Anyone Interested in a new forum: Square Foot Gardening?

Please post below if you're interested in a new forum category for Square Foot or Raised Bed Gardening. I'm just starting and I know that there are tons of plans and tips out there we could all share. I've done a search and it seems that there are a lot of posts scattered throughout the forums dealing with this topic.

Raised beds aren't only for veggies, but for anything. I know a lot of veggie gardeners are interested in this, so I'm posting in the veggie forums first. Make sure you post below if you're interested in seeing this as its own forum!

Thanks!!

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One of our brilliant members (that could be anyone!!!) :) Had a suggestion... Here is what she said:

"...I think adding "and Raised beds" might confuse the issue (although, technically, SFG is done in raised beds),
it sounds like a separate discussion might ensue)."

I forgot to ask her if I could use her name, so I won't without permission. There's a lot of crossover between raised beds and SFG. The only other forum we have here is "Self Contained Box Gardens" which seems to deal with a lot of containers of different types but few raised beds. I think that she's made a very important point but want everyone who is interested in this forum to shake it out. If you would, please add your thoughts on the distinction between the two. Thanks!

This message was edited Feb 1, 2011 11:52 AM

I think it is a great idea- I have basically been doing it for 40 years, but not literally with markings and strings- But years ago the original theory-I believe it was Mel Bartholomew-maybe still is? After reading all the books and articles they sort of meld together!

I'm in!!

^^_^^

Count me in, too.

Me too.

I have to be "in" everything I grow is in raised beds! LOL

Sounds good!

yes

I'm interested, too, but I would like to point out something and offer my two cents:

Mel Bartholomew's original SFG book did not deal with raised beds. His revolutionary concept was mostly concerning spacing/layout, and it's possible to do SFG with "flat" beds. The picture of him on the cover showed him standing among his beds, which were level with the ground.

Yes, his new book DOES use a raised bed, but the growing media is entirely a purchased/created mix of composts, etc. This concept would exclude the interests of many raised bed gardeners in DG, who amend the soil they are given. And some of these "raised-bedders" don't use SFG layout.

Now my two cent suggestion: Since it's possible to SFG without raised beds,and possible to use raised beds without the SFG spacing, I suggest that there be two separate forums.

This message was edited Feb 1, 2011 11:45 PM

I'm in! Long Island, NY

I love SFG. I even ordered a tshirt. :)

I personally make my own growing soil. I do not go by Mels new book when it comes to soil mixture. I live by the old way. I do what works for me and my hot region. My food grows so I must be doing something right.

I do not follow all the sfg spacing cause some of my plants grow reallyy biggg. I think one has to figure out on their own sometimes how much space a certain variety needs. But most of the time I do space according to the book.

at the moment I am building 4 table top sfgs. Each will be 2ft by 8ft , 12 inches deep, sitting on 2ft legs.

I do a lot of raised bed gardening. I do try to practice sqaure foot gardening by mixing things together, to either take advantage of shade, or different spaces used by plants. Since it gets hot quick here in Memphis I have to provide some shade to extend the growing season for my cool weather crops. I haven't read Mels' new book, I will try to find it now. I designed this bed system myself and talked my husband into constructing them, since then he has not finished my original plan.

great idea

I am really interested in better ways to garden, after hearing about the book "Square foot gardening" I purchased one on ebay today. In this area we can start planting about Valentines day. I have my peas on order and lots of other veggies. I really want to get more into the oriental vieggies. Summers are so hot here, that I tried the Asparagus pea. I love asparagus, so I thought it would be a good try. You really need a strong trellis for this one. It was okay. I would also like to know how you do eat the shoots of a plant. I see this sometimes and would like to know how it is done without damaging the plant.

I'm in for both concepts (SFG and Raised Bed) since I have a small city garden and after removing a leaning pine tree this past autumn, I'll be building a raised bed in it's place. I could use some ideas.

