Square Foot Gardening (continued from old forum)

[Outdoorsman]

I have been using the Square Foot Gardening method based on Mel Bartholemew's book for a while. This is the third summer I've been using it.

One tip, don't underestimate the support hanging melon/squash vines will need! lol They need a LOT of support and trying to experiment with lesser support doesn't work well.

I like how it helps keep the weeds in check. The method would be perfect, in my mind, with a raised garden set up. Baisically three or more raised garden "rows" 4 feet by 12 feet, with ample walking/mowing space in between.

[pinlighter]

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ ???



Here's a somewhat similar technique I actually tried. IT worked but not perfectly, I think 4 seed potatoes per barrels is a bit few, next time I'll try 8





How to get a barrel full of potatoes


First off buy your seed potatoes, choose a variety that the whole family likes, or select for practical purposes, select a variety that performs in the way you use it, do you like them fried, boiled, roasted, baked etc. The starch make-up of potatoes varies enormously and this decides whether your potatoes will vanish into the boiling water, or remain hard when you fry them.

How many people in your family? For every two members buy a plastic barrel, or if you know of a local brewery, ask for them, if none are available try two very large plant pots that you can invert on each other.

If you do manage to get a barrel/barrels saw them equally into 3, I have attached some drawings, and place some drainage holes in the bottom. I’ve found the easiest way to do this is by heating up a metal object and melting through the barrel to get holes.

Buy some manure, or if you live close to a farm, ask for some. Now chose a spot in your garden from which you can remove soil without spoiling the look of it, and remove enough soil to fill your first 3rd of the barrel, mix well with the manure and fill it planting your seed potatoes as you go, 4 seed potatoes per barrel is usually enough.

When the foliage on your plants reaches 2ft, add the next 3rd of the barrel, secure in place using electrical tape, and fill up with soil so that all you see is the very tops of the leaves poking out, and give it a good watering.

When the leaves grow again, do the same with the final 3rd of your barrel.

When the foliage starts to turn slightly yellow its time to take off the top of the barrel, careful as you remove it because potatoes will come spilling out.

Cut off the foliage and leave the other section of barrel in place until you are ready to use the potatoes in that layer, and so on till you’ve used them all up.

If you’re a family that doesn’t use many potatoes you can store them in a sack in a dark corner of your garden shed till you need to use them.

The soil that was in the barrel should be sifted and all foliage and roots removed.

Take it back to where you originally dug it from and add some manure to it.


Growing potatoes in open ground destroys the nutrients in the soil, and in many cases can prevent you from growing successfully on that patch for 2yrs, this method gives you the best of both worlds.




The bottom line for all this is that plants seem to benefit enormously from care and freedom from pests.

[gwynyvyr]

Here's an easier way to grow those potatos....
DON'T use the barrels...
USE FENCING!
A section of old cattle fencing works well. Just cut a section about 5 to 6 feet long. Stand it up and make it circular...I hope that makes sense....use some small pieces of wire to fasten it to itself. Now toss in some straw, dirt, leaves....layer it a bit. Not too heavy on the dirt. You can wrap some plastic about the outside before you toss the straw , etc. in so it won't fall out. Plant as you would have planted in the barrels. Now when your spuds are ready to harvest, just snip the wires that are holding your wire structure together and knock it over...POTATOS! No grubbing in the dirt! I have also seen people stack old tires and fill them with dirt, straw, etc for planting potatos and just kick 'em over at harvest-time.Have also seen this method used to grow peanuts.

[pinlighter]

gwynyvyr, thanks.

That sounds like the way I'd do it if I had a farm, but I guess I'm in an urban situation - It happens I have an old rain barrel & a place to put it so that's why I used it. ;)

[skalagrim]

Sorry for my delay in replying!

I setup a fairly extensive square-foot garden and had truly amazing yields.

Here are the details for anyone interested.

I setup 3 beds, one was 4'x14', one was 4'x4' and the other was 4'x5'. All were 10" deep.

