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.

What I Learned This Year: 2010

1.  Cursed STRAWBERRIES!!  I weeded them, topped them all, and fertiziled them only for a small handful once in a while.  Every year I need to plant at least a dozen or more new plants for a continual harvest.  Plant everbears for all season long satisfaction.

2.  POLE BEANS seem to give a bigger, longer harvest.  The variety I planted was tough and stringy (Blue Lake Pole).  I will try another variety next year.  The vines grew up the fence and into the neighbors lilac bushes- twice as high as the fence.  They didn't really grow up the corn stalks, however.

3.  All SQUASH PLANTS were lousy this year.  Don't buy seeds from Lowe's anymore.  Yellow Squash and Zucchini was tough and yucky- not a big harvest either.

4.  I ordered lots of PLANTS FROM SPRINGHILL this last year.  We will see if they grow back next year and if it was worth it.  Planting 30+ plants was lots of fun.  (The ground cover plants are thriving.  Only two out of six ferns came back.)

5.  Once you lose a branch off a BALL WILLOW TREE, its not long til the whole tree splits and starts to come down.  We took it down before it fell.  (Dad and Micah)


Green Garden Goodness



6.  DIVIDING PLANTS already growing in my yard is a lot cheaper than paying for new ones.  (2 out of 3 lavendar plants survived and both daisy divisions survived.)

7.  I planted PEAS in mid-July.  The plants got nice and tall and the harvest was great but once it froze, the pods, which were still to small to pick, cracked and were inedible.  Plant them a little earlier, like July 1st.

8.  I missed not having PUMPKINS in the fall.  Be sure and plant some this year.  Or plant lots at Gram's around her trees where sprinklers are already set to water.

9.  Grandpa Molyneux said to FERTILIZE THE CORN with nitrogen fertilizer for bigger corn cobs.

10.  Uncle Marlo Bergeson says if you cut your PEACHES into quarters or more, you lose flavor into the syrup.  He recommends putting halves into bottles.  He says Peggy's tree is CANADIAN HARMONY.

11. Plant two or three different varieties of TOMATOES in case one of the varieties gets a disease.  Its a good idea to get them from different nurseries too.