Dear SuzieR, Count me in! I have been looking for posts of similar interests. Raised bed gardening and square foot gardening go hand in hand. I have 13 raised beds, with 12 inch cedar sides, and borders around the yard against the fences. I am constantly re-thinking and re-organizing these beds, a yearly jumble of annuals, veggies, perennials. After years of reading and skimming pictures in magazines, I have reached the conclusion that this process of constant change and re-organization is more than half the fun! All time favorite inspiration...Rosalind Creasy (rosalindcreasy.com) Anyway, sorry to ramble, and I look forward to being a regular of this new thread.

Me! I'm interested in learning how and the best advice from the people who are successful at it and also how to do a raised bed for my super limited space.

There is a new book on Square Foot Gardening, written in collaboration with Patti Moreno - Garden Girl
www.createspace.com/298508
She used Mel basic technique and improved it.
She is a very clever and nice lady.
Her website: http://www.gardengirltv.com/

hi,dmac085, and everyone, we are members of CRAZY ERRATIC EAST COAST WEATHER. I think the way for us gardener/farmer/flower/plantaholic types to deal with it all is to plant a little bit of all of it...the heat lovin and the cool wet lovin, and all of it inbetween. In this way, well, if the tomatoes, arent happy, well then, the leafy greens will surely have a great year, etc. We will be in sauce and salsa, or with the best salads on earth. It will be a spectacular growing season, one way or another! Optimists, unite! someone, talk to me!!!

PS...SuzieR ...has this become a new thread, or whatever, yet? It is so wonderful to talk to like minded types...spring is around the corner!!!!!

Thanks Lottabeds for that suggesting the Rosalind Creasy website! I cannot believe the beautiful pictures she has! I never thought of growing zucchini for the beautiful yellow flowers.

I have to go to all of these sites!!! I'm e-mailing Terry to see if we can get this forum going and I'll let you know what she says!

I am ambivalent on this. I started off as a square foot gardener thirty years ago and, believe it or not, there was plenty of information out there then. I now have a much larger garden in N. GA. where we have options to expand that may not be available to true city or small space gardeners. I only vaguely understand how raised bed gardening relates to square foot gardening and, having done both, think that's a different topic. In short, I am agreeing with the person vaguely mentioned.

I think it's important to note the challenges of those who garden, especially vegetables, in small space as opposed to those with larger gardens but within my larger space I still square foot garden. Does this make sense? Maybe we need to share our best garden methods for making our smallest spaces most productive and not take our questions and advice elsewhere. In other words small space gardening is rather too important to make a separate forum. So I guess I'm not ambivalent after all.
Laurel

Laurel,
I can go for a forum dedIcated to maximum growing in small spaces.
Many don't have whole acres available, and could benefit from creative, successful growing tips from our own fellow DGers. How about a forum called "Maximized Vegetable Gardening"?

We should be clear on the forum we're asking the admins to create.

I think the concept of small space gardening covers raised bed, square foot, city lot, balconies with pots or yards with tractor tires. Small space is what it says and, I think, inclusive of themes and variations. I grow on many acres but have carrots in a 24" concrete ring. In our first home, a tiny cottage on a city lot, I grew what we fondly called "food among the flowers". I was a Yard Of The Month recipient by the local garden club at least once a season. There is a lot to be learned from small space gardeners but the information should be as inclusive as possible. So I think the topic should be Small Space which encompasses the gamut of possibilities.
Laurel

Got it! "Small Space Gardening"?

Great input! :)

I don't have too small of a space (not acres, either- I'm in suburbia...) but want to do raised beds and apply square foot gardening concepts. I don't know that I would look at a forum called "Small Space Gardening" because I would think it would be for rooftop gardens or city gardens. I have no problem with a different name (I think "Square Foot" is probably patented) but it would be great if it could sound a bit broader. That said, I can't think of anything right now! :).

One thing I saw that I'm excited to get the plans for and share was a pyramid shaped thing this kid made that had strawberries on each level. It was SO cool!!! I totally want to build one! :) He said he'd send me the plans but I haven't gotten anything thus far. I will get them though, and share a pix and the plans. It was the coolest thing...