In the beds, I put a mix of 1/3rd each of peat moss, coarse vermiculite and compost. The compost was a mix of homemade compost (made from leaves, horse manure, grass clippings and seaweed) and some commercial bagged compost of various sorts to make up the difference. I put this in the beds on 4/1 when there was still snow on the ground and let it settle for a couple of weeks, then did a soil test which showed the soil to be marginal. So I added calculated amounts of blood meal, ashes from my wood stove, bone meal, and straight seaweed and let it sit another 2 weeks and re-tested. It came out fine.

The 4'x4' box was planted exclusively with strawberries for my daughter. So my total garden size (less the strawberries) was 76 square feet - not very big!

Initially setting it all up - including the trellises for vining plants - took a weekend day; but ongoing maintenance was less than 15 min/day through the growing season. All pest control was organic.

The results? Impressive! From this small amount of space, we put in the freezer:
19 1/2lb packages of frozen spinach, 14 1/2 lb packages of swiss chard, 22 1lb packages of broccoli, 10 1lb packages of cauliflower, 24 pint cans of tomato sauce, 18 1lb packages of green beans, 5 1lb packages of carrots, 8 pints of pickled beets, 27 pints of pickles of various sorts plus we had fresh salads almost all season long, plus ate potatoes, cabbages, radishes, etc.

In fairness, my yields may be better than average because I put a lot of thought into this in advance, including the precise timing of succession planting so I got 2 harvest of some crops - like broccoli and spinach. Plus I selected early varieties of most plants - like the pole beans. And I especially figured everything for maximum poundage yield per square foot. Everything was raised from seed using open-pollinated heirloom seeds - and since a lot of hybrids are more productive - a person could get better yields than I did.

For this upcoming year I have already planted a bed of Sunchokes (a/k/a Jerusalem artichokes) and plan to add 3 more beds.

I didn't try growing any melons or squash this past year, but given the additional space will definitely grow them this upcoming season.

I think square-foot gardening is cool!

[KarlMagnus]

I have also used square-foot gardening techniques quite successfully. Anyone gardening to support less than 15-20 people needs to stop using rows. The basic concept of square foot gardening is actually quite old, in fact it is probably the earliest form of horticulture (intensive interplanting). It reduces weeds, pests and work on the part of the gardener. It is also better for overall soil health and of course if you grow organically, a bountiful source of the healthiest produce you can obtain.

As regards easy ways to grow potatoes similar to the barrel method:

This works if you have a lot of unused mulch/garden scraps/dried leaves (but not rotting food). I have used leaves.

Place a layer of leaves on the ground about 4-6 inches thick in whatever dimensions you want your potato bed. Any piece of ground will do, even hard or grassy ground. 4 square feet is good for an experimental plot and will produce a fair amount of potatoes.

Place seed potatoes on bed of leaves and cover with another layer of leaves. Add leaves as the stalk grows as in the barrel method.

Rake around (or root with your hands) for potatoes. Because the leaves/mulch is so light compared to soil, the potatoes will grow large quickly and they are easy to find because you are reaching into a pile of mucky mulch leaf instead of soil.

At the end of the season the leaves/mulch are already halfway to becoming next years top-dressing on your main garden.

KM

[Zelda]

Another method like the barrel, fencing, etc. for potatoes is to use old tires. Keep adding tires as the potatos grow upward. One year, though I had a terrible time because ants decided to make the tire tower their castle. Any ideas on what to do about ants?? Zelda

[skalagrim]

I make a special treat for ants: 20-mule-team borax mixed with sugar!

I suspect that just the borax mixed with powdered sugar would work fine. I make my own combo where both are dissolved in water and then the water is evaporated and the borax/sugar is thus very intimately mixed.

Works like a charm - though I've heard that for some ant species it won't.

I like that idea using the leaves for the potatoes. I'll try it this upcoming year as my most recent attempt - using a sort of add-on-box - was cumbersome ...

[Schwarzesonne]

One year, though I had a terrible time because ants decided to make the tire tower their castle. Any ideas on what to do about ants?? Zelda

I can tell you an easy & inexpensive way to get rid of most types of ants. Feed them fresh coffee grounds! Just leave a small pile of the coffee somewhere that they’ll find it and the ants will do the rest for you!

How does it work?

