Square Foot Gardening?

Is there a way to combine the practice of permaculture with square foot gardening? I would think this would be an easier way to design the permaculture zones in one's yard. In our new house the lot is 5500 square feet. So we still consider it relatively small. Any thoughts?

paranoid -

Cat and I put in our SFG beds this year and we are having great success so far.  We built 8 4' x 4' x 12" high beds and laid them out in the yard where they get the most sun.  Invest a little in a good organic compost/dirt mix.  We put weed barriers down to kill the grass underneath - I figure if anything grows up through 12" of compost it deserves to live.

You can also take advantage of limited space by planting in large pots.  We have several lettuce varieties and a bunch of herbs in pots and it's not much more than a walk out to the patio to snip some herbs or a salad or both.

We'll try to get some pics posted soon.

Oh, I forgot to say that worms like to eat the cardboard, and you know how good worms are for your garden.  We also got some coffee grounds from local Starbucks, and added them.  Our neighbors laugh and say we will have the only bed that is growing expresso.  :>)

Steve -

Are you going to try out the "chicken moat" Becca talked about at Lowesville? 

Good luck with your SFG. 

Cat and I have been eating daily salads that are literally minutes old.  Sometimes we feel like expecting parents - run out each morning to see what new veggie is coming up.

The blueberries and strawberries are ripening, the black currant and white currant have lots of green berries, the thornless blackberry has one fruit, several flowers and lots of unopened buds.  The grape tomatoes are coming along well and the beets and carrots would be doing fine if I could keep the dog out of the beds.

That chicken moat is a great idea, but I'm a ways off from getting chickens. I think it was Cat mentioning SFG in the agriculture thread a month or so ago that that got me started on this. Thanks! A friend gave us some strawberry plants and we have some berries forming. I may become a gardener after all!

On a side note, a neighbor is letting a farmer use part of his field to grow organic vegetables. He needed to use my other neighbor's tractor to plow, but a hydraulic line blew out. I came in and fixed it, so I think I'm in line to reap some vegetative benefits. Kinda neat to have some community action spring up just after coming back from Lowesville! My neighbor is going " hate to have you work on this" and I'm going "no, no this is what it's all about". I got a fried chicken dinner out of it too!

The simple answer is "Yes". Square Foot, Biointensive, Raised Bed, and Permaculture all have the same basic tenets... grow as much as can in the least amount of space, with as much natural biodiversity as possible, interplanting compatible species as much as possible in a layering effect as you would find in nature. All the different techniques are completely secondary... and, from my own experience, entirely dependent on your climate, needs and resources.  For instance, the raised beds I work are themselves smaller versions of permaculture layers (short in front, tall in back; sun-lovers in the front facing south, shade lovers in the understory), incorporating various SFG and Biointensive techniques depending on what's planted... each bed has several densely planted clusters companion and succession planted with other compatible plants. Annuals get rotated, while perrenials and bushes/trees stay put.  In the end, it's all about management - knowing what grows well together in your area, what shouldn't be planted together, and what things need to be planted and rotated (and on which schedule) in order to maximize production and reduce disease/pests.

Potatos can be grown in two ways. From actual potato seeds produced by the plant flowers and by planting "seed potatoes" which are just chunks of potatoes that have eyes on them.  By far, seed potatos are the most successful and easiest to grow. They also are genetic clones, so you pretty much know exactly what you're getting. Potatos seeds are not usually as successful or easy to grow plants from and the first year usually have horrible yields. Also, potatoes do not breed true from seed... so even if you have perfect potatos one year, you can't guarantee that you'll get the same result the next year, even if you do manage to collect and preserve the seed pods (which is a PITA!).

Best advice for ease is to plant a chunk (seed potato) of known-good potato that has 3-5 eyes on it. You will need a deep bed since the potatos grow underground on the roots which are usually the same depth/length as the aboveground plant. Many people have been successful growing potatoes in crates, barrels or stacks of used tires filled with soil or straw. Potatos are pretty easy to grow in almost all climates if you get the right varieties for your region (check with your local cooperative extension), but they can be really prone to disease (scab, blight, mildew) and pests (root maggots, wireworms, beetles) so need to be properly rotated and interplanted, etc.

