Square Foot Gardening

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

I've just started my first veggie patch this year after my first attempt more than a decade ago. I came across the concept of square foot gardening and love the concept.

Anybody else given this a try?

My current setup is more a proof to see if it works and I'm impressed. I've not yet built my boxes for it so just a raised bed for now. I also moved into a new house so wanted to first see how much sunlight we get for a year as well.

My current 42 sqr foot setup consists of:
* lettuce (4 sqr feet)
* tomatoes (6 sqr feet)
* beans (6 sqr feet)
* pees (6 sqr feet)
* corn (4 sqr feet)
* spinach (5 sqr feet)
* radish (4 sqr feet)
* parsley (3 sqr feet)
* carrots (4 sqr feet)
* patty pans (4 sqr feet)

 

[Batista]

Hey man

Doing something similar but growing in a greenhouse instead.
There is a bare patch that i wanted to grow flowers and ornamentl plants in and for that i will be doing this method.
I have started composting my leaves and grass clippings in April so i will just throw in into the bare soil and give it a mix.
Use a suntracker app to see the path and hours of sunlight you will get.Im lucky , my balcony where the greehouse is going will get 10 hours easily, where as the patch that i want to plant ornamentals will only get 4-6.

Got any pics? There are 2 threads on here you want to take a look at, and also all the greenthumbs hang out here.

Zenbaas and Sir
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/496912-Hydroponic-Gardening-DIY
Mine
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/554285-My-nethouse-greenhouse-build/page4

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

I will post some pics this weekend. I'm also experimenting with raised and level to see which works better with my soil. I've only been in the house for 3 months and originally thought we had bad drainage due to the type of soil, but it has good drainage.

I'm also tempted to either switch to gutter gardening or to combine square foot with a greenhouse.

Thanks on the suntracker app, will look into that as my patch is getting 6-8 hours a day but some parts only 4 hours due to a high vibrecrete wall. I also planted another patch for the kids as an experiment that gets a full days sunshine to see the difference.

 

[Mars]

I am also wanting to grow my own veggies, but the only thing I have ever successfully grown is a fungus.

I was originally inspired by this : http://imgur.com/a/JihrB

But I have been told that it wont work during summer here in the cape.

Ive been thinking of building a greenhouse like Sir's but I just don't have the cash lying around.
Reading about all the different stuff is like reading greek to me..

I need to find a gardenin place person to splain it to me real slow like so'as I can understand it all..

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

No reason why that won't work but you need something like Rooibos mulch to limit your water usage. That system there is very much like square foot gardening.

I'm now also looking into gutter gardening like this from Larry Hall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CclTbusP7Ms

You can use his system with the guidelines from http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/vegetables/ on how many vegetables to plant in a bag.