Square Foot Gardening Thread

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Quote:
I love limas too! Now I understand why they're so expensive! But limas are GREAT for breakfast, fresh, a little melty butter, a little sprinkle of kosher salt.........

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

6chickens in St. Charles :

Anybody here with potatoes? Here in Chicagoland, I planted these and now I'm ancy to dig them and see if any potatoes happened ! Is it too early?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/25976_square_foot_potatoes.jpg

I only got knee hi with my little box of potatoes. The ones from my kitchen drawer that sprouted all got bacterial wilt and died, but hey, the others were GREAT til a cold rain today and now they
're laying down. I wonder if I have any taters to dig?

My potatoes and my husband. I only got the potato box knee hi, I am so disappointed in myself. I worked away from home all those hours, there's nothing to show for it, and my poor potato box is only knee hi. Makes me wonder if my time wouldn't have been more productive at home in my garden? things that make me go, "HMMMMMM". There are volunteer beans there, climbing up with the morning glories:

 

[melloladies]

6chickens in St. Charles :

Quote:
I could be wrong, but I think chicken poop is nitrogen rich. People often say it is, something like, "but you have to compost it before you use it, its too hot, too high nitrogen"......

Come to think of it, I have had leaves like that, but it was sooooo loooong agoooooo
(before chickens happened to my yard )

I took pics to a plant "expert" today at the local Ace and she had no idea. said if it was nitrogen that the leaf would only be yellowing w/in the veins and the veins should still be green. I bought some blood meal to supplement the soil for now. I don't have a compost area set up, so for now our chicken waste is just...well...waste. And I heard too that you can't use it straight from the source... plans in the works to get my own brand of compost cooking though. The bottom sets of leaves are now thoroughly shriveled and even the younger sets look like they are suffering. Only good thing I can think of is that it's FL and I still have time to scrap those two vines and replant if need be. Just hate to lose the 3 weeks they've been growing already, ya know?​

 

[breezy]

I tried an experiment this year. I took the shavings and poop out of my chicken coop and run and dumped it directly onto my vegetable garden. No composting first. It broke down easily and I have green beans and tomatoes still putting beans on and setting fruit when all my neighbors have pulled their plants because they were spent. The biggest complaint I had doing this was that at first I was out there daily pulling up sunflower sprouts that had gotten started from the BOSS I feed the chooks and which got raked and and spread along with the poo. After spreading the poop on the garden I covered it all with a thick layer of grass clippings and watered it frequently and deeply. I had killer plants with alot of vigor and growth and a high production and Im still harvesting. Might not work for everybody but it had neat results for me this year.

 

[harveyhorses]

Hi! I love my garden spots, it might not be exactly Square foot gardening, let's call it a hybrid shall we?

My FIL gave me a bunch of rough cut cedar, random widths and lengths and every other measurement. they are too thick and hard for my skill saw. So I have raised beds. I kept making them until I ran out of level sunny space. I got a pretty good harvest of red potatoes, and am waiting for my sweet potatoes. I still have 'maters and peppers, and my fall lettuce and spinach is doing great. I tried turnips, we ate a lot of greens, but not any success below ground. Should I plant them now? Or now-ish.?

 

[Carols Clucks]

Mom is happy, our first real carrots came out of the garden today. Usually they sprout and die or never make a root.

Guess all the reading, digging and adding gravel have helped

Thanks for all those tips!

 

[krcote]

Quote:
See page 4 of this thread and then check out the progress! I had sunflowers and lettuce coming out my ears! The sunflowers grew way up over the chicken run, only to be flattened by Irene

 

[melloladies]

Quote:
I could be wrong, but I think chicken poop is nitrogen rich. People often say it is, something like, "but you have to compost it before you use it, its too hot, too high nitrogen"......

Come to think of it, I have had leaves like that, but it was sooooo loooong agoooooo
(before chickens happened to my yard )

I took pics to a plant "expert" today at the local Ace and she had no idea. said if it was nitrogen that the leaf would only be yellowing w/in the veins and the veins should still be green. I bought some blood meal to supplement the soil for now. I don't have a compost area set up, so for now our chicken waste is just...well...waste. And I heard too that you can't use it straight from the source... plans in the works to get my own brand of compost cooking though. The bottom sets of leaves are now thoroughly shriveled and even the younger sets look like they are suffering. Only good thing I can think of is that it's FL and I still have time to scrap those two vines and replant if need be. Just hate to lose the 3 weeks they've been growing already, ya know?

Just an update- I haven't had much luck so far- pulled up one of the lima's and I'm thinking it's as simple as root rot??? Guess I need to replant somewhere else

 

[wyoDreamer]

Quote:
That will be a very interesting comparison.

How are your potatos doing? Have you harvested any yet?

Yeah, I know this was from page #4 and you'all have forgotten all about the conversation.

The post from 6chickens in St. Charles reminded me about it.

I planted three potato bags this summer - I was really late with them so I am not expecting much. The Russets were planted in mid-June, the Reds and the Whites were planted in early July. The russets turned yellow and the leaves fell off last week, so I dumped it out and gathered the few potatoes that it had. The reds are still green and growing, it is actually sending up new plants.

And the whites got alittle frost on top of the plants, but the bottom half of the plants are still growing strong.

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
That will be a very interesting comparison.

How are your potatos doing? Have you harvested any yet?

Yeah, I know this was from page #4 and you'all have forgotten all about the conversation.

The post from 6chickens in St. Charles reminded me about it.

I planted three potato bags this summer - I was really late with them so I am not expecting much. The Russets were planted in mid-June, the Reds and the Whites were planted in early July. The russets turned yellow and the leaves fell off last week, so I dumped it out and gathered the few potatoes that it had. The reds are still green and growing, it is actually sending up new plants.

And the whites got alittle frost on top of the plants, but the bottom half of the plants are still growing strong.

Mine were miserable!!! A handful or two of tiny to small, not even as much as I planted for cuttings I don't think! I may do it again, but will not back fill w/ leaves I will back fill w/ dirt if I do it again.