I started the SFG this year as well and have had great success thus far.  I will say that if you're trying to use the SFG Corp. units you may be disappointed in the customer service and the actual product that they will send.  I've heard horror stories.  They've gotten too busy too fast to keep up and the actual boxes are not good.  Build your own and you'll be happy.  Myself, I have 3 12'x12'x12" boxes that have 20 individual boxes in each.  Half on one box is dedicated to Corn and it's going nuts.  Broccoli, Califlower, Tomatoes, Cu cs, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Chives/Green Onion, Beets, Carrots, Zucs, Yellow Squash, Brussel Sprouts, Basil, Dill, Cilantro, Oregano, Cabbage (red and green), I can't remember the rest.  EVERYTHING is growing outstanding.  If you do this make sure you use trellis for both peas, beans, cucs and anything else that vines and isn't too heavy.  You gain a huge amount of space by doing this.  It's really a great idea and enjoyable to watch the work go to good use.  Can't wait to start harvest and canning.

Good luck!

Given the nature of square foot gardening, growing different plants in very close proximity to each other  I thought this article was helpful.

Cat

PROBLEM SOLVERS
Michigan State University Extension
Oakland County
COMPANION PLANTING

Through the years gardeners have observed that some plants
grow well together, while others do not. This list presents
traditional companions (plants that have compatible growth
habits and share space well), allies (plants that enhance growth
and ward off insects), and enemies (plants that deter good
growth). As you plan the garden, try some of the beneficial
pairings and see if they bring you good results.

Link to PDF file, www.msue.msu.edu/objects/content_revision/download.cfm/item_id.207798/workspace_id.-30/OC0237%20Companion%20Planting.pdf/

great thread, had to tag. thanks guys

The funny thing here at home is that the garden has been therapy .    This is our first  real attempt to try and feed the family  plus have some to share . Everyday we are busy preserving something .  Right now  we got 6 bushel of spaghetti squash that we were not ready for and need to get shelving built .The tomatoes bring in a bushel a week . ( Good thing they are easy to can !) ,  Need to get the potatoes dug and the carrots but the beans don't quit and the weeds are getting ahead of us!!!!

We put the horses out on pasture for the summer , threw some pumpkin seeds out  in the coral and now we have a jungle  . I should have thrown some corn in there too because the ditch-weed is twenty foot high  and we had to whack out a path to get back to the bucket calves for their feedings . 

We  ended up ordering canning lids by the case and going to every auction to buy more jars .    Yes our efforts have been  blessed and doing something feels better than sitting around worrying about things it seems we have no power to change.

Two weeks ago we put in the fall garden . It is all up now!     I  think we will be ready for the winter rest  time .

Cat asked me to type up a synopsis of our SFG endeavor this year.  Here goes - I think she is getting some pics ready.

This was a lot of fun and a lot of work.  We had done some token gardening in the past, a couple of tomato plants, a few peppers, etc.  with limited success.

We decided to go all in with SFG this year and so we did.  Building the boxes, placing the boxes, estimating sun coverage, etc.  was all part of the equation.  (Note to potential SF Gardeners who are married to Interior Designers, just surrender up front and put the damn boxes where she says to)

We had a pretty ambitious mix of plantings and used the companion planting guide outlined in Mel Bartholomew's book as far as herbs and flowers and other hoo hahs.

Good mulch/dirt is key.  If I had to do it over again, I would buy a few thousand red wriggler worms and chuck them in before we started planting.

We had Green and Red Bell peppers, Black Beauties, Sweet and Hot Banana peppers, Jalapeno and Anaheims.  We lost a few plants but once the hot, nasty July-August SE Virginia weax set in, they really started producing.  We planted some of the peppers a little early, but overall I give us a B+ on peppers.

Beans - we planted Green Pole beans, Wax beans and Purple Beuaty bush beans.  Great success with the Purple Beauties and Wax beans, not so much with the green beans, although it wasn't too bad.

