Mid-May 2011 Garden

Here is a look at how well things are growing. The cukes are starting to climb and the bush ones are filling in the front of the box. The tomato plants are all past the first rumg on the cages and have lost of blossoms as well as several golf ball size tomatoes. We have been eating squash for about a week now. We are on our third planting of radish. Everything is looking good. I think we have successfully survived the 40 mph winds we have had all spring. (double click photo to enlarge)

Mid-April 2011 Garden

Here are a couple of pictures of the start of my 2011 spring garden. Everything seems to be growing fine. We have 13 tomato plants (cherry, Porterhouse, Better Boy, and a variety of heirloom), 16 chili plants (Hatch, Big Jim, AZ88, serrano, and jalapeno), Swiss Chard, radish, Texas Supersweet onions, bush cucumbers, vining cucumbers, squash, and I gave one of my boxes to my daughter-in-law (who lives over the back fence) to grow some plants that I don't have in my boxes. I'm going to add more boxes my the end of the summer. I think I'll make a couple of 8x4 boxes to handle plants that need room to spread out. I tried an experiment last summer and grew some of the Supersweet onions in a box and some in an area near the garden that had pretty good soil....no comparison....the best onions were from the box. I love SFGing. I took a trick that my neighbor used many years ago....I cut the bottom and part of the top out of a plastic milk jug and placed them over my young tomato plants. I place a broken golf club shaft through the handle and into the ground to keep them in place. With the constant hard winds we have had this spring I think that trick has saved my plants. (double click on photo to enlarge)

2010 - 2011 Winter Garden

We had a great winter garden this year. There was lots of broccolli, cauliflower, chili, and most of all sweet potatoes. We even grew kolrobi for the first time. It's not bad to eat. Think I'll try it again this next fall. The garden gave us quite a good amount of food to eat. Again I'm more sold on Square Foot Gardening than ever before. It's pretty hard to have a bad SFG. Our local nursery sells Mel's Mix in bags now...already mixed. I'm going to keep making my own for now. I like the fact that I can mix my own composts when I can do it. I need to thank Don Richins for the idea of the compost bin. I copied his pattern and made enough to totally supply my compost for my mix in order to top off my 13 (4x4) boxes and enough left to fill a large (50 gal.) barrel....thanks Don. All the plant residue from the winter garden is "cooking" right now and getting ready for the fall garden.

July/August Garden

A lot has happened since my last post....but first here are a couple of Armenian cucumbers that got away from us and hid in the vines (notice the sweet potatoes behind her). They are being held by my grand daughter. In the past month we have been busy canning lots of produce from the garden. We have canned about 15 pints of salsa, 25 pints & quarts of Bread & Butter pickles, over 35 pints & quarts of dill pickles, canned & froze & gave away bags and bags of chili peppers, canned several quarts of tomatoes, and harvested and ate lots of cantaloupes & honey dew melons. We are still waiting for several watermelons to get rip. We froze many bags of green beans & harvested about 18 spaghetti squash. We have about reached our limit of zuchini squash and swiss chard. I've cleaned out many of the boxes, added compost that I've made, and prepared them for winter plants. I'll be planting my winter garden tomorrow. Our sweet potatoes are doing wonderfully. I think we are going to have a huge harvest. We are going to plant peas where the melons were. I'm keeping the tomatoes, cucumbers, chard, and peppers going from the summer boxes. We have been blessed with lots of rain since the 4th of July. I've had to do very little watering of the garden. I have a second bin of compost about ready to use. All in all I can say that we have harvested much more than ever before (in any type of garden we have had). I LOVE MY SQUARE FOOT GARDEN!! I have four other people who have watched my garden this summer and have started boxes for their winter garden or have started boxes for next spring. I think I've had to pull about 4 small weeds this entire summer....and the garden looks great. Thanks again Don & Dorothy. (double click to enlarge photo)

My JUNE Garden

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April in Grandpa's Square Foot Garden...

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Gilly's Chili....

On the way back from Tad's house (Albuquerque, NM) last weekend we passed through the town of Hatch, NM. Since that is the chili capitol of the world....great Mexican chili anyway...I thought that I would stop and see if I could find some place to get some seeds to plant in the garden. I stopped at "Gilly's Chili" or better know as the Hatch Valley Chile Company. Gilly was super helpful and made sure I left with an ample supply of Sandia Medium, Sandia Hot, and AZ88 chili seeds. I'm looking forward to getting some of those seeds in the ground. If you have never had a Mexican dish prepared with Hatch chili you have been missing something special. So if you ever make your way to Hatch, NM please spend a few minutes at my "new friend's" store and buy some chili. Gilly is a super guy and will help you any way he can.

March 15....

This is that magic day I've been waiting for....the Gila Valley Gardening Guide lists today as the day to plant many of the "seed" items in the graden. I planted 8 plants (4 squares) of Picklebush cukes, 8 plants (4 squares) of Sweet Success cukes, 24 plants (24 squares) of Triumph de Farcy bush beans, 4 plants (16 squares) of Hybrid Zucchini squash, 2 plants (8 squares) of Sunray Hybrid squash, and 2 plants (8 squares) of Scallp Peter Pan squash. I'm going to wait another week to put out all my chili and tomato plants. I'm still amazed at the amount of plants you can get in a 4 x4 foot area...unbelievable! When we get back from Albaquerque (next week) I'm going to put the finishing touches on my automated drip system and set the timers for the individual stations.

