tomatoes.  (The cherry tomatoes took off however.)

4.  One square foot of SWISS CHARD is enough.

5.  Plant lots more BEETS, PEAS, AND CARROTS.

6. I only got one head of BROCCOLI off of each plant.  Seems like a waste of time and space.

7.  We love the RADISHES, Parker and I.  Do a few successive plantings in the spring.  They didn't do so well being planted in the fall garden.

8.  The soil measurments I figured out when filling the garden were all wrong.  In 2012 I will remove some of the soil and add a lot more COMPOST.  It needs more living matter.

9.  The SFG METHOD promises the same yield in 20% of the space.  I think getting started was rough.  I think because of my incorrect soil measurments that things didn't grow as well as promised.  I am hoping this next year will be better.  I did love having more room for my Spring Garden, which also freed up space in the traditional garden.  I loved having it out in my front yard where I could tend it and watch it grow each day, and where neighbors could see it and learn from it too.

How To Get Started....

• SELECTING SEEDS or PLANTS- Think about what you want to plant in your garden. Be realistic. What do you enjoy eating? What veggies do you buy in the store that would be cheaper to grow? What will your kids eat? Start simple by planting only a few different things and try something new each year. Pick things that are easy to grow. Seeds can be ordered from a seed catalog or you can simply go to the store or nursery to select the seeds you want. Keep in mind, some varieties are better than others. And some varieties grow better in other climates but not so well here. 
   
• MAKE A PLAN- Lay out your garden on paper. Figure out where you will plant things. There are several reasons for this important step.
  1. Avoid watering problems. Plant Cool weather crops in the same area of your garden so that you can water them more frequently.
  2. Avoid shading problems. Plant tall things like corn or tomatoes toward the north side of your garden so as not to create shade for other crops.
  3. Avoid over planting. Don't plant a whole row of zucchini unless you plan on feeding the whole neighborhood, which is actually fun to do.
  4. Spacing for certain vegetables is critical. For example, corn needs more space between rows than say carrots or beans. Allow pathways for easy access to your vegetables.
  5. Practice crop rotation. Place vegetables in a different spot of the garden from last year. This will help to fight off pests and fungal diseases.
  6. Your garden should be a thing of beauty. Plan rows so they are neat and attractive.
  • WHEN TO PLANT- Cool weather crops can be started as soon as you can get the ground tilled in the Spring, perhaps as early as March. But you must wait to plant warm weather crops until after the last frost, which for us is usually around Mother's Day, or May 10^th. You can also plant a fall garden with more cool weather crops around July 10^th. These will grow and enable you to keep harvesting things right up through October.
    
    
  • APPLYING COMPOST AND FERTILIZER- Growing vegetables takes nutrients from the soil, so we have to fertilize to replenish and invigorate the soil. Make the soil happy and it will make you happy by growing delicious foods to eat.
    
    
  • TILLING THE GARDEN- Two or three weeks before you plan on planting is the best time to till the garden. Apply your compost and fertilizer and then till it into the soil to a depth of seven or eight inches. Depending on the size of your garden, this can be done with a roto-tiller or by hand with a shovel. Tilling the garden also makes the soil nice and fluffy and puts oxygen into it.
    
    
  • PREPARING THE BEDS- Using your garden layout that you designed on paper, figure out where you will create furrows or pathways and where you will plant rows of vegetables. It is easy to make straight rows if you use two stakes at either end of the row and tie a string between each stake. After your furrows are made, then you can use a garden rake and make your planting surface nice and level. 
     
  • PLANTING- (My favorite part!! :) Pay close attention to the instructions on the seed packets. They will tell you exactly how deep to plant seeds and the spacing requirements between seeds. Every kind of seed has different requirements. A good rule of thumb is to plant the seed three times the depth of its size. So if a seed is a quarter of an inch in size, plant it three-quarters of an inch deep. Remember healthy plants need space and should be given plenty of elbow room.
    Some vegetables are better started as transplants. You will have to go to the store or nursery to buy the plants and then immediately put them into the garden. Things like tomatoes, broccoli, and peppers are easier to start from transplants.
    
    
  • WATERING SEEDLINGS- After you get seeds into the ground water them gently with a sprinkler or a hand held sprayer. This will need to be done every day for 15 minutes until the plants are up and established, meaning three or four inches tall. Then gradually reduce the number of waterings until you are only watering them once a week. Transplants need to be watered after being planted into the ground perhaps everyday for a week, but then gradually reduce watering times. 
     
  • REASONS WHY SEEDS DON'T COME UP-
    1. Soil gets too dry.
    2. Packed soil or hard crust.
    3. Cold weather, slow germination, seeds rot.
    4. Fungus diseases such as “damping off”.
    5. Cut worms and other insects eat seeds or seedlings.
    6. Poor, old seed.