Tomatoes - (I have no idea what we planted) - Grapes, Cherry, Celebrity, Big/Better Boy, Sweet 100s, some kind of purple stripey thingie tomato.  We learned a lot here - we got some splitting of the fruits because of too much watering too fast, but are really getting a lot of good 'maters now.  SE Virginia had a bad outbreak of Early and Late blight and septoria.  We had a touch of early blight/septoria and aggressively treated the plants with copper soap solution and won that battle - be forewarned, the copper solution is expensive at ~$20.00 per treatment and we needed three treatments.  Had a brief fling with tomato worms, but fortunately the Virginia state bird is the cardinal and cardinals love tomato worms.  We were first cued to the fact that we had tomato worms when we saw a bunch of cardinals hopping around the plants - thinking they were eating the tomatoes, we investigated, and found some very large worms - aparently the cardinals get spooked by a worm as long as your thumb and left them alone.  I did not get spooked and I cut them (the worms) in half and left the body parts out for the birds who happily took me up on my offerings.  We are having a huge late (I think) crop similar to what Steve talked about in his post, but it may be a SE Virginia thing.

Lettuce - Arugula, Mesclun, others.  Great success - we have been eating our lettuce since May.

Nasturtium - these are cool.  You can eat the whole thing, leaf, flower and all.  They are spicy and are great in salads.  The dried up flowers can be crushed and used as a pepper substitute.  They are easy to grow and spread like wildfire.

Herbs - no description of mine will do it justice.  Cat's herbs are masterpieces of landscaping, planting, gardening, visual and culinary architecture.  Thai basil, African Blue basil, Sweet basil, Dill, Marjoram, Lavendar, Rosemary, Lemon Verbena, Chive, four kinds of thyme, Stevia, Lemon Balm, Parsley, Cilantro, and some other stuff I've never heard of  - the whole backyard smells like an Italian Grandmother's kitchen after she finishes cutting herbs.

Zucchini/Squash - this part was painful.  We had beatiful heirloom seed plants for both.  We lost all of our squash plants to squash bugs and half of our zukes.  I hate those little sap-sucking bas...., er, critters, and took great pleasure in squishing them (hence their name I suppose?) since there is no insecticidal treatment that works.  We are getting great zukes now, but only got one yellow crookneck before the bugs got the plants.  We also lost all four of our spaghetti squash.  Lesson learned - when you see what looks like a stink bug on your squash, grab it, squeeze it and go over every leaf looking for eggs.  They lay eggs on the underside of the leaves, close to the center or along a large vein.  I took a sharp knife and cut the whole section of leaf out.  Another sign that the bugs are sucking sap out of the plant is when they have a droopy or wilt appearance.  At first we thought they needed watering, but in hindsight it was due to squash bugs and we probably could have saved most of the plants.  Next year is mine - I have declared a GWOSqB - Global War On Squash Bugs.

Cukes - we planted Lemon cukes, Armenian cukes and regular old cukes.  We lost the regular cukes to squash bugs and wilt, but the Armenian and Lemon cukes are doing well.  Didn't have any trouble with cucumber beetles, but I did find more than a few squash bugs on our cukes.  The Lemon cukes are the best tasting cukes I have ever had and are going to be a centerpiece in next year's garden.

Ichiban Eggplant - these were so freakin cool.  Once we got them in the right box for sun exposure they went nuts - they are slender eggplants, similar in shape and size to a curved armenian cuke and are very tasty.  Cat did up a killer eggplant-beef-rice dish. 

Carrots/Radishes - we planted them too close and didn't thin them out enough, but what we did get was tasty and we know what to do next time around.

Beets, cabbage, brussells sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli - we learned that these are fall plantings in Virginia.  Had a lot of trouble with cabbage loopers  - buy BT and wage biological  warfare on them.  We have nursed the surviving plants along through the summer and they are starting to really take off.  Should be cutting some brussells sprouts in the next few weeks.  Also have one softball sized cabbage on our only surviving cabbage plant.  Our fall garden plantings of broccoli, b. sprouts, cauliflower are sprouting inside in growing cups and we should be doing our fall planting in 3-4 weeks.  Or whenever Cat tells me to.

