The first snow of the winter (last night) can only mean that the growing season is coming to an end. Usually at this time of year I’d be starting to grumble about the shorter days, and how cold and grey it is. But after struggling to get anything apart from slugs to thrive in the garden this summer, I’m almost looking forward to an excuse to stay indoors more. It’s time to put the kettle on, light the fire, flick through the new batch of seed catalogues and start planning for next year.
At the beginning of this year, I helped to build two big raised beds for growing vegetables and herbs at a local cafe and arts centre. The plan was to experiment a bit and use the square foot gardening method to grow lots of tasty produce for the cafe. I hadn’t used this method before and was interested to see if it really did deliver higher yields from a small area.
The beds were divided into squares – not square feet, but 45cm squares because they fitted more neatly into the design. And in the first warm days of spring, seeds were sown and young plants were planted.
Some plants did well. The parsley and shallots thrived, the marigolds flowered, and the chard grew well and looked fantastic.
Others didn’t fare so well. Slugs ate through a huge number of lettuces, had a good go at the young cornflower plants and polished off most of the French beans.
Then there was the hail storm that ripped through the leaves of the nasturtiums and courgettes -
Considering the conditions this summer, the raised beds were pretty successful. Cafe customers really liked the lettuces that we did manage to grow, and I’ve learned what I need to grow more (and less) of next year. Using the square foot method took a bit of planning – working out what was to be planted where, but the resulting patchwork effect looked good. I spent very little time weeding the beds and, apart from slugs, there wasn’t much pest damage. Working out how many plants to grow in a square was a bit hit and miss, but all good experience for next year. And I will be trying this method of veg growing again – maybe I should plant one bed with conventional rows, the other using the square foot method again and see which does best…
And of course, next year the sun will shine more, the slugs will eat less and there will be platefuls of home grown salads being served in the cafe!
I have tried the square foot method myself and found it quite difficult in practice though in theory it sounded quite a good method. I found some plants overshadowed others etc. so more planning of what to grow next to what needed more thought. Now in my beds I use a sort of polyculture method, odd plants mixed up together with flowers, works best for me and that way you don’t get any build-up of pests and diseases as nothing is planted in the same place twice. Does that make sense? Your beds look really good though and if not for the slugs and weather would seem to be really productive. Well done you.
Thanks Elaine. I had problems with plants overshadowing others and outgrowing their allotted squares, but I put that down to my trying to cram too much into the space. At home my gardening is much more haphazard – things get put in as and when there’s space and it ends up more like the polyculture method you describe, so having to be more disciplined and plan was interesting! Of course, in next year’s perfect growing conditions it won’t matter which method we use, there will be plenty of produce and lots of blog posts written starting “I have too many beans/tomatoes/lettuces and don’t know what to do with them all…”
I started out attempting a version of square foot gardening in my beds but it kind of morphed into the polyculture method Elaine mentions. I might try the square foot again for some new beds I am about the construct though.
The square foot method sounds very appealing, and is probably great if you’re a very organised person! Not being very organised, I’m probably not giving it a fair go.
I love the idea of the square foot method and might give it a try next year. We put in three raised beds this spring and had mixed success with crops, mainly due to the weather. I’m picturing this system working well with smaller crops like beetroot and chard and herbs, whereas the beans and courgettes and potatoes probably need much more space. Thanks for the idea – I’m going to have fun in the spring planning it all out!
There’s a good book if you want to give square foot gardening a go – ‘All new square foot gardening’ by Mel Bartholomew. I grew courgettes in the raised beds using two squares instead of one, and stuck with dwarf beans rather than climbers (although the bean plants might well have grown too big if the slugs hadn’t kept them in check!)
Finally catching up with the blog world. I like that idea, very inspiring.
Michael
Hi Michael – good to see you in the blog world again!
Here’s to next year !!
I’ve never tried square foot gardening, I’ve heard about it, but you have piqued my interest. maybe I should have a dabble next year. As you say I think the work is in the planning! Great post
Thanks Claire! It’s definitely a more disciplined form of gardening than I usually use, but it’s good to try something new!
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