My Square Foot Garden

My 4' x 4' garden box has been assembled!

I placed the garden bed on the south side of our house to get as much sunlight as possible. I also put it right up against the house, in hopes of discouraging deer from dining on my vegetables. The box is made of 1x6 boards, and 1/2x2 boards form the grid. Instead of using topsoil, I mixed together "Mel's Mix," which is suggested in Square Foot Gardening. It's 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost and 1/3 vermiculite. This mix is supposed to hold moisture well, without compacting. Vermiculite can be difficult to find, and I had to buy several small bags at Lowes. If anyone knows of a place to buy it in larger bags, let me know!

I planted my cool weather veggies in the new gardening box. I transplanted my sugar snap peas. My lettuce seedlings all died, so I planted more seeds directly in the box, hoping they will grow. I also planted my red onion bulbs. The tomato and pepper seedlings will need to wait for another month or so. Each square in the box is a square foot. Tomato and pepper plants can only be planted one per square. However, peas and lettuce can be planted 4 per square, and the onions 8 per square. The square foot method is supposed to use less space than the traditional method of planting in rows. And because you never walk directly on the soil, you also spend less time working the soil.

I discovered this weekend that our apple tree is blooming. I planted this tree as a seedling and this is the first year that it has put on blooms. It will be interesting to see if it produces anything resembling an apple this year!