I'm
new to gardening and I’m going to try square foot gardening this
summer, I’ve heard it is a great way for beginners to learn. Square
foot gardening is a method of gardening that uses raised beds divided
into one-foot squares. This makes it easy to plan and plant your
garden, and it also helps to reduce weeds and pests. A guy called Mel
Bartholomew came up with it and you can read all about it in his books.
*Disclaimer,
I am a beginner living in a temperate environment and I found these
steps helpful. If you are not a novice in a temperate zone this may
not be helpful.
As
my annual veggie gardens
in my front yard, I've decided to plant in
a potager garden style. A potager garden is a traditional French
garden that is divided into different sections for different types of
plants, and tends to look more deliberate and neat than a traditional
veggie garden.
I'm
planning to plant a variety of vegetables in my summer garden,
including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and peas. I'm also going
to plant some herbs, like basil, oregano, and thyme as companion
plants and some flowers for beauty and as pollinator attractors.
I'm
using companion planting to help my plants grow better. Companion
planting is the practice of planting certain plants together because
they benefit each other. For example, tomatoes and basil are good
companions because they repel pests. It’s really easy to find
companion info online, Pinterest has some really beautiful charts.
This
is my plan for the four beds that I’m calling the Tomato beds as
they are the main crop. I have 6 tomato plants per bed and are
planning 4 beds so that is 24 plants, I hope that is a good amount of
tomatoes. You can also see in my diagram I have used marigolds to
help keep pests away and attract pollinators. I have peas,
chives and basil as companion plants to help the tomatoes grow. I am going to use a long triangular trellis, or two hog panels leaning against each other so there will be soil underneath in the middle. So I am going to plant lettuce under the pea trellis in the middle as it is too hot
here in the summer for lettuce but I think they might be ok in the
shade of the peas. We will have to see.
The
second lot of four beds are gong to be the pepper beds, or capsicums as
we call it here in Oz. The main crop, Bell peppers, is spaced one per square foot - which is in accordance with the square foot garden rules. I have used cucumber as a companion plant and marigolds as pollinators. The cucs will be on a trellis in the middle so I will try radishes or lettuce in the shade underneath just like the Tomato bed and see if it works.
Want to try planning a summer garden? Print out the 3 page A4 pdf doc below and start arranging!
I
have tried to keep it simple for my first go at organized annual
crops. I have grown stuff before but never planned it, so I have high
hopes that this will work out.
Next post I'm going to be working out the timing of when to plant what so stay tuned!
Have you tired square foot gardening
before? Please let me know your tips and tricks in the comments
below!
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| A4 PRINTABLE |
#pottedgarden #backyardgardening #lovegardening #gardeningismytherapy #veggiegarden #mygarden #containergardening #gardentips #gardenlife
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