The best part about it is that it helps you keep track of your gardens. You can journal for an entire garden as well as individual plants, like these, my happy little cherry tomatoes.
They have so many options of how to track the things you're planting, harvesting and collecting seeds from. You can sign up for swaps and find other gardeners who are growing the same things you are.
You can even link directly to photos from Flickr to keep a step by step progression of your plants' growth.
Basically, I like this because I have a terrible time keeping track of what I've done in the garden, when I've done it and how well it has (or hasn't) worked. And, using this, I've done a fairly reasonable job of getting it entered. It's that easy to do.
OK, I guess I didn't get as far as I thought because I just checked and I don't have photos uploaded for a lot of the plants. I also don't have all the plants listed.
But, I'm sure that's not Folia's fault. Probably mine. They've made it about as easy as it could possibly be.
And in case you're curious how the whole Farming in the Suburbs thing is going, here's a picture of my vegetable garden. I don't think we'll be feeding our entire family from this, but it's a start.
The empty spots in the back are where some rude little critters ate up all our broccoli, kale and spinach. I've reseeded a couple of times, but I think it's a bit too hot at this point. I'll try again in the fall.
If you haven't read The New Square Foot Gardener, it is worth it. It has a lot of great tips/advice on growing food anywhere. If your library doesn't have it, ask them to order it. (most public libraries love to know what patrons want in their selection rather than straight guessing) I think you'd really enjoy the book. I like how the author talks about traveling the world to teach people that there is material available everywhere, that in any city there are businesses throwing away organic matter that could be composted. Coffee anyone? Spoiled produce? Etc.
ReplyDeleteThere is also a cool chapter about vertical growing, that is growing vining crops (including pumpkins, squash, and small watermelons) on heavy-duty trellis frames. There was a comment in that chapter that made me want to build a trelis room structure and have a vine covered hide-away.
Happy gardening!
I love Square Foot Gardening! I grew up in the country with acres of garden and fields. When I moved to the city, I figured I couldn't garden the way I was used to, so I couldn't garden. Then I found Mel (the author of Square Foot Gardening)! It was really simple, compared to rototilling and chemical fertilizers and such. My one square is so happy, and producing like crazy. The compost/vermiculite/peat mixture is so full of nutrients, my garden is perfectly happy in four inches of soil. And that cukes and tomatoes and catnip and oregano and pumpkins and watermelons and cantaloupes and snow peas.... And very easy to take care of! My arms can reach all the way around without stepping on the soil, so no paths of walkways. It's easy to mow around because it's a perfect square bound with lumber. I think I'll do some more next year.
ReplyDeleteThanks, you two. I've actually checked out that book from the library before. And, despite what it looks like, I did actually follow some of its advice for spacing. It's just too much stuff didn't make it past the seedling stage.
ReplyDeleteThings aren't planted in rows, but spaced equidistant from each other. And I've made the beds themselves wide enough that I never have to step in them.
I don't dig, though, much less double dig, which I remember being a big part of the square foot gardening. So I'm going to have to wait till all the sheet composting catches up.
I'm glad to see your tomatoes are green as well. My tomatoes are doing poorly this year. I have a photo posted on my blog tomorrow of what I picked from the garden today. I have a 4 foot by 8 foot plot..that's all.
ReplyDeleteGill from Canada
I too have used the Square Foot Garden concept.
Aw crap. Folia. That looks really awesome. And I already love Ravelry. When will the Internets stop coming up with awesome things that take away from my Ass Sitting Time?
ReplyDeleteOh, well, I guess I can Ass Sit and do Folia at the same time.
Sold.
Your cherry toms are cute.
Yeah, I think there is something about how the first 'Square Foot Gardening' book was digging, etc. but the "NEW" SFG is just planting on top in a straight compost mix.
ReplyDeleteDid you write about sheet composting in your blog? I've been looking for it, but maybe I've missed it.
As an urban gardener, do you have any ingenius suggestions for what to do when surrounded by black top?
Samantha, maybe I'll have to revisit that book (and make a bunch more compost). Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteI've also added a 'Sheet Composting' tag to all relevant posts. So you should be able to click on that and scroll through all of them.
Also, if you're ever looking for anything in particular on my site, you can use the Search button at the top right of the page. It'll do a google search of my entire site.
As for being surrounded by black top, the only thing I can suggest is lots of really tall raised beds, but that would be neither cheap nor easy. Once they're made, gardening would be a whole lot easier, though, because you wouldn't have to bend over to do it.
Oh yah, and from your first comment, that vine covered hide-away sounds wonderful. We've been thinking of doing something like that, but it's down on my list of projects.