The rabbit wire fence around the West, North and East perimeters (along with the
chain link fence on the South edge) are there mostly to keep the cats from using my
planting soil as a litter box, and it keeps out the rabbits as well.
My plan is to use all four fences as trellises - Pole beans on the West (left side),
Sugar Snap Peas on the East, indeterminate tomatoes on the North and determinate tomatoes
on the South.
Outside the enclosure, I will most likely make some hills for melons and winter squash in addition
to the actual garden enclosure.
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- The two 4X4 garden squares in the center of the picture are the main garden area, each with a trellis, based
on the Square Foot Gardening method designed by Mel Bartholomew.
- In the foreground there are two troughs; the largest is for squash and the smaller is for my daughter
Banay's flower garden.
- The soil mix I used for the large squares is loosely based on Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening" method;
- Peat Moss (about 45% of the mix)
- Vermiculite (about 45% of the mix)
- Composted manure (about 10% of the mix)
- I added a little bone meal and some blood meal into the mix as well - but very little.
- A little of the natural soil from the planting area will tend to percolate up into the mix as it is stirred during replanting.
- The soil mix in the troughs is a modified version of the mix:
- Peat Moss (about 40% of the mix)
- Vermiculite (about 10% of the mix)
- Composted manure (about 10% or less of the mix)
- Composted Cottonseed Burrs (just a little bit in the mix)
- I added a little bone meal and some blood meal into the mix as well - but very little.
- Gypsum - just a little bit mixed into the original soil in the area.
- The mix for the tomatoes in the areas outside the North fence is very basic: existing soil with a little peat
moss, some composted cottonseed burrs and composted manure with a very small amount of bone meal, blood meal and gypsum.
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Construction |
- Enclosure
- The back yard at the house we rent is enclosed with a chain link fence, and I wanted to put the
garden outside the yard. With this in mind, I gathered up some seven foot T-posts that I had
used years ago and bought 50 feet of rabbit wire fencing.
- I put the T-posts in the ground to the North side of the yard, connected the rabbit wire to the chain link fence and enclosed
the garden area. The North and South sides are 20 feet long and the West and East sides are
about twelve and a half feet long.
- Gate
- I scrounged around and found an old broken gate made for a chain link fence which someone had
thrown away. After a short struggle, I was able to get it put back together and used it for my gate
by hanging it on one of the T-posts.
- Trellises
- I will have three types of trellis when I get my garden fully constructed; Three trellises of two types
are already in place.
- The first type of trellis is the one used on the square foot areas inside the enclosure. I put a pair of
7 foot T-posts about a foot into the ground at the west end of each square. I then put a 5 foot piece
of rebar across the top of each pair and tied it with bailing wire. Next, I connected a 6 foot piece of sheep wire
fencing to the rebar and nailed it to the garden box at the bottom. This will be used for cherry tomatoes and cucumbers to climb.
- The second type of trellis was constructed by putting a 20 foot piece of rebar across the top of the
three 7 foot T-posts on the North side of the enclosure, securing it tightly with bailing wire. Next, I tied jute twine
between the rebar and the top strand of the rabbit wire fencing of the enclosure. This will be used for the determinate tomatoes to climb.
- The third type has not been built yet - I will put up something for the green beans on the West fence, to be
determined later.
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- Containers
- The 4X4 square nearest the gate was built of discarded 2X8 planks. To build the other 4X4 square I got
two 8 ft. landscaping timbers, cut them into 4 ft. lengths and connected them with 1X2 boards and screws.
- The 8 ft. long trough was made of two old railway planks (about 3X12) and closed off at each end with 18 inch pieces of
1X12.
- Banay's flower planter was made of leftover pieces of 1X6, about 2 ft. long and 18 inches wide.
- The containers for the tomatoes outside the North fence are just rectangular holes dug into the ground filled with
prepared soil.
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Planting |
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You can read up on my current planting information by
clicking this link.
I'll put in more information about planting procedures
specific to the Square Foot Gardening method soon.
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My Old Square Foot Garden |
Here's a photo of my old 2003 square foot garden area prior to spring planting. We no longer
live at this location, so my garden had to be recreated at the new location discussed above.
You can see two small rosemary bushes and a large swiss chard plant that survived
the winter of 2002/2003 without any care at all...they stayed right in the garden without any insulation
at all.
This garden was made entirely of railroad timbers (about 3X12). It was one big bed divided by timbers laid
over the top of the walking areas. I gave up on this design primarily due to the fact that it was hurting my
back and knees too much to stay in a one foot space to bend over and work in the garden. My new garden has over
three feet of space between planting containers making gardening MUCH more comfortable.
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