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Re: Brown Thumb in Utah with Questions

Square Foot Gardening List - http://myweb.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

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Welcome Sandy. I live in Utah too. Mel actually lives in Alpine now and
takes care the square foot garden at Thanksgiving Point.

> I've always wanted to grow something successfully.
Me too. I got started last May and it's working!

        Question 1:  Did you start with only one 4 foot by 4 foot square?
Or do you need two squares?  My husband says I should do at least two since
there are two of us (since my teenage daughter isn't going to help, I'm not
including her), but I don't know if that's too much for my first time.

I started with 4 squares (two adults, one toddler in my household) and I
will be expanding a little this year. Last year I wasted some of my space
because of inexperience (and I hadn't read the book.)

        Question 2:  I am uncertain about what to plant.  Mel says tomatoes,
beans, corn, lettuce, zucchini, cucumbers, and Swiss chard are the easiest.
Should I just stick with these?  Should I only try one type of plant for my
first time, such as tomatoes?

I never grow corn because it takes too much room and fresh corn is available
all over the place in Utah. Tomatoes also grow to be huge plants, but you
can't buy tomatoes like the ones you grow, so I do it anyway. I've decided
to not grow my tomatoes in boxes (I'll try the trench method) and place them
in full south-west because they need more heat than what they got last year.
Beware of how growing plants will shade the rest of your squares!

Herbs are also quite easy such as tyme, parsley. Onions are quite good too
and they should be planted now. Nurseries usually carry onion sets, all you
have to do is trim the roots and top, plant and keep the ground moist. Mine
have been in the ground almost a month now and have done great.

        Question 3:  To grow tomatoes vertically, I know I need to create a
frame of 1.5 inch black plastic pipe or metal pipe and attach string to it
for the tomatoes to grow on.  Have any of you built the trench Mel suggests
in his book and did it work well?

See #1.

        Question 4 (don't worry - this is the last question):  I looked at a
colored zone map and (if I picked my zone correctly) I believe our last
frost won't be over until June 1st.  In the meantime should I just set up my
4 by 4 and double dig adding whatever I can find in one of the local
nurseries to my clay soil?  Should I also start the seeds indoors now and
then transplant them when June arrives?  Or is it better for beginners to
start the seeds directly in the ground where they will grow rather than
transplant them?

Call your local extention to find out when last frost date is for your town
(in Mapleton it's May 15) http://www.ext.usu.edu/. Either buy great
vegetable dirt from a nursery (I got something called "Garden mix") to fill
your boxes, or use what you have and add some vermiculite, sand, and lots of
compost. I find it easiest to buy starters at nurseries (even Walmart and
Kmart have a wide selection.) Starting from seed outside is fine, but you
should plant right now because seeds take a long time to mature.

Feel free to ask more, there's a lot of good knowledge on this list,
although I am a mere beginner.

Annie Sargent
annie@esargent.org


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