A Beginner's Garden - Square Foot Garden: Part One

June 3, 2020 Deborah von Donop

A Square Foot Garden For Beginners: tips and resources

How does your garden grow? Guess what?!!

I joined a Community Garden here in town! I’m so excited! It’s a hidden site located down a long driveway into a part of the nature preserve here in my town. I commune with birds, deer, and a few frogs. This is my go-to (happy) place for a little quiet, fresh air and sunshine, along with the sounds of nature. I am in my element. Just me and my 4” x 8” foot raided garden bed of vegetables.

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How To Garden: A Beginners Guide.

I’m sharing my Square Foot Gardening Guide for Beginners- Part One. Grow Food At Home and Connect With Nature. Follow these tips and tricks for growing gorgeous vegetables, flowers, and plants.

THE GARDENER, MY ALTER EGO

Before I had the community garden, I had also decided to grow edibles this year in my flower beds all around my home. But I was also aching for a vegetable and herb garden.

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THIS IS MY GARDEN JOURNAL AND MY THERAPY

Now with access to a community garden, I realized I didn’t have to dig up my back yard, and the community garden provides tools, compost, and camaraderie! I’m sharing my first-year plot.

I added my name to a waitlist for the garden located in the Greenwich Community Gardens near my home back in February, but I didn’t get a plot on the initial offering. Then I received a call at the end of May with the news that someone had left town and would I like to assume the plot? Heck yeah!

I was so excited, I rushed out straight away to buy some starter plants and got to work. I also made sure to check the farmer’s almanac for a square foot garden plan, and the best crops to consider.

Some of the beds at the garden are used to grow fresh greens and produce for our “Neighborly Harvest Program,” which grows hundreds of pounds of fresh vegetables annually for our Neighbor to Neighbor food pantry in Greenwich.

THIS IS A NEW ENGLAND GARDEN

Yes, my friends in Texas and the southern regions are laughing at me a little. They are pulling a bounty of fruits and vegetables from their garden this May/ June, but for me in CT, we just had our last frost a few weeks ago!

THE PLAN

I am planting a square foot garden and hope to yield lots of food. The concept of the square foot garden was started in the 80’s By Mel Bartholomew. He changed the methods of gardening by identifying some of the problems. ( weeds, water, and produce output per square inch of land) He wasn’t even a gardener, he was a civil engineer who saw problems with traditional gardening layout. He transformed the industry and the way we plant, maintain, and harvest vegetables using his new methodology, SQUARE FOOT GARDENING.

He revolutionized small gardening with this method and increased harvest productivity !00%

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Here’s how I started my garden and tips for lots of tomatoes and vegetables. I have decided to start off with annuals.

Annuals:

Most garden vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, kale, lettuce are annuals. They complete their life cycles in a single growing season, so you have to plant them year after year. These are my favorites, so this is where I will start.

Perennials:

There are many perennial vegetables too, coming up year after year, which is super easy but they just aren’t as popular in the northeast where I live. Most notable of the perennials in this region are asparagus, rhubarb, garlic, raspberries, blueberries, watercress and artichoke. As a typical perennial, they tend to take a long time to mature to yield a good volume of the crop, and quite a few plants to produce a large bounty during the season.

A good compost is essential

Step 1 - Soil Preparation

Organic material (such as compost) is a huge help when prepping your garden and creating rich soil. Luckily for me, the community garden composts on-site, and there is plenty of rich soil to add to my garden and offer a burst of nutrition to the plants. The chances of good growth are greatly improved by making sure that the garden soil is nourishing and that it drains well. Don’t skimp on this step - it’s much more difficult to improve soil or drainage after plants are already in the ground than it is to prepare the area properly in the beginning.

Step 2 - Planting Grid

I turned the soil and started planting. I soon realized however that I wanted to mark the square footage for better planting. So I paused and added my square footage planting grid using kitchen string. I now have a better sense of the spacing between plants.

I set up my grid, and started back with planting the rest of my seedlings. I added cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini. Later I added red peppers, hot peppers, onions, swiss chard, kale, and carrots.

Step 3 - Planting Guide

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Most of my vegetables are frost sensitive, and as I didn’t have the gift of time this year to place a selection of seeds into the soil in March / April, I am planting organic seedlings I purchased from the farmers market. The square foot garden is perfect for the types of plants I am growing. For example, carrots and beets and some seedlings can be closer together; I may still add some seeds in the empty spots. I’m going for a high yield.

Kitchen Garden Planner : GardenersSupply.com

High Yield

Maximize your vegetable harvest with these high-performing crops. You can expect to get more than 50lbs of garden-fresh produce from this 18 sq. ft. garden.

