Square Foot Gardening

I'll start off by saying, I'm not an expert. I just started this year, but it's going fabulous so far. Just google the term and you'll find website after website about the subject. I even purchased two books on it (from the guy who came up with the idea)

This is the start of our square foot garden. First off, I do not have the grids on the boxes (you're suppose to) because I purchased these boxes from Sam's and they are a weird size (3.5' x 7'). Most square foot boxes are 4'x4' or 4'x8', etc. Then you make grids that are 1'x1'.

So you might ask, what's the difference between this and regular gardening? The premise behind it is that you can grow the plants in a lot less space, use less water, no fertilizer, and not have to "fix" the dirt you have.  

You can build the boxes out of most anything-old wood, new wood, recycled wood, etc. Then you fill the box with a special formula-1/3 peat moss, 1/3 organic material, 1/3 vermiculite. Notice, no dirt! No tilling up your ground and trying to make it workable. We have clay soil and for years, we've added organic material to try and get it suitable for gardens-hasn't work. This way, we start with the right mix. And the "mix" is so light that you don't need a tiller to work with it, and it's so easy to weed (we get a lot less weeds in the boxes than in the dirt where we have planted the squash). Supposedly, the organic material provides everything the plants need, so you don't have to fertilize, and the peat moss and vermiculite help retain the moisture.

If you do true square foot gardening, then you have a grid which marks off each square foot, and you use guidelines as to how many plants to put in the one square foot. For instance, some plants are big so you only grow 1 in each square foot. Others are smaller so you can get either 4, 8, or 16 in one foot.

I seriously don't explain this well, so please, read up on it. The other thing I like about it, is that it's teaching me how to have three growing seasons, and not just 1. Come August, when most everyone is pulling out there garden and getting ready for frost, I'm going to be planting another harvest (cool season crops like lettuce, broccoli, peas, etc). I should have something growing in my garden 10 months out of the year and I live in OHIO!

I know most of you are thinking that gardens take too much time. I haven't spent more than 5 minutes in my garden, every other day. I water, pull a couple weeds, and help the cucumbers and watermelon climb the trellis.  And we leveled the ground, built the boxes, added the soil mixture and planted in less than 1 hour.

Why am I gardening when I can afford produce?

First, there's nothing that compares to a homegrown tomato! Oh, I can't wait! Additionally, I know EXACTLY what's going into my food and where it's coming from.

Second, I'm really enjoying it as it's getting me outdoors!

Third, the prophet has told us to. This one I really have come to learn a deeper meaning to, I guess you could say. Do I really think that there will come a time when we have to grow our own produce? Maybe, but probably not. Yes, prices could soar and growing at home would cut costsThere might be a natural disaster that wipes out the orange crop, or something, but I can't see all produce being destroyed. I believe that gardening teaches us something more useful-PATIENCE! When I look back at my life four months ago, it was so fast-paced and chaotic. As I've started to landscape, work in the yard, and grow a garden, I can feel my "speed" changing. Not sure how to describe it, but I'm learning to enjoy the slower pace, the quiet time digging in the dirt. I'm learning to appreciate each flower, plant and bush for it's own beauty and uniqueness. 

Life gets so "busy" these days and I was really lacking in quiet time. I get "me" time now, while I'm outdoors working and I LOVE IT! It's also giving us quality family time. The boys love watching the vegetables grow, and helping to pull weeds and plant seeds. It's teaching them that some things take patience, and they are really learning about where food comes from.

Gardening may or may not be something you enjoy. But I know that if you put a little time and effort into it, you'll reap blessings beyond what you put into it. It really is a rewarding hobby, for the entire family.

If you have bad soil, or want to grow veggies in a smaller space, look into square foot gardening. We're so happy with our two boxes that I grabbed two more that I'll add this fall. I'll try to post pictures as it grows.

Mel's Website is www.squarefootgardening.com

If you're in the IN, OH area, I'm following Tim's website, http://timssquarefootgarden.com/. He's an expert gardener in zone 5 (my growing zone), so I can grow what he does. He has his planting calendar posted, along with pictures and tips, to help gardeners.

If you live by me, and want to start one of these gardens, talk to me before you go purchase your supplies. It took me awhile to find vermiculite and I finally found a place close where I purchased mine in 4cf bags. But Gordon can get the stuff for FREE, from work!! YEAH!! So don't buy it!!

UPDATE: I recently taught a gardening class at the Preparedness Expo 2013. Here is my presentation on Square Foot Gardening (it's a massive file): Download Square Foot Gardening Power Point Presentation

Here's another document I found on the subject: Download Square Foot Gardening Handout

If you'd like handouts on companion planting, organic gardening, etc., please see my post here: 

http://preparednessproject.blogspot.com/search/label/Preparedness%20Expo%202013
(Scroll down to Gardening Class and you'll see all my additional handouts)

Grocery Price Comparison 2010

For those of you in the Dayton area that are interested in which store has the better prices, I spent a couple weeks visiting the stores and writing down prices. Here's what I found:
I made a list of products that my family commonly uses. Having shopped predominantly at the Commissary the last 12 years, I wanted to compare their prices with that of other stores, to see if I could save a little money.Some products I am very brand oriented. For instance, I only use Charmin toilet paper-tried all the rest-it's the best. So I’ve listed “Charmin” by the product category so you know that I ONLY compared this brand. IF there is NOT a product name by the category, then I picked the lowest price product I could find. For instance, on condensed soups, I believe that it’s Campbell’s at the Commissary, but Store Brand at the rest. If I were to only compare the same exact product-like Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, 99% of the time the Commissary wins out. That’s because they only charge us what they paid to get the food from the Manufacturer. But store brands, or generic brands, sometimes beat out the Commissary. Really just depends. In addition to the brand of product, I also did NOT take into account size. So I may be comparing a 120 ct Fabric softener from Meijer to a 240 ct at Sam’s Club. I’m not lacking in where to store stuff, so I didn’t mind what size. But how I figured out the best deal was to calculate the “per oz”, or “per count” price. The boxes highlighted in yellow are the lowest price (per oz/per ct/per sq. ft.). So if you look at Hand soap, you see that the Commissary is yellow/$.90. But if you look further in that row, you’ll see a red $.88 at Kroger. The red means that it will beat the yellow box, but it’s a SALE price! So that’s something I’d have to keep an eye out for. But for every day shopping, the yellow is what you go by. Kroger’s was the hardest for me to get the prices for. They have very confusing tags. There may be a white tag, a yellow tag (some had what seemed to be “effective sale dates” while others didn’t) and some even had two yellow tags because of the March Madness sale. ARGH! Even if I got the prices a little mixed up, I believe Kroger is the most expensive-over all- unless you catch the $10 for $10 sales (get the 11^th free). Then, if you have coupons to add to that sale, you can get some dirt cheap groceries. Meijer is also running the 10 for 10 sale right now and I know that both of these stores have seasonal sales that beat the Commissary, like on canned soup. It’s in November so if you can store a year’s worth, and can wait, shop then.

Download my Excel sheet here:Download Grocery Store Price Comparison 2010