Making Progress On The Square Foot Garden

Progress on the Square Foot Garden

Here is a photo of the garden before this years expansion began (April 2008). It's a bit messy and disorganized but it will help to show the progress that is being made.

The frames (boxes) were built last year, 2007, they sat through the winter waiting for the spring and for us to mix the soil (Mel's Mix), and fill them. You can see the bags of soil, compost and peat moss all stacked up toward the rear of the garden. The bags are up on a platform that I hope to clear off and remove completely before this season is over. I look forward to turning it into more growing space. Hopefully the platform portion of the garden will be established as growing space before the summer is over and will be ready for planting in 2009. There is also a hidden section of raspberries in the back that I hope to expand this summer.

Preparation

This photo is a little closer perspective on area we have prepared for two of the Square Foot Garden Frames, we have cut the grass down as close to the roots as we could with the string trimmer in preparation for the new frames.

Weed Blocking Material

Here is my pile of corrugated cardboard, it is my weed block product of choice (it does contain some corn products but, so far it has not created problems for me and I will only use it for the establishment of the beds, never again). I got it at the Warehouse location of the Sterling Appliance Company, it's just off of W. Ox Rd (606). They were happy to let me take my pick of the pile of boxes to bring home for my garden making. This stuff makes a great weed block for underneath my Square Foot Gardens, it blocks the weeds the first year and then it breaks down and any new plants can work their roots down deep into the earth if they like. The price is right and it keeps it out of the land fill. (Note the seedlings in the wagons in the background, waiting for the gardens to be completed)

A Little Insurance (maybe)

We stapled chicken wire to the bottom of the frames, hoping that if any critters try to come up from underneath to get the roots it will stop them. I would have preferred to use hardware cloth but, I did not have any so, we used what we had. I'm hoping it'll keep us from having problems in the long run. For this photo we held up a sheet behind the frame as it laid on it's side, I wanted you to be able to see the chicken wire and how it looked once we stapled it on. The chicken wire we had was a narrow (2 ft. wide) roll so, we ran sections from short side to short side and overlapped it as we went. Again, we were making do with what we had on hand. (we have freecycle to thank for the chicken wire donation)

Ready To Go!

Here's a picture of one of the frames, all settled in, on top of the weed block/corrugated cardboard, chicken wire attached to the bottom, all lined up with the other already established frame (2007 - you can see one corner of it in this photo). I have set three of my tiles in between the frames (they will be carefully set in place later, to block the weeds permanently) and to be sure I get the spacing between frames even and square. Making the garden "easy on the eyes" is one of my long term goals. I am doing all of that "extra work" now for us and for the neighbors. I want my garden to be a joy not just another job. I also continue to work on making the garden as maintenance free as possible. I have lots of other things to stay busy with besides this vegetable patch! There's canning and dehydrating and picnics and flowers and...

Ready To Quit For The Day

Here are three of the frames, all ready to be filled. There is one frame left to take care of, making a total of 4 new frames, We will have 7 frames in all. Before we mix soil, we still have one frame left to prepare. First, empty the bags of mulch out of it (they were stored there over the winter months) then install the chicken wire, then lay the cardboard down, space it with the tiles, then, at long last, we will fill all four frames with Mels' mix. Hopefully we will be able to get these done this weekend. I have some seedlings waiting (see the wagons in previous postings) that will be much happier in the garden than they are waiting in their tiny little pots. I hope to have most of the seedlings I have on hand, planted by Monday in this, the SFG (Square Foot Garden), and the upside down garden too. It's good to have a plan. I wonder if we will really get all of it done?

From Above

Here is an aerial shot of a portion of the garden, waiting for the weekend work detail, when the rain is scheduled to end. I don't mind a bit of gardening in the rain but, mixing the soil, Mel's Mix, for gardens in the rain is a bit too much like making mud pies for me.

I will try and take more aerial shots as the progress continues and the growing season progresses. Hopefully this will provide a good overview for you and for me. I am hopeful I can find another, better aerial vantage point.

The round planters in the lower portion of this last photo, are actually placed in the front of the garden. The far left pot is a blueberry bush that is just getting started, we got a few blooms this spring so, there will likely be a few berries. The other larger potted bush is the gooseberry bush and the two pots on either side are planned for rooting two more gooseberry bushes. I hope to have plenty of gooseberries to harvest one day.

At the top of the photo, far right corner is the raspberry patch.

For Readers in, Loudoun County, Virginia -
Cardboard Info: Available (call first 703-450-4436) to be sure they have some available for pick up. Sterling Appliance Warehouse at, 22854 Bryant Road. Take Rte. 28 to West Ox (Rte 606) Follow thru, at 2nd stop light, turn right onto Cedar Green. You follow Cedar green down and around, it will come to a Y (not a big obvious Y but a smaller more subtle Y) you will stay left, follow that road around and thru to the back, to another parking lot. If you look at the inside corner, you will see the office. The Unit Number is 107. Check in with the office first (in fact if you call ahead and tell them what you need, they may have boxes set aside, just for you!. The dumpster is only for corrugated so, it is likely that there is styrofoam and strapping pieces etc. in one of the large boxes. Please place any Styrofoam in this box or another box, leaving the dumpster free of anything but corrugated. For you early birds, the warehouse is open at 8:30 am - 5 pm, Monday - Friday. (BTW, they are great folks to deal with! Consider checking with them if you need new appliances. Towncenter Plaza, Drainesville and Rte. 7)