square foot (raised gardens)

Depends on when the first frost is, but Lettuce and Spinach you can pick early so I say go for it.

I need to get in and plant some garlic for next year...

Tony P.
 
OK, thanks guys. I do not have any row covers so I guess I am done for the year.

Looking forward to next year so I can learn from some mistakes.
 
It's closing in on spring whether you believe it or not. I just wanted to respark this thread so we can get some discussions going. I'm planning on building a few 4x4 raised beds filled with Mel's Mix. I'm just one person but I plan on growing extra to can for winter. I'm going to review Mel's book and start figuring out what I want to grow so I can get this party started.

By the way, if you're looking to get into it Mel Bartholemew's book is pretty informative. He makes it sound fairly easy (which I'm sure it's not quite that easy) but it's a good read and well thought out.
 
I always have a small garden like this to test new crops , I start indoors though well ahead of planting outside, then I acclimate them slowly and then transplant. You can do seeds for some plants directly outside though. Most good seed companies will give you a free guide. I use heirloom seeds and rotate , even save seeds for replanting. Its a great way to start, and I went from a 10x10 plot years ago up to a quarter of an acre soon to expand :) Biggest thing is Soil! once you got that down, you just need to worry about pests. I had a small fence about 3 ft high and then caught on camera a group of Does making dinner for themselves, now its a 5ft .....
 
ToddDubya said:
It's closing in on spring whether you believe it or not. I just wanted to respark this thread so we can get some discussions going. I'm planning on building a few 4x4 raised beds filled with Mel's Mix. I'm just one person but I plan on growing extra to can for winter. I'm going to review Mel's book and start figuring out what I want to grow so I can get this party started.

By the way, if you're looking to get into it Mel Bartholemew's book is pretty informative. He makes it sound fairly easy (which I'm sure it's not quite that easy) but it's a good read and well thought out.
Click to expand...

I am a big fan of Mel's SFG methods and have been using it with good success for a couple of years. Garden doesn't get a ton of sun so struggle with peppers and full size tomatoes - but the cherry tomatoes grow to 8 or 9' tall and the bean grow like crazy.

Ran out of time last year with the job so the garden went to seed (literally) in a few spots, but probably going to scale it back a bit this year
 
Just a thought. (Ive never heard of anyone doing this and there's probably a good reason for that, [laugh])

Any harm, or benefit to filling up some rain barrels with some of this snow and using it to irrigate a garden in the spring/summer? Figure theres a good amount of water just laying around now that could be put to a good use in the future. Probably not so much a concern for people using well water as it could possibly be to people who are trying to keep their water bill down.

Anyway, just figured I'd ask.
 
headednorth said:
Just a thought. (Ive never heard of anyone doing this and there's probably a good reason for that, [laugh])

Any harm, or benefit to filling up some rain barrels with some of this snow and using it to irrigate a garden in the spring/summer? Figure theres a good amount of water just laying around now that could be put to a good use in the future. Probably not so much a concern for people using well water as it could possibly be to people who are trying to keep their water bill down.

Anyway, just figured I'd ask.
Click to expand...

Supposedly sky-falling moisture has nitrogen (hence the "Poor Man's Fertilizer" meme).
 
If you or anybody else is intrested I will be teaching a 12 session series of classes on how to start and maintain a garden for beginners. The classes start the second week of April. Each class will be about a week ahead of your garden schedule. Learn how and when to start seeds. Garden styles, tools, composting, saving seed, harvest and long term storage of produce. Weed and bug I. D. Edible weeds and lots more. The classes will be in brimfieeld ma., ware ma., and barre ma. I've been farming for 20 years and managing old sturbridge villages historic plant collection for 5. Please feel free to pm me for more info. Good for you for starting a garden. It's an addiction.
 
Last year I did a few raise beds of peppers,tomatoes,husk cherries,green beans,lettuces and I even tried sweet potatoes without much success. This year Im making 2 barrel gardens. I saw these tower gardens that people have so I did some research and found the barrel garden. Looks promising.

