Square Foot Gardening!

[indeliblesasha]

Or: The web design for the official site is so GOD-AWFUL BAD I want to CRY. I can't even look at it any longer. GOING TO CRY.

I need some help planning my vegetable garden, I'm doing just a 4x4 raised bed this year to get a feel for growing here in the Boulder, Colorado, US area. I literally have no idea what I'm doing, so someone who is willing to hold my hand through the process of figuring what to plant and when would be much loved.

OR, pointing me in the direction of sites with correct and detailed information? Because so far I'm finding nothing but contradictory info and stuff written for people who have degrees in botany.

HALP! I just want to grow some lettuce. Maybe some tomatoes. Broccoli? Sigh.


(edited to clarify location because I'm trying to remember that internet is not *just* in the US :D )

Comments

[chalcopyrite]

Mustard greens are another class of brassica! (There are lots. *g*) It looks like they do *better* in cooler weather, but they, and arugula and the others, *can* take some heat, and they do mature really fast. (You can cut the leaves off, leaving the roots, and they'll come back a couple of times before the plants are finished.)

Returning to the lettuce question -- loose-leaf varieties might do you better than the heading varieties. Um, oak leaf is one that springs to mind? They can be picked/cut (same as above, "cut and come again") earlier, before a heading lettuce would have, well, headed. Plenty of water is going to be key, mind you, and if they start to bolt, they're going to be bitter.

Oh, passing on a piece of info I just got from a very successful tomato grower: if the seedlings get very tall, just plant them deeper when you pot them up or plant them out -- you can bury the extra stem/leaves. It encourages them to put out more side roots, and makes for a stronger plant.

Zucchini would love to grow for you (note: they take a *lot* of water), but they are big; one would probably take up your whole bed. But you could grow one in a container, provided you make sure it doesn't dry out, or just consider it going forward.

[indeliblesasha]

You are my new favorite person ever. :D

So, tomatoes and zucchini. I have been told that growing them in hanging pots works just as well as in the ground, and then you don't lose ground to them. True/false?

I have been looking at the yard today, and going on what you've told me I think I found the best place for planting, it's a bed that gets half shade half sun. The decorative plants I grew last year taught me well about the sun in that bed. I can get a big variety in that one bed, if I can keep the tomatoes and zucchini out of it. And we have squirrels. Lots and lots of squirrels. Even our beagle hasn't scared them all off. I think if I can hang the tomatoes from the HOUSE I might keep more this year than last. I got to keep ONE of like 24 that popped up.

[chalcopyrite]

I have never tried growing in hanging pots! I do not know! Hmmm... zucchini can put out pretty long vines, and in a hanging pot, I'd think there was maybe a concern of them cracking under their own weight? But they are pretty tough ... they'd probably be fine as long as you made sure to pick the fruit before it got too big. [/thinking out loud]

a bed that gets half shade half sun

Sounds good. Shade in the middle part of the summer day will probably make everything happier!

Squirrels, gah. I have no suggestions (that might work), short of.... protective cages covering the entire bed/plant. Possibly the entire yard. *wry g*

[indeliblesasha]

:D I think I will try to hang the zucchini, since it's not a beloved vegetable, no one will be heartbroken if it doesn't work, lol. (Okay, I will, because *I* love them, everyone else merely tolerates them, heh.) And I bet if I pick them small I'll get more mileage out of them anyway, excellent point.

[rydra_wong]

You can get seeds for varieties of cherry tomato which do especially well in hanging baskets; "tumbling" seems to be a good search term. Example:

http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/tomatoes/tomato-tumbling-tom-yellow-hybrid-prod001626.html

[chalcopyrite]

Thank you! I was lying awake last night trying to figure out if I had imagined the name Tumbling Tom!

[indeliblesasha]

Ooooh, those look cool. Thanks for the tip, I never would have thought of "tumbling" as a search term for tomatoes. <3

[rydra_wong]

I've always thought they look fantastic in hanging baskets:

http://dobies.hostserver1.co.uk/im/pd/VETOM10398_3.jpg

But I love the smell of tomato leaves, so having them at easy sniffing height strikes me as a bonus. *g*

Btw, I haven't tried growing regular broccoli, but IIRC purple sprouting broccoli worked well in a square-foot plot.