Welcome to our new Square Foot Gardeners

Today was a crash course in getting started. 

I know you will have more questions and you can check here

or e-mail me and I'll answer quickly

Our goal today was to get you started.

Any size will get you growing

a pot works

a salad box is wonderful

a 4X4 is a great beginning

you can add another later...only one now!

RIGHT NOW

just begin.......

1. What will I use to make a place to put my Mel's mix (garden mix)

2. Where is the best place for my garden consider exposure, warmth,

shade, can I get water to my garden etc.

3. Build my garden...Is it a pot?  skip ahead

What materials? Brick, wood, stone? lots of things work

4. Mix up mels mix 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 (5 kinds of compost)

mix it up on a tarp

5. Fill up your box, higher than you think it does settle. Water really 

well and put on your slats for marking your squares!

6. PLANT something

Things to remember as a beginner

It is warmer than you think in the garden.

You will catch problems sooner if you walk 

in your garden once a day...I didn't say work in your 

garden, just go look at it.  

These plants like heat more than others for longer

Tomatoes (cherry tomatoes are faster)

cucumbers

eggplant

corn  (use the fast growing)

beans (bush grow faster)

beets (you can get cultivars that do well here)

squash winter (sorry pumpkins are in that list

These plants grow year around with protection in my yard

Kale

chard

parsley

Rosemary

sage

oregano 

collards

garlic

lettuce

cabbage

broccoli

chives

Enjoy the process

April Sat class

Did you plant garlic and shallots last fall? 

 They should be looking really good at this point.  

It's time to do regular feedings until the summer heat when they will blub.

  The goal now is to let them make a nice big green stalk. 

 The goal during the warmth of summer is to let that big stem push for
a big garlic bulb. 

What do we feed when we want green growth?
 Remember from class? 

 It's nitrogen, you can side dress or do foliar feeding which they love. 

 Use our alfalfa pellet tea to spray on them every
10 to 14 days until the heat.

On April 28th we are holding a Beginners class.  

it's only going to be two hours long so I can only go over what you 

need to get a good start in the pacific Northwest.  

I need all my seasoned gardening friends to please tell those folks

newly moved-in from those hot climates or cold about the class.

Send me a note with their phone number and I'll contact them

cut off date is April 21st 

Here is the information:

Beginning gardening, focus on square foot 

Saturday April 28th promptly at 10-12 noon

There will be a fee for handouts, 

I'm thinking about $10. 

I only give out great handouts, honest!

What you can expect from the class:

How and why to set up a square foot garden

How to deal with Northwest climates
Where to put your garden and why
bugs you might see

What to plant, when to plant 

seeds or plants?

What is Hybrid, Heirloom, open pollinated etc

I'll answer all questions

A slide show of all the gardens that we have gotten started

Handouts you can use forever in your garden. 

Bring a 3 ring notebook to put them in, 

your Pacific Northwest garden notebook.

If you bring a 2" you are good if you bring a 3" then

You need to collect enough to fill it right?

At this point we only have 2 people in the class there is room for more!