I measured wrong. You should've seen the look on my husband's face when he measured the space that I said was 11 feet and found out that it was more like 14 feet. Just goes to show that I shouldn't measure spaces by myself. From now on, someone will be there with me to make sure my brain is working!
Can y'all say "Ugh!" ??
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
How Many Square Feet?
When I started tilling the soil yesterday, I was working with the garden space that the previous owner had designated. In terms of square feet, it looked something like this:
There are curves in the landscaping, so this representation is not accurate but it's close. If I were gardening all this space, I would have about 84 square feet. However, I don't know how I would reach every square foot. Accessing the garden from the north end would be difficult because of the hill. Take a look again at the landscaping.
Can you see the board and the chicken-wire fence? That's the north side of the garden. The landscaping above there is at a slope. If I decided to put climbing plants on the north side, then I definitely wouldn't be able to access the garden from the north side.
Mel suggests 4 feet wide at the most for a square foot garden because that's the depth that most people can reach into from either side. I had 6 feet with access from one side, maybe two. I wouldn't be able to reach all of the garden, and if I add a path, then I lose square footage.
I talked it over with my husband, and we agreed that I would add more garden space on the north side, so I removed the board and chicken-wire fence and started digging. Now the space looks like this:
And I can add a path and more square feet. When I get the boards in to hold back the hill and designate the path, the garden should look something like this:
The total square footage should be 93 square feet. Did I do the math right?
Now to get the boards in before it rains!
Can you see the board and the chicken-wire fence? That's the north side of the garden. The landscaping above there is at a slope. If I decided to put climbing plants on the north side, then I definitely wouldn't be able to access the garden from the north side.
Mel suggests 4 feet wide at the most for a square foot garden because that's the depth that most people can reach into from either side. I had 6 feet with access from one side, maybe two. I wouldn't be able to reach all of the garden, and if I add a path, then I lose square footage.
I talked it over with my husband, and we agreed that I would add more garden space on the north side, so I removed the board and chicken-wire fence and started digging. Now the space looks like this:
And I can add a path and more square feet. When I get the boards in to hold back the hill and designate the path, the garden should look something like this:
Now to get the boards in before it rains!
What Kind of Soil?
I wonder if Mel will approve... Mel has a great method for starting Square Foot gardens. I absolutely love his book All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space! And I would love to follow his advice to the letter, but...
Today, another homeschooling mom and I were working in the garden. I rented a tiller to break up the soil, then we weeded.
I know that Mel says not to deal with the existing soil but instead to build up with boxes. But my landscaping is so nice! I don't want to see boxes sitting on top of the retaining wall. I just want to see the retaining wall and my vegetables! And because I live in a neighborhood with a covenant, I really don't have any other place in my yard for a vegetable garden.
The previous owner had a vegetable garden in the spot that we weeded today, and the soil is pretty good--well, at least it is not Georgia clay!
Here are pictures of the garden before we weeded today.
I had considered digging out all the dirt to a depth of 6 inches (I could feel my muscles ache before I even started!) and replacing it with Mel's Mix, but I'm finding that choice to be cost-prohibitive and improbable to accomplish.
Mel's Mix is Mel's suggested soil composition of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 blended compost. The peat moss and vermiculate make the soil airy, able to drain well, yet able to hold water. The compost provides the nutrients.
I found peat moss pretty easily. I found at least two kinds of organic compost, and I'm working on making my own. But vermiculite has been difficult to locate. I did finally find some at Lowe's, and bought all they had. Their vermiculite comes in small 8 oz bags for just under $4 per bag.
Frankly, I don't think I have the money or even enough vermiculite to make enough Mel's Mix for the whole garden. So, I decided to weed and then add in Mel's Mix and another organic soil that contains Mel's ingredients.
The down side? I will likely have more weeding to do! And my soil may not be as good as it would be if I started fresh with just Mel's Mix.
Hmm... I guess all I can do is try gardening this way this year and see what happens. As my girlfriend in Minnesota says, "You are thinking too much --- you geek. You should just try it. That's half the fun."
Today, another homeschooling mom and I were working in the garden. I rented a tiller to break up the soil, then we weeded.
I know that Mel says not to deal with the existing soil but instead to build up with boxes. But my landscaping is so nice! I don't want to see boxes sitting on top of the retaining wall. I just want to see the retaining wall and my vegetables! And because I live in a neighborhood with a covenant, I really don't have any other place in my yard for a vegetable garden.
