Square Foot Garden

I've been dying to put in a vegetable garden ever since we owned a house and got as far as buying the seeds when we lived in Brown Deer, but then we moved and then we had Kailin and then and then and then. Enough! So this was the year!

We planned to do an inground garden initially and then decided to do a raised bed garden and then just before we began construction, my sister-in-law told me that they were also doing a garden and were following the Square Foot method. I did a little reading and fell in love! There are lots of things I love about the method, but the ones that I find the most appealing are the logic of not planting in rows, the seed saving technique of planting just a few seeds at the appropriate spacing instead of planting all along a row and then thinning out 80% of them. I like that I can grow lots of different things in a smaller space and stagger the planting so that I don't have too much ready at one time. I also love that it doesn't use soil (not that I object to soil in general), but instead uses a mixture of vermiculite (a naturally occurring mineral), compost, and peat moss. The effect of this mix is a great environment for plants and seeds to grow, but also one that remains loose and friable. So no tilling - ever. AND no weed seeds in the soil (to begin with), so the only weeding you should have to do is from whatever blows in to your garden (although here, that could be significant... ha ha ha).

The kids got into the act and Colby helped Steve build the boxes - 6 4'x4' cedar boxes. Both kids helped to dump and smooth the "dirt" and Kailin was VERY excited about helping me plant!! Our plan is to grow beans, peas, tomatoes (6 varieties of Heirloom tomatoes and 2 varieties of cherry type tomatoes (one red and one yellow)), peppers, eggplant, acorn squash, zucchini, yellow bent-neck squash, patty-pan squash, beets, swiss chard, cucumbers (slicing and pickling), and some herbs. I think that's it, anyway. Sounds like a lot when it's all written out - and I'm okay with the idea that we may not have success with all of our crops, but I feel like it's manageable since I don't have to be out there weeding every day. We'll see how things go!