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Re: Help!!! More newbie Square foot gardening questions

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


Richard,

KISS principle always applies to gardens.

Fancy structures are always for ego appeal rather than functional need.

I started with 2" lumber (scrap, of course) and nailed together 4' sqs for
my 1st three beds. I have since added 2 more beds made of scrap 2X4s &4X4s
with the 3-1/2" as the width, much easier on the knees when working in them.
If you can accumulate the scrap and cut the lengths 3-1/2" longer than the
inside dimension to which you're working (ie for 4' sq cut all pieces 4'
3-1/2" long, for 4'X6' cut half the pieces 6' 3-1/2" long) I would stick
with 4X4 or 4X6 and plan to have at least five of them. This makes rotation
much easier.

When you nail the courses together, overlap the joints, one course right
hand, the next left hand. with this system you can start with 2 courses and
add 1 each year, thus controlling your expense for soil, etal. You may add
one course each year until you reach the best height for you. Cheap & easy.
When the scrap lumber rots so badly as to be nonfunctional, tear the module
apart and do it over with more scrap.

Now is the Ideal time to do this. Build 2 courses for each bed, lay down an
inch or two of cow manure, cover with an 8 page thickness of newspaper and
cover that with 1-2" of grass clippings. You can do this right on top of
grass and it will be ready to plant in the Spring.

I did the above with a bed into which I planted Potatoes and added straw
mulch as the plants grew. I have harvested about 8 gallons of potatoes from
8 plants. No weeds! The Potatoes do a great job of breaking up the soil with
their roots making this a true "no-till" method.

Regards,
DT (aka Dore Tyler)  dee_tee@msn.com
Doing his own thing in the privacy of his own garden.
USDA Zone 8b, Tacoma, WA


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