Square Foot Gardening

Well, it's started ... the square foot gardening, that is. We set up six boxes on Saturday, and filled two with a mixture of vermiculite, spaghnum peat moss, and compost (equal parts by volume). The kids all helped in various ways - carrying bags to the site, getting tools, mixing, filling the boxes, and wetting down the planting mix. Unfortunately, the planting itself did not get done. By noon, I had run out of energy!

1. Getting the boxes in location and properly spaced. Thank goodness my hubby was around for this portion or I would've run out of steam much earlier. We lined the bottom of each box with landscape fabric before adding the soil-less mix.

2. Measuring out the 'mix' components onto the tarp. We used shovels to mix, but mostly used the tarp to 'roll' the mixture around to combine it. It was a lot of work, IMHO! After it was mixed, we shoveled and dumped it into the boxes. It seemed to take a lot more mix than I calculated.

3. Dash wet down 'his' SFG. This will be his 4-H gardening project. He'll be planting peppers, onions, lettuce, and beets. He'll be taking care of any weeds (there shouldn't be too many) and managing the watering.

4. Eva wetting down her SFG. She'll be planting sugar snap peas, carrots, red onions, and spinach in her plot. This will also be a 4-H project for her.

5. Before we plant, we'll be making a square foot grid in each box with nails and twine. The whole premise behind SFG is that each plant needs only a little space to produce. Marking out the grid helps to space plants and conserve space in your SFG. More pics later!