PhillyGardener
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed May 02, 2012 5:28 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

My Tiny, Urban Square Foot Garden

Hi everyone! I'm new here. :)

I've planted container veggies and herbs for years with moderate success, but this year decided to build and plant a raised bed in my tiny front yard. The yard is lined with some yarrow and a lot of sedum, which love the extreme summer heat. We'll see about the veggies! I'm pretty proud of what I've fit into this tiny space. I've also got some large containers, so I'll be planting another tomato (container choice), zucchini (bush baby), and peppers and herbs in those and squeezing them in on my front steps, window ledge, etc.

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/sqftgarden.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/garden-layout---photobucket.jpg[/img]

As you can see, this is a square foot garden, so I've really crammed things in. I used bamboo poles, zipties, and strips of metal "tack tape" to build my removable square foot grid and mixed good quality potting soil, peat moss, and free city compost to fill it. I also installed a simple drip irrigation system and timer from irrigationdirect.com. Hopefully that will take the guesswork out of watering--I think I over-watered in previous years.

I'm currently having issues with stray cats pooping in my garden, thus the prolific BBQ sticks. I've also got a few aphids, so I have some ladybugs on the way to help with that. I've got some rather nasty neighbors who don't seem to like my gardening efforts, so I'm just waiting for an "accidental" football or whatever getting tossed into the yard. But I guess everyone has their own gardening enemies! :evil:

Suggestions are welcome! I am really new to planting stuff into the ground, so I can use all the help I can get.
Last edited by PhillyGardener on Thu May 03, 2012 8:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
hendi_alex
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3604
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:58 am
Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

To grow tomatoes in that space, the tomato plants will have to have the most radical form of pruning, unless they are very small form such tumbler. If your tomato is indeterminate, prune to one central stem and remove all suckers. A regular indeterminate tomato if not pruned will occupy at least four square feet of your bed.

Yours is a very nice looking arrangement. IMO you will have to experiment a bit before you learn how much can realistically grow in the bed.

orgoveg
Green Thumb
Posts: 468
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:06 pm
Location: Ohio

I have zero experience with square foot gardening, so I can't critique that. It's certainly too crowded for the traditional methods that I use.

I just wanted to comment that it's cool to see somebody else who grows a weed called yarrow on purpose! That plant has so many medicinal uses. It was probably the most popular medicinal plant used by the Native Americans.
Most notably, it is antiseptic and it stops bleeding. If an indian warrior was wounded in battle, the wound was treated with yarrow. Of course, the sedum is edible so that is cool too!

User avatar
GardenRN
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1102
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:01 am
Location: Chesterfield, Va

I have never had my garden be quite as successful, per plant, as it was the very first year I gardened and unknowingly broke every stinkin rule out there. :) plants were crammed way too close together in crummy clay soil with bad drainage in a spot that didn't get enough sun. .....Supposedly. I got a great yield from each plant to such a degree that it inspired me to continue gardening for as many years as God be willing. Good luck with your square foot garden! You'll learn from any success or failures.

PhillyGardener
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed May 02, 2012 5:28 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

I am actually going pretty much by the Square Foot Gardening book! (Minus the use of Mel's Mix as a filler--I "cheated" and used 1/3 quality potting soil in place of vermiculite, which I couldn't find.) Folks seem to have a lot of success with this method, tomatoes included.

I am very skeptical about the tomatoes and zucchini (which get 2 square feet in my garden, but the book says to give it only one! :shock: ). The zucchini will be able to spill over the side of the bed, and I may try staking it since I've read some folks have had success with that. I will definitely be staking or caging the tomatoes, though I haven't decided which yet. One is determinate (Container Choice) and is supposed to be fairly compact, though the other is Parks Whopper, which I know could get pretty unwieldy in such a small space. I guess I will experiment and find out what works and what was a terrible idea :)

Orgoveg, I LOVE the yarrow! When I tore up the concrete and planted my garden 4 years ago, I made sure everything I planted was native and drought-resistant, because we get such intense summer heat and had very poor and compacted soil, even after I amended it. The yarrow has done extremely well despite these conditions. I took a lot of it out this year to make room for the raised bed, but left enough to divide next year. I didn't know it had medicinal properties. How cool!



Return to “Vegetable Gardening Forum”