Someone showed photos of all kinds of foods growing in their pyramid a few years ago. I can't remember who though. Maybe if you start a thread requesting pyramid planter info their will be responses. I believe she or her SO built it themselves.

Square foot gardening is a proprietary title but not a unique concept. There were books in the sixties and seventies geared to urban gardeners and the concept was called "small space gardening". I still have a book that Ortho published on the topic http://www.paperbackswap.com/Award-Winning-Small-Ortho/book/137865/

I don't think I will look on the forum "small space garden"

How about a name such as "Maximizing your garden space" ?

Hey everyone! I really like the original thought of SuzieR, her first posting caused me to jump right in. Isn't "Raised bed/square foot gardening" a good description? That can imply any size space, dont you all think? A gardener might have one small raised bed, or a dozen of them. They all need to be approached as individual small beds... and by the way, thanks to everyone for posting such wonderful websites.

Sorry, SusieR, spelled your name incorrectly before. Anyway, have you checked out some of the websites that manufacture and sell raised beds? Gorgeous. My husband and I ordered and installed them in our backyard when we moved to our new house 7 years ago. I wrecked my back from gardening on our former property. I know a lot of people are handy and construct their own raised beds...that isnt us! Our beds are 12 inches tall, just high enough so with some of these clever garden stools, the back is totally spared of stress. Aside from that , raised beds are beautiful, warm up earlier in Spring, drain well, easy to weed,etc.

Lottabeds,
You got some pictures of your raised beds you can post?

I like the concept of maximizing space. I do have acres, but I do not want to be overwhelmed by weeding. That happened to me when I started vegetable gardening. I complained to my husband how the bermuda grass was invading my vegetable garden. He said "you just need to hoe it everyday", can you believe that! I gave up and he decided to try his hand at it. He went and used the tiller and it really chopped that bermuda grass up (lol), it was a good crop of grass that year. The next year he started putting in my beds. He started out great but I have not had as many beds as I initially planned for, so I have to maximize my space to grow all of the plants I want to try!

westtngal - I sympathies with your battle with Burmuda grass. We have one small area to tackle, and then we're done! It will have taken five years to get it all out of here!

No such luck for me! Around here a noxious weed in the rest of the country is the grass that grows the best. What is really bad is that I am allergic to it. It doesn't kill me, just gives me sinus headache when the grass is mowed.

I used a modified SFG in a flat bed that was double dug. The extra depth allows closer planting and may have been how Mel started if the cover was a flat bed. I read about these technics in Mother Earth News about 30 yrs ago.

I have read and reread this posting several times and I think I’m beginning to get the concept of what you all are talking about. I have six 4’ x 8’ (sunken) raised beds which I have vowed to make better use of this year. Typical gardening in Helena Montana does not begin until June 15th, but I am too impatient to wait that long. Last year I purchased enough old heavy window panes to cover each of the six beds since my 1” x 4” framed plastic sheeting covers kept blowing off in spite of the 2” bricks laid on the four corners. I have been browsing DG for over a month gathering abstract ideas on what and how to plant these beds and like lottabeds, I am constantly rethinking the process every time I read something new.

Regardless of what you decide to call this forum I think it’s a fantastic idea to combine your ideas in one forum. I recall reading somewhere in the past that 100 square feet could feed a family of four. Sounded a bit optimistic to me, but from what I have gathered so far from your comments my raised beds could be virtually mini-gardens growing a large variety of crops instead of one or two which has been my practice in the past.

I’m in!

morgan

I am still waiting for my book on square foot gardening, but I have read about the basic concept in other places. There is an old history to what we are talking about. the concept of gardening in rows is fairly new, as recorded history goes, people used to plant more in blocks. I think it was in the 1800's that gardening in rows was considered the modern way, mainly for selling implements.

And, probably, cause gardening in rows looks a lot neater.

I'm not so much interested in neat as in getting the most yield from the small space I have available. I'm not discounting neat, though. But, push comes to shove, I'll take more veggies over beauty...