Taking it one square at a time

 

Ah...can you smell it?  Dark rich soil, hungry for those little veggie seedlings....cool, crisp, and oh-so-green grass covered in little droplets of rain, begging for you to free your long-captive feet and go for a romp on Nature's carpet..the faint whiff of daffodil and tulip, swaying to and fro to the sound of Nature's song.  Yes, this is a good time of year!  Winter was long for us here in Ohio (more than normal) and even I, a hard-core Ohioan, am ready for Winter to relinquish her hold and drift into the realm of memory.

 

I picked up the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew a couple of years ago and really had intended to read it sooner.  However, after yet another heartbreakingly pathetic year of backyard gardening, I decided this would be the year I not only read it, but put it into practice.  It seems deceptively simple, especially to someone who has grown up in the shadow of many generations of farmers and backyard gardeners...but simple, simple is GOOD!  So the hubby and I, with a little "help" from the kids, put together the first square foot box this weekend.  The jewel of my backyard is the strawberry patch that has been housed in one of those pyramid planters for the last 8 years or so.  The kids and I anxiously await that first sign of red each season.  And as any good berry picker will tell you, it's "one for the basket, three for me!"  Over the last year or so, the berries have grown tired and in need of refreshing, so we decided this would be our first leap into SFG.  Oh, I have high hopes for this little 4x4 plot which, by the way, will hold a whopping 64 strawberry plants.  I have ordered 50 replacements and found about 16 of the old plants that might still have some life left in them.  Now we just wait, and dream, of berries soon to come.

Next we'll replace the other four smaller plots and see how the season fares before deciding on the large back plot.  The key to SFG is the soil mix you make...not using native or even augmented backyard soil.  It makes lots of sense on paper, I just hope it pans out in the flesh.  Only time will tell.

 

Comments

[heather jane]

I can vouch for this method. We've been doing this for 3 years now and it works so well. So much easier and less exhausting than regular gardens once you get them all set up. We do "double dig" our existing soil before we add the mel's mix to the top. I don't know if it is necessary, but we have found that we have less invasive weeds popping up when we dig down about two 18inches from the grass line and then add the mel's mix to the top. The key is water. This mix will dry out more quickly than regular soil and we have found it is essential to have drip lines watering the beds for us. The rule I have learned is to water deeply three times per week. If you water too frequently and not deeply enough the root veggies won't develop. Time and some trial and error will get you there and before you know it you'll wonder why it felt so mysterious!

Good luck!!! (and it's nice to see you posting again)