Gardening season is about to be sprung upon us! I don’t know about where you live, but here in the Midwest the weather has been so nice the last few days. Today was in the high 50’s, low 60’s. I vacuumed my car, pushed the lil’ one in the stroller out at the Farm for a few hours in the beautiful warm sun, and earlier in the morning I went out and bought gardening supplies!!!!
I enjoy gardening, mostly I enjoy eating the food that I grow and knowing that I’m not consuming pesticides and herbicides. And I love the smell of fresh soil. Growing up on the farm, I’d see the combine come around every year to till the soil and plant the seeds at the simultaneously. For me there is nothing like the smell of fresh dirt, especially after the rain. Plus as a kid I loved the feeling of warm soft soil in between my toes and in my hands. Kind of like some people enjoy the warm wet sand between their toes on the beach.
I’ve been mentally preparing for a raised garden bed since November/December. I found a new gardening technique to try that I am really excited about. It’s called square foot gardening. Maybe you’ve heard of it before, maybe you haven’t. I have never heard of it before until well… last fall/early winter when I purchased the book and started reading it. I grew up on the Farm, my initial thoughts about gardening were much the same as farming large plots of land for crops but I had heard from various sources that there was a better way to garden. Techniques that use less space, less water, require less work, and abundant crops. The the square foot garden promises all these things!!!
The last two years I had tried to garden in my backyard in town. The first year I had so many green beans that got so large so fast and they didn’t even taste good to me any more (I decided not to grow green beans for a while until I figure out which kind is the variety I actually like the flavor and texture of). My strawberry plant never got a chance to produce any ripe strawberries because the rabbits in town kept eating them, Ugh! My lettuce I wasn’t sure when was the best time to harvest so it went to seed and was to strong to eat! My spinach also got devoured by the rabbits, and the only thing that did well was my tomatoes. Last year, the lettuce grew back in funny places, a tomato plant grew that I had not planted, and my strawberry came back! However, I still didn’t get to eat any strawberries. And my pepper plant did not even start producing peppers until the fall, when frost started coming!!!!
This year I vowed it would be different! So I found this book by The Square Garden Foundation, read it from cover to cover in a few days and have committed my self to trying out this technique. So this year, instead of digging up the ground I will have two raised garden beds 3’x3′ filled with Mel’s magic mix. lol. Originally I wanted just one 4’x4′ bed but then I found 8 boards roughly the dimension I needed in our shed the were a little over 3 feet, so I decided to go with the free boards instead of buying more. The great thing about the Sq Foot Garden (SFG) is that you can use the technique in any shape or size you want too as long as the dimensions always allow one Sq Ft. For example: you can have a 1’x6′ container, a 1’x1′ container, a 6’x 2′ container, a 2’x2′, etc…
Today my husband cut the boards to exactly 3 feet. The weather is suppose to be nice tomorrow too. So, maybe after church I can finish getting my last 3 bags of compost and put my boxes together. All week is suppose to be gorgeous. Part of me wants to start planting already! I can hardly wait to eat fresh juicy tomatoes, broccoli, mix greens, watermelon, peppers and more. What is the most rewarding part of gardening to you?
The Ruby Blossom 