Wonderberry - Cat covered this in an earlier post of hers somewhere.  These guys are cool - very tasty when cooked, (87 cups of sugar might have something to do with it).  Very low maintenance too - lots of berries, impervious to bugs and the birds stay away from the berries.  A word of caution - the Wonderberry is in the same family as Black and Deadly Nightshade and the green berries are poisonous raw.  They have glycoalkaloids in them that are hallucinogenic.  Atropine and Scopolamine are derived from the Nightshade berries and if eaten in sufficient quantity can kill you.  One source said 10-20 berries of the Deadly Nightshade can kill an adult and 2-5 berries can kill a child.  So don't eat green Wonderberries and everything's good.

Sweet potatoes - they are growing all over the backyard, spilling out of the boxes and climbing the fence, azaleas and wisteria and we expect a pretty good yield.

Thornless Apache Blackberries - no thorns, very heavily fruited and boy does it grow.  Check online for pruning tips.  Huge fruits and very tasty.  You will compete with the birds for these guys.

Strawberries - they are weeds in the part of Virginia where we live and grow everywhere.  We get enough each spring and with all the local growers, it really is more cost efficient to go out and pick your own.  At the same time we will keep our plantings going just in case.

Blueberries - we have three, two-year old plants, and got a few berries this year, left most for the birds, but are expecting lots of berries next season.

Black Currants, White Currants - these were experiments this year.  We got a lot of fruits from each, but had some issues with spotting and blight.  There is a lot of new growth so I am hopeful that they will recover and will be even more productive next year.

I am sure I forgot something - Cat will correct me.

Overall it was a lot of fun, a lot of hard work and we learned a lot.  Cat and I have a nice routine where we take morning and evening walks through the backyard to check on "the kids".  When we see a new zuke, cuke or bean or whatever coming in, it's almost like being a new parent except we know that the Lemon cukes aren't going to poop in a diaper.

I forget who mentioned it here on the site, but one of the regulars here told us that our garden was going to be an experiment and sometimes your experiment gets eaten by somebody else.

So it was, but we are one year wiser and are looking forward to our fall planting and next spring.  Hopefully in the time it took me to compose this post Cat got our pics up - if not, we'll get them up soon.

Re post #24

Some pictures from the Dogs and Cat garden... If you wish, more can be seen at my photostream at Flickr, just search,"garden." 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41761556@N08/

Cat

Jeff,

Thank you, the garden has been a joy.  Strangely enough, I am also enjoying cooking more...  I know it is due to the fresh veggies straight from the garden.

I remember a previous post about your salsa recipe, I know you posted the recipe somewhere.  Would you please repost in the, Recipes for Food and Drink Thread? 

http://www.peakprosperity.com/forum/recipes-food-and-drink/20155

Thank you,

Cat

My kids are trying new veggies too that they pick for themselves, that they wouldn't eat otherwise.

More thoughts...

Carrots, radishes:  I've found easiest for me is plant 16 seeds per square foot (4 x 4), being careful to do just one seed per spot so I don't have to thin later.  Pelletized carrot seeds may be worth the slight extra cost for the ease of effort compared to handling tiny carrot seeds.  Napoli carrots from Johnnysseeds.com do great for me in cooler New England weather.

Beets: One seed is actually a cluster that becomes several seedlings.  I periodically thin the greens for salads, ending up with one plant per sot for root crop.

Onions:  I thinned these earlier in the summer and on a whim stuck the thinnings in an open raised bed; it worked, these all grew into onions too!

Mulch/weed prevention:  past gardens have been total weed disasters.  I used to use hay for mulch but it seems to just contribute more weed seeds.  I've had good luck using very well composted soil on top with minimal weed production, and the weeds that do sprout are easy to pull out.  I put down a few layers of newspapers on some raised beds and that worked well too.  Also, the SFG method of organization helps you tell your veggie plants from the weeds.  A little bit a daily maintenance is more fun than catching up on weeding once per month.

Chard, spinach, lettuce, parsely etc.:  I just clip the largest leaves nightly as desired for salads and fresh new leaved grow back quickly.  Let the garden bed be your storage spot, not the refridgerator and not the supermarket.

Time constraints?  Since my available time window is often after dark, a high power LED headlamp is very useful to get gardening chores done.  Nicer way to spend your evening anyway than in front of a computer or TV.

Tom