It's that gardening time of year

Mar 21, 2012 12:41

Last week I finished clearing all the dead perennial stems and foliage out of my flower beds, so now it's easy to see all my bulbs sprouting ( Read more... )

gardening, real life

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Comments 7

popgurlie March 21 2012, 19:09:42 UTC
oh wow. that square foot grid + box is exactly what i need! i love gardening but don't have the soil to set it up where i am. do you have the box? what size?

i'm so inspired!

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jncar March 21 2012, 19:22:34 UTC
I have two four by four boxes that are about 8 or 9 inches deep. My rhubarb and herbs are in smaller pots. I got my garden boxes at Costco, and made my own grid. I learned the method from the square foot gardening book on that website, but you might be able to find info for free elsewhere on the web or in a library, and I know that book will be cheaper from re-sellers like Amazon.

It's a really cool method to get high yields in small spaces.

You can also build your own boxes out of lumber if you're handy/know someone who is handy. And sometimes places like Home Depot carry 4 x 4 garden box kits.

Set up can be a little pricey because you have to pay for the boxes and the planting mix to fill them. I think we spent a little over $300 to set it all up last year. But this year we just added a little extra compost, and it's ready to go. Our only expense will be seeds and plants. But it's great because you don't have to dig down into the ground, and you could even set up a small box on a patio or deck as long as it gets good light.

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calc_u_later March 22 2012, 02:03:15 UTC
We started square food gardening last year, too, and love it! Our tomatoes were insane! We also failed with peppers. We don't have slugs here, but I think the good soil was just too much for them. We're going to try them in a drier spot this year. I think it's still too early for us to plant seeds here, but we did get the beds all set up last weekend. Can't wait to see what we get, too. You should def post pics!

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jncar March 22 2012, 22:45:41 UTC
I have a gardener friend who swears that you can plant peas as early as mid-February around here, but I don't think I believe her. But I'm willing to give mid-March a try.

Good luck with your peppers! I really want enough tomatoes and peppers to have garden-fresh salsa in my fridge from late July through early October *fingers crossed*

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utah_yoda March 23 2012, 15:48:44 UTC
Oh, I want to see pictures. I had a garden when I had a house, but now we're in grad school and a garden-less apartment, and this post makes me miss my garden terribly. I need to garden vicariously.

Square foot gardening sounds great. I hope it works out again this year

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jncar March 24 2012, 16:53:57 UTC
I would miss my garden so much if I had to move to an apartment! I feel for you. But grad school is a worthy cause. :-)

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shimotsuki March 26 2012, 00:27:42 UTC
Wow, I wouldn't have guessed our climates were this different -- daffodils here were at their peak a good three weeks ago (although granted, this year has been unseasonably warm, so I think they were early).

Your garden plans sound wonderful! I'd love to see pictures if you posted them.

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