The ants are attracted to the smell of the coffee. They’ll take it back to the nest, not only eating it themselves, but feeding it to the queen (official hive egg-layer) as well. In time, all of them will become wired on the caffeine; caffeine is a stimulant that works on ants in a way very similar to the way methamphetamine (sp?) affects people! Like people on speed, the ants will get a boost of artificial energy while experiencing a loss of appetite. :idea: They will literally work themselves and starve themselves to death! And because it’s been taken into the nest it will kill all of them, including the queen—as opposed to poisons or what have you that only kills the ones it contacts. Remember all those allegations we heard about crack cocaine being “placed” in certain communities? Same principle…

[aud_friggsdottir]

I like how it helps keep the weeds in check. The method would be perfect, in my mind, with a raised garden set up. Baisically three or more raised garden "rows" 4 feet by 12 feet, with ample walking/mowing space in between.

This is what our family did! It started well, but unfortunately Astrid (14), Gunnar (9), and I were in a car accident, so the garden went wild this summer, but we harvested many goodies, just not as successful as we wanted.

I love that book. Another home schooling mom told me about it and it is now a part of my repertoire of awesome hands on books for the do-it-yourselfer :).

[aud_friggsdottir]

I can tell you an easy & inexpensive way to get rid of most types of ants. Feed them fresh coffee grounds! Just leave a small pile of the coffee somewhere that they’ll find it and the ants will do the rest for you!

How does it work?

The ants are attracted to the smell of the coffee. They’ll take it back to the nest, not only eating it themselves, but feeding it to the queen (official hive egg-layer) as well. In time, all of them will become wired on the caffeine; caffeine is a stimulant that works on ants in a way very similar to the way methamphetamine (sp?) affects people! Like people on speed, the ants will get a boost of artificial energy while experiencing a loss of appetite. :idea: They will literally work themselves and starve themselves to death! And because it’s been taken into the nest it will kill all of them, including the queen—as opposed to poisons or what have you that only kills the ones it contacts. Remember all those allegations we heard about crack cocaine being “placed” in certain communities? Same principle…

WOW!!! That rocks....and is kinda scary to think about...are we ants? Haha...

Cayenne works well too.

Thanks,
FFF
Kathy

[Schwarzesonne]

WOW!!! That rocks....and is kinda scary to think about...are we ants? Haha...

Cayenne works well too.

The best thing about the coffee method is that it’s perfectly safe around children & pets. Not to mention that it’s cheap!

How does cayenne work?

[pinlighter]

The best thing about the coffee method is that it’s perfectly safe around children & pets. Not to mention that it’s cheap!


I think all "spices" - coffee, ginger, curry, etc - are produced by the plant to stop insects eating them.

[aud_friggsdottir]

The best thing about the coffee method is that it’s perfectly safe around children & pets. Not to mention that it’s cheap!

How does cayenne work?

Not exactly sure...I knew a woman who lived on a holistic farm. To be termed that they had to ensure that every item they used from building materials to soap in the bathroom were naturally derived and non toxic, biodegradable etc... Anyway, they had a huge ant problem in their gardens and found that the only thing that chased them away was cayenne. So I tried it and it worked really well...they left the garden, but took up residence in the yard then left to the neighbors, I believe...haha

It also helped with our dog's digging...nothing like seeing a dog try and dig in cayenne inundated ground ;).

FFF
Kathy

[Schwarzesonne]

Not exactly sure...I knew a woman who lived on a holistic farm. To be termed that they had to ensure that every item they used from building materials to soap in the bathroom were naturally derived and non toxic, biodegradable etc... Anyway, they had a huge ant problem in their gardens and found that the only thing that chased them away was cayenne. So I tried it and it worked really well...they left the garden, but took up residence in the yard then left to the neighbors, I believe...haha

It also helped with our dog's digging...nothing like seeing a dog try and dig in cayenne inundated ground ;).

Ah, so there's the key difference! Cayenne chases them away, whilst coffee kills bugs dead!

[aud_friggsdottir]

Ah, so there's the key difference! Cayenne chases them away, whilst coffee kills bugs dead!

Ya... :shrug: I will definitely use coffee over cayenne :)

FFF
Kathy