RE: my first sqft garden

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

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Hi Holly (and others),

This was my first year square foot gardening (or just gardening) and my
results were similar to yours. The tomatoes started off well until the heat
and dry weather set in. They're just now making a come back. The cucumbers
did well up until mid July and have been dying a slow death since, even
though I kept up with picking the cucmbers and watering them regularly. My
acorn squash did quite well until the first part of July, at which point it
went from a healthy green to a sickly, wilted yellow in about a week's time.
The green peppers were slow producing until recently and now all my plants
are loaded up with them. The cayannes never missed a beat all summer,
although they didn't get very big during the heat of the summer. My
cantaloupes didn't do as well as I would liked them too. I had one last week
that was getting close until I saw that something ate into it. I went out
early the following morning and saw numerous slugs feasting on it. The pole
beans hang in there during the heat but don't do as well without some
regular rain. And to top it all off, I've found I have a resident garter
snake visiting my garden. This first year has been a learning experience and
I'm already planning improvements for next year.

Jeff
Lynchburg, Va

> -----Original Message-----
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Well everyone is being pretty quiet, so I'll speak up. <g>
>
> This year was my first year ever doing a square foot raised bed
> garden.  We hauled in black dirt, and I added compost at the
> beginning of the year. I ran out of compost, so I wasn't able to
> amend as much as I had hoped.
>
> My garden turned out OK, but I hope for much better results next
> season.  I planted my tomatoes so that I couldn't get in and pick
> them, and then it never dawned on me how much water the garden would
> need.
>
> My peppers were the best they have ever been. We have been eating
> reds and yellows for weeks now.
>
> I lost my squash stuff to bugs, because I had no idea they were
> squash bugs.  Next year I will interplant radishes and I am also
> going to bring in beneficial nematodes.  Also, I planted all that
> family near each other, so my garden said "come and eat me" <g>.
>
> My pole beans were OK, but next year I hope to be better. If anyone
> has any favorite brands, I'd love to hear what they are.
>
> While most of my garden was a flop, I still did have fresh produce
> this year, and I learned  a lot, so I am not counting this as a total
> loss. Also, my tomatoes are making a late comeback now that it has
> cooled, and I am watering more.  Some day I hope I don't have to rely
> on my father to give me extra tomatoes for canning.
>
> We are going today to pick up a load of horse manure. I am hoping
> this will be a weekly thing, until I can get enough to get my compost
> heaps going. I just can't seem to figure out how to keep enough
> compost around.  It all goes so quickly.
>
> Any ideas, suggestions and comments would be most welcome.  I would
> really love to hear from other square footers.
>
>
>
>
> holly zone 5
> zacwinic@mail.netnitco.net
>


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