Here they are below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufEQ6ZljJBE

Im gonna follow these plans...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdHqc4CFoZM
 
mousegunguy said:
If you or anybody else is intrested I will be teaching a 12 session series of classes on how to start and maintain a garden for beginners. The classes start the second week of April. Each class will be about a week ahead of your garden schedule. Learn how and when to start seeds. Garden styles, tools, composting, saving seed, harvest and long term storage of produce. Weed and bug I. D. Edible weeds and lots more. The classes will be in brimfieeld ma., ware ma., and barre ma. I've been farming for 20 years and managing old sturbridge villages historic plant collection for 5. Please feel free to pm me for more info. Good for you for starting a garden. It's an addiction.
Click to expand...

this sounds like a great class...unfortunately way too far away for me. do you know of any offerings like this in the northeastern part of the state? thanks.
 
lancecolonel said:
this sounds like a great class...unfortunately way too far away for me. do you know of any offerings like this in the northeastern part of the state? thanks.
Click to expand...

This. I started reading and was like "hell yeah", then I got to the locations and was bummed.
 
Anyone started up all ready?

I have to wait a few weeks until my hand is healed before I can get going.

This year to start I will be doing nothing but Roman and regular lettuce.

I will ill be added some watering lines to both beds and need to figure out some type of ground cover around the beds so the grass does not grow and I can get my wheelchair across it easily, think maybe some thin horse stall mat stuff.
 
Put up a 6x8 green house in addition to the existing 8 - 4'x8' beds and finished it up this weekend. I was amazed at the temperature rise once I put the gravel floor in.

Lettuce, kale, butternut squash, spinach and tomatoes in the green house awaiting the right temps to plant out.

More tomatoes and some peppers (germinating) under grow lamps and heat in the basement. Will probably start more lettuce to keep a rotation going.

Onion sets, garlic, turnips and radishes already in the garden (yeah, I know it's early)

Can't wait to have fresh veggies straight out of the garden again.
a42e8989328c922bd09386195545d2df.jpg

0839f653a8015646026e0eb564ff06de.jpg


Radishes poking through
91f21df55d1371767099ee07d571e405.jpg


Turnips - mostly for greens
83ff3091a0428b8164a72a42fbf42f2c.jpg
 
Last edited:
God I love Florida!

Corn is almost a foot tall, tomatoes (from seed) are chasing the corn, green beans are forming, and cucumbers are climbing.

Strangely my peppers have stalled since sprouting. Ive fertilized and watered frequently but they're just sitting there with their first leaves.
 
FREE >>>

I have some pvc pipe and fittings from an attempt to build a drip irrigation system for my Garden.

somewhat similar to this :
http://thewrinkleddollar.com/garden/drip-irrigation.html

We're putting the house up for sale and planning on moving South, so this stuff will either go into the landfill or to someone who can use it...

It's in southern NH ( brookline) and you'd have to pick it up.
First person who posts here and then PM or email me, can have it for free.

This was for a roughly 25x35 ft garden.

my email :

[email protected]
 
Anyone know what causes squash and cucumber plants to develop white spots on the leaves? Leaves don't have a dark green color but I don't think that it is to bad.
uploadfromtaptalk1430076247744.jpg

uploadfromtaptalk1430076301417.jpg
 
Will try the fish emulsion. Seed mix didn't have fertilizer but they were moved from small trays to pots with a large amount of leave compost mixed in.
I usually buy plants so I'm over my head.
 
Almost any type of squash can be stated outside directly in the garden and still have plenty of time to finish. If you wanna start them inside in pots try not to let them get big enough to develop tendrils. They don't seem to transplant or produce as well.
 
Went by an online calendar that gave dates to sow by zip code and used a heated tray with grow lights - Now I know that setup grows much faster than a tray by a window sill and I need to start later.

I may just move them into a bed and use row covers if it is going to get cold.

My tomatoes seem happy in the greenhouse though.

Thanks
 
Received my dripworks irrigation system today. It is supposed to be enough for 3 4x4 beds so I should be covered since I only have two. Hopefully I can get it installed by the end of next week.

Not sure if it to late to try and plant lettuce next week though. Today was the first day I could do any yard work stuff and worked on 3 of my apple trees.

---Not sure why I am not getting e-mails when new posts are made here but missed a bunch of them.
 

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