21.6.15

Square Foot Gardening: Rotating Crops and Notes to Self

With grad school done, I can garden and  update about it. But for now, a quick list of things to help me out when I'm planning next year. 

Potatoes need more room. They dominated everything. Next year they either get an 18 inch row, or I move onto potato cages I've read so much about. The onions and tomatoes suffered as the plants grew. 
HUGE! The poor onions tried to get out from under them... but there was no escape
-Growing potatoes is FUN, despite the large amount of space they need. The first harvest below:

I'm doomed never to grow anything in the Brassica  family. Despite planting the brussels sprouts in Feb, with the very warm spring we've had, I got loose sprouts. I pulled them out so other things could grow. I know me, I'll probably try a fall crop like a sucker.

It took about 12 weeks for the potatoes to set enough to pick. We got mostly baby potatoes- delicious, but next year I want to leave them in a spot where I can let them grow for longer. Look at the giant space opened up in the garden when I pulled them, finally. 

Carrots are awesome and way better than radishes. Every year I do radishes because the grow fast and are ready to pick quick, which is fun. But we never eat them. Carrots, on the other hand, are devoured and the joy of picking it only adds to the fun. 

Totally worth giving up some space to flowers. Sweet Peas and Poppies. It makes the garden look so sweet. 


Peas should be staggered in plant times. I planted them all at once and we are eating peas with everything- just this week I pulled out all the vines and picked off the last ones. 
So many peas

I've enjoyed the thought I put into the changing garden this year. Instead of thinking of each square as one vegetable, I tried to plan out multiple items for each square by accounting for grow time and weather. Cool weather early spring plants vs hot weather summer plants.
Pulling out the potatoes and peas made room for corn, green beans, carrots, and spinach. Watching the different squares change and moving through the spring and summer season with different veggies to look forward to has been fun.
Potatoes gone- before the peas were pulled
The bounty changes week to week- finally we have beets and some bigger onions. It's lovely. 


The next few weeks will bring lots of watering, tending, and fussing over my tomatoes. I also decided to put in a cucumber plant and I'm going to trellis it where the peas were, hopefully preventing it from taking over the garden. Happy Solstice! SUMMER!!!!!