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My square foot jungle
I forgot to take pictures last night, but this is my first year using a raised bed. Before we moved into this house I had a much bigger garden patch so a square foot garden seemed like a good solution. We planted Mothers Day weekend with seedlings for the tomatoes, squash, cantaloupe, onions and peppers and direct sown seed for the peas, cucumbers and lettuce. I followed the spacing recommendations but oh my gosh does my garden resemble a jungle.
The squash plants are HUGE and have overgrown the lettuce and onions. The tomatoes are so dense I am not sure if the second row gets any sun besides the top (my fault perhaps since I let the suckers grow) and while I've been training the cucumbers and peas up, the cucumbers leaves are crowding out the peppers.
I am thinking of transplanting the peppers into containers this weekend, the onions can fend for themselves, eating the lettuce as babies since it is been a scorcher of a spring. Would you do anything else? I am still worried about my tomatoes. I will prune some of the sucklings off this weekend, but even with those gone I am not sure I would plant three rows again. There are a lot of baby tomatoes but considering these plants are giant now (taller than me) I would have thought more fruit would have set.
The cantaloupe by the way is behaving admirably. I wanted it to just trail into the lawn and it did. We are adding two new beds next year so we will have more space so I am chalking this year up to a learning experience. But does anyone have any advice for what to do right now?
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| From December 29, 2011 |
Re: My square foot jungle
Mine is usually a jungle too.
I think pulling up the lettuce is probably a good idea as it will probably bolt in this heat (or is it heat-tolerate?). But, my tomatoes always grow into each other (i don't trim off the suckers other than the ones near the bottom) and it's always fine since the foilage isn't dense, light still can come through.
Height of plant doesn't really dictate yield. Some varieties yield more than others &, in the DC area, August is usually when tomatoes REALLY are abundant. So...give it time! I was still getting tomatoes in early Oct. last year too (mostly cherries though)
I kind of like a naturally "wild" garden. I mean, I weed and mulch and stake but if the tomatoes REALLY want to grow one way that is unattractive, I let them.
Really, I think the SFG lends itself to over-lushness/tendancy to be wild. I mean, it's more intensive planting than traditional row gardening. You'll probably get more produce per square foot, though!
I have a jungle too. In some areas I can't even reach to the tomatoes. The squash and zucchini have spilled over into the yard, the watermelon and acorn squash set out on a path and are about 10 feet away from the beds now. I know not to plant the zucchini next to the tomatoes now- they end up choking out the light on the tomatoes. I also won't put herbs near the peppers, and I won't put anything near the eggplant at all. That stuff is insane.
Congrats on a fantastic jungle garden- it means that you are doing it right and will have lots of deliciousness this summer.