The previous owner had a vegetable garden in the spot that we weeded today, and the soil is pretty good--well, at least it is not Georgia clay!
Here are pictures of the garden before we weeded today.
I had considered digging out all the dirt to a depth of 6 inches (I could feel my muscles ache before I even started!) and replacing it with Mel's Mix, but I'm finding that choice to be cost-prohibitive and improbable to accomplish.
Mel's Mix is Mel's suggested soil composition of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 blended compost. The peat moss and vermiculate make the soil airy, able to drain well, yet able to hold water. The compost provides the nutrients.
I found peat moss pretty easily. I found at least two kinds of organic compost, and I'm working on making my own. But vermiculite has been difficult to locate. I did finally find some at Lowe's, and bought all they had. Their vermiculite comes in small 8 oz bags for just under $4 per bag.
Frankly, I don't think I have the money or even enough vermiculite to make enough Mel's Mix for the whole garden. So, I decided to weed and then add in Mel's Mix and another organic soil that contains Mel's ingredients.
The down side? I will likely have more weeding to do! And my soil may not be as good as it would be if I started fresh with just Mel's Mix.
Hmm... I guess all I can do is try gardening this way this year and see what happens. As my girlfriend in Minnesota says, "You are thinking too much --- you geek. You should just try it. That's half the fun."
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Dirt Dessert
I have a garden space dilemma. While I figure out how to show the problem to you, you can enjoy my dirt dessert recipe. Here is the dirt dessert that my boys and I made for my homeschool co-op class.
When I served this dirt dessert, I wore brand-new gardening gloves, and I used a brand-new trowel to serve it up. I had a couple of the kids going: "Are you really going to make us eat dirt?"
Here's the recipe:
Here's the recipe:
8 oz softened cream cheese
½ cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
Mix and set aside
2 x 3-1/2 oz packages of vanilla instant pudding (I used chocolate)
3-1/2 cups milk
Mix together and then add the first mixture.
Stir in 13 oz. Cool Whip (what they sell now is a little different quantity)
Crush 20 oz pkg of Oreo cookies. (I used the ones with chocolate cream filling, which they didn’t have back when I got this recipe.) Also, I crushed some of the cookie parts separate from the filling so that I was sure that the top layer looked like dirt.
Alternately layer cookies and pudding mixture in 8” flower pot, making sure to end up with cookie mixture on top. Garnish with gummi worms (which I put into the pudding mixture) and silk flowers—it really was a fake flower! Serve with a garden spade and wearing garden gloves.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Just Getting Started
Join me in my gardening adventure! I'm a novice gardener who recently moved from Minneapolis, MN (zone 4) to just south of Atlanta, GA (zone 7), and I'm ready to move the red Georgia clay out of the vegetable garden!
A few years ago in Minnesota, I toyed with raised bed gardening and had good results. This year in Georgia, I've volunteered my little garden as a community garden with my homeschool co-op, and I'm getting serious about Square Foot Gardening, a term popularized by Mel Bartholomew.
I started this blog as a journal of my gardening successes and misadventures. I also wanted a place where my mom (who is in Minnesota) could check out what I'm doing and make suggestions. One or two of my girlfriends back in Minnesota are also gardening using Bartholomew's methods, and I might convince them to join the conversation here.
Yesterday was a beautiful day here--it got up to 80 degrees. One of the other homeschool moms and her son joined me in transplanting the strawberries and removing rocks and bricks from the vegetable garden. I wish I had taken a before picture because it doesn't look like we did much!
Tomorrow, I'll go take a picture so that you can see the space I'm talking about. In the mean time, check out the photos of my backyard.
A few years ago in Minnesota, I toyed with raised bed gardening and had good results. This year in Georgia, I've volunteered my little garden as a community garden with my homeschool co-op, and I'm getting serious about Square Foot Gardening, a term popularized by Mel Bartholomew.
I started this blog as a journal of my gardening successes and misadventures. I also wanted a place where my mom (who is in Minnesota) could check out what I'm doing and make suggestions. One or two of my girlfriends back in Minnesota are also gardening using Bartholomew's methods, and I might convince them to join the conversation here.
Yesterday was a beautiful day here--it got up to 80 degrees. One of the other homeschool moms and her son joined me in transplanting the strawberries and removing rocks and bricks from the vegetable garden. I wish I had taken a before picture because it doesn't look like we did much!
Tomorrow, I'll go take a picture so that you can see the space I'm talking about. In the mean time, check out the photos of my backyard.
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