Placing vegetables while considering their relationships with each other is a skill I am still learning since I am not an expert. So I used this handy garden planner and abbreviated it a little, by placing my tomatoes in the center since they will be the tallest and the cucumbers on the ends, with summer squash and zucchini in the corners.

The last time I had a vegetable garden I would never sketch out my garden and create a plan of what goes where. so this year was much improved since I had this plan as a reference before I went to buy plants. A garden for me is always a work in progress.

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A healthy seedling from my local farmer that has been hardened already, meaning it has been brought from the greenhouse to an area where it adjusts to being outdoors.

Here is what I planted:

Tomatoes (5 different kinds), Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Kale (we love this in my house, kids and adults, and we eat it up instantly. I have a good recipe if you are interested.) Plus Basil, Cilantro, Cucumbers (2 kinds), Hot Jalapeno Peppers, Red Peppers, Japanese Eggplants, Swiss Chard and some volunteer mint from the previous year. I’m thinking of adding some spinach.

*All organic as the rules of the community garden dictate and personally my preference for peace of mind for the planet, animals and my family.

Swiss Chard in red and yellow. I also added these to my flower beds at home as they are such a pretty vegetable.

PLANT OPTIONS & suppliers:

One of the places I like to order my seeds from is RareSeeds.com. This is one of the top sources for heirloom garden seeds and with such a beautiful site it’s hard to decide what plants to choose and grow!

My hands-down favorite nursery and mail-order garden supplier is WhiteFlowerFarm.com. It’s a family owned business with one of the best catalogs for flower and vegetable gardening (and great gifts too!) I devour their catalog every time it arrives, using the advice of their master planters to cultivate my landscape a little more each year with delightful new plants. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the nursery when in northern Connecticut, it’s a beautiful destination.

My tomato plants are going to love this surprise.

A fish fillet for each plant has been planted.

TIP:

This is my organic tip to you: I always plant a piece of fresh fish under my tomato plants. Planting fish is a Native American technique that I learned from an NPR show many years ago. The presenter interviewed an organic farmer whose yield was the envy of many. He said that in the Plains Region of North America, the Native American’s would use buffalo chips under each seed; while in the woodland areas, they would plant a fish.

I use this tip every time I plant tomatoes too. I always plant the fish deep enough so that by the time the roots reach the fish, it’s in the fruit bearing stage, not in the plant/leaf building stage - you may end up with a bigger plant but not as much fruit. Dig your hole to the depth of the pot, then go a little deeper, place the fish and fill back up with more soil to the depth of the pot. Then, plant your tomato.

Stay tuned for the photo finish!

I still have some open spots that I will use for a June planting of summer melons, more onions, and carrots. I’m packing it in!

After all this planting, I’m taking daily walks to the garden, checking in, and looking for signs of growth. Waiting is the hardest part - and I can’t wait!!

A garden offering of vegetables and herbs can be so rewarding to provide the freshest and most delicious food for summer dinners.

Managing Pests:

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It’s well worth talking to experienced gardeners in your area about which plants perform well and which ones to avoid. The best part of a community garden is there are always a few young plants offered along with some relevant advice. For beginners, planting a vegetable garden can seem daunting, but the basics of growing plants are easy to learn. It’s managing those pesky pests, that can cause some frustration.

The organic pest battle is a little bit of a learning curve for me and many of the gardeners, but that’s where the advice from the experienced gardeners or my nursery are always helpful.

Did you know there is a pest called the flea beetle? That is the one pest I’m battling this week. They are ruining my kale!

One of the experienced gardeners advised me that seeding and growing beets alongside the kale will divert the flea to the beet leaves and leave my kale alone. I’ll keep you posted on the results.

How long till harvest?

I found this table at RareSeeds.com which gives approximate days between planting in the garden and harvest. Note that plants set out as seedlings (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cabbage, broccoli, etc.) does not include the time spent growing indoors before setting out in the garden.

LEARNING:

See, just two weeks in and I’m already learning so much. Above is one of the books (Growing Perfect Vegetables) recommended to me by the experienced gardeners in my garden community to help me through the year tending my garden for the best results.

Check back with me for an update in a few weeks and a look to see how successful I hope to be with my plants.

Next Month: A Beginners Garden: Part Two

Fertilizing Plants

Prevent Weeds and Keep Up with Maintenance

Trying to Be Patient with Your Plants

Building Supports for Tall Plants with Stakes and Sticks

Should I remove the first blooms on the tomatoes?

Thoughts on Keeping Invasive Plants Under Control

What if My Plants Die?

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Use Pinterest to save your favorite tips and ideas and be sure to follow dvdInteriorDesign’s board here.

Thanks for stopping by, I can’t wait to give you updates throughout the season and we can learn together. Do you have some tips for organic gardens? Please share in the comments below.

Yours in the Garden,

dvd

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THE GARDEN

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A Beginners Garden - Part One

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