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Re: new to sqft gardening...have ??

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


"rachel M" wrote to All on [03/12/2000]:

> I'm new to the list and to gardening all together.  I was wondering if it
> matters what seeds you get......what I mean is are the 10 for $1 junk or can
> you use them with success most of the time?  I can't believe the cost of
> some of these seeds nowadays.

I use both the name brand seeds an the 10 cents a packet American Seed
brand with equal success. I guess the more expensive brand has a larger
selection. Perhaps the higher price seeds have better quality control.
Burpee packages their seeds in a moisture sealed foil packet which is
nice for long time storage.

> Also I am planning on doing 3 squares for my family of 6...3 adults and 3
> small children, does that sound like enough?

Do you have The sqft gardening book? Mel writes about that matter. Do
you plan on growing for salad only? canning/freezing? or large area
crops like corn or squash?

> Thirdly, any suggestions on keeping the deer out minus the 8 foot fence????

I haven't had to deal with that. Perhaps netting for some sort.


> And lastly any suggestions on beds, I have clay like soil but am wondering
> if I should do raised beds or not and if so, any suggestions on what to make
> them out of would be great.

I'm installing cinder block raised beds with red brick cap. The finished
planting area is  7' x 3'. So far I've built two and I'm working on
installing 4 more 7'x 3' and (4) 3'x 3' planters. I'm going to give
each of my kids their own planter for their own garden. I took the time
to run 1/2" pvc water line in each bed for a drip watering system. Most
raised beds are constructed out of wood and can look quite nice. With cinder
block, the block width use a lot of space. For instance, the overall
dimension of the 3'x'7' beds is actually 4'x 8'. I used 6" block and it
eats up one foot of width. The brick cap takes an additional 3" However,
the cinder block finished with stucco look very nice and will last for a
very long time. Depending on the wood you use, my guess is wooden raised
beds will last tens years max.


jh -

 * WCE 2.1G1/2241 *


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