My New Compost Bin...

This is the new compost bin I built. I first tried to build on barrel type tumbler that I saw on YouTube. It didn't work very well in that only a small amount of material could be put into the tumbler. I then visited Don Richins' home and saw the bin he had just made. It inspired me to make one of my own. So...THANKS SO MUCH DON FOR ALL YOUR HELP! I'm very happy with the way mine turned out. As you can see we have started a good amount of material already. I have the school cafeteria saving vegetable scraps for me, a friend is giving me the straw/chicken manure mixture from his chicken coop, Mary is saving our kitchen scraps, and I have an endless supple of straw bales from another friend. I look forward to putting some of the rich compost I know will come from this bin in my Square Foot Garden. Thanks again Don. (double click on pictures to enlarge)

March 1st planting....

I planted 8 squares of Swiss Chard (Neon Lights) as well as 4 squares of radishes (French Breakfast & Crimson Globe). The weather is finally turning a bit warmer and maybe spring (warmer weather) is on the way. We have been blessed with a good amount of rain and snow this winter. It can't help but improve things. I know it is putting more water in the lake and will lots of area to bass fish this spring, summer, and fall.

Transplant Update.....

Those little seedlings are really growing. These are the tomato and chili plants that I planted about three weeks ago. I have Porterhouse, Steak Sandwich, and Patio Princess tomato plants. The chili plants are Mariachi, False Alarm, Ancho, Serrano, and Jalapeno Gigante. About another couple of weeks in the spare bedroom and then into the cold frame for a few days and then into the ground. It will be a relief to get them into the ground and not have any die.

A Really Good Web-site.....

While checking a friends blog yesterday I discovered a really neat site for designing a square foot garden. You just enter the size of your box and drag which plants you want into each square. It automatically places the correct number of plants for each square you choose. If your garden is a SFG it will be a great help to you. The address is (www.gardeners.com). When you open this page look at the top of the left side and click on "NEW!! Kitchen Garden Planner." It will even give you a demo before your start out. Good luck....

February 9th......

I've put in my onion sets. I ordered them from Burpee's and they arrived in great shape. I'm growing Texas Sweet and Candy onions. Planting was a breeze with Mel's mix. It was done in just a few minutes. Even after sitting all winter and with all the rain we have had that soil was beautiful to work with. I love Square Foot Gardening!!

February......

All of Mary's talking and singing has paid off. After a week and a half the tomato and chili seeds that I planted have sprouted and are doing well. There is another tray that is almost at the same stage. Usually I buy whatever transplants Wal-Mart or Home Depot have in stock. This time I know the exact tomato and chili I want and hopefully will get.

January...

First I built this grow light set-up. It was inexpensive to build and does the job very well. I have four types of tomato seeds, 6 types of chili seeds, and three types of melon seeds sprouting in vermiculite. They are doing well. Mary talks to them each day. Sometimes she even sings to them. In a couple of days I will transfer them to Mel's mix to continue their growth. About the first of March I will move them to the cold frame I have outside to harden them off. Our date for planting is March 15....if the weather cooperates with us. The SFG is prepared and ready to go. I've put a heating pad under the single box on the right and just a towel under the two trays on the left. The heating pad (on low) seems to be doing the trick. Besides it is cheaper to use Mary's heating pad than it is to pay $50+ for one from the plant catalog.

November & December 2009...

I rotilled the old garden plot to loosen up the soil. I then measured off the area that will soon be filled with 4x4 boxes. The next thing I did was install a lot of 1/2 inch PVC pipe that will later be used for my drip system. (you can double click on each picture to enlarge)

The garden really started to take shape when the boxes were built and put in. I used 2x6 redwood lumber for the boxes and used 4 inch galvanized screws to hold everything together. The real investment was when I bought 28 cubic of vermiculite, 28 cubic feet of peat moss, and 28 cubic feet of a compost blend. I bought the vermiculite and peat moss at Curtis Landscape here in Safford. I bought several different kinds of compost at Home Depot and mixed all the types of compost together. We used a bucket to measure everything. It is a little bigger task than it first appeared. It took most of the day to mix that much and get it into the boxes. I had a good helper...my son Tad.


We followed Mel's instructions and used a tarp to mix the soil. That is by far the easiest way. No only did it mix well but it was a good way to move the mix to each box.



All that was left to do was smooth the soil mix out in each box and install the grids. I have to thank Dorothy for the suggestion of Home Depot nylon binding. I looked in the trash bins and couldn't find any...so I went in the lumber yard and told them what I was looking for and asked if they could save me some. The man went to the strapping machine and gave me all I needed. So many thanks to the Home Depot in Thatcher. Notice the water valves at each box. I'll soon be installing the drip system...so "stay tuned...more to follow."

A few months ago I was "surfing" through the channels and happened upon a show titled "Homegrown" on KBYU. The guest that day was Mel Bartholomew. He was talking about square foot gardens. I got really interested fast and listened to what he had to say. So interested, in fact, that I ordered his book. And with that I "jumped whole hog" into square foot gardening. This blog will serve to document my efforts. I will show the progress of my square foot garden through this next year. Stay tuned....I hope it is a total success!