Today, I noticed that my eggplants are starting to grow. One plant has a couple. I’ve never grown them before, so that is one of the experiments of this year, although there are many things I’ve never grown before. So it’s all an experiment. I guess I’ll wait until the end of the season to assess what went well and what didn’t. But I may add a few comments here. Here are a few pictures I took today. (Click on the pictures to see a larger view.)….

You can’t really see the baby eggplants very well, but I wanted to take a picture of them in front of my garden sign. (I have 4 eggplant plants.)

This is a view of the “whole” garden area — which doesn’t show the shady part in back, or the berry patch in my “park”. But it does show the “grassy” (weedy) area in back, which will probably be where I grow potatoes next year (in an effort to “tread lightly” on the ant habitats).

This is a view without the potted tomatoes, of the Square Foot Garden, potato patch, etc., mainly as a current comparison to previous pictures I’ve taken.

This is all my potted tomato plants. The large ones in the white pot are from the flat of veggie seedlings I bought at Ace. The short ones were all started from seed in April. (Next year, I’ll start my seeds earlier.) They’re healthy-looking, even though they’re crowded with maybe not enough dirt. Time will tell how well they’ll produce, or if I’ll feel the need to either add more dirt or transplant some of them. But the front window planter has basil, parsley & a few soy beans (as fertilizer) sharing the space, and the back planter has carrots sharing space, so I think I’ll leave them as they are, and add some “weed tea” if it looks like they need more nutrients.

This is redundant, but shows the potted tomatoes in front of the Square Foot Garden.

This one is, too. It shows the crowded tomatoes. The ones in the front planter are Beefsteak. The ones in the back planter are Better Boy — all started from seed in the house. (As I mentioned elsewhere, these are about 6 weeks behind the flat seedlings. But I don’t mind if they all mature at different times, because I won’t be overrun with an unmanageable crop all at once.)

This is a view of the Square Foot Garden, facing north. The fence posts mark the 4′ area. Everything seems to be doing amazingly well. The squash plant and the nasturtiums are huge, as is the amaranth. Those things that are overshadowed seem to be doing OK, except the peas. Either they didn’t like the straw from the potato plants that kept falling into their space, or I planted them too late. The only time I had luck with peas was the first year I had a garden at my old house, back in 1980. I’ll definitely plant peas earlier next spring. My sister-in-law started hers early, and she picked her peas by June. My surviving pea plants are only a few inches tall.

As for my Square Foot Garden, I really did try to follow the directions on Mel’s site as well as I could (without buying his book which I’m sure would give me more information). I didn’t have enough compost, so used some organic top soil in my “Mel’s Mix” which is supposed to be 1/3 coarse vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 compost the first year. And I did try to grow only one thing in each square, although only one or two nasturtiums came up. So I added some zucchini seeds to their square. And I did “religiously” mark the square feet with quarterround. But as you can see, not only do some of the plants overhang more than their square foot areas, they pretty much make the quarterround invisible. So I’m not sure how necessary it is to mark the squares if the markers don’t show.

See my original post.

So maybe next year, I’ll grow smaller plants. (But it was hard to come up with 16 different species that are generally considered companion plants.) On the other hand, I like the abundant look of things growing huge. I do have to agree with Mel, that growing things close together is a good way of keeping down the weeds. (But there are very few weeds, since I didn’t use existing dirt, and those that I can get to are easy to pull, because of the Mel’s Mix, and because it isn’t compacted — and because the weed roots aren’t established.)

The other thing I’ll do next year, is leave about 3 feet of walking space on the side where my potato plants are, because I do have a problem reaching into that part of the garden. I may even forego the fence next year, depending on what I decide to plant. But I thought I’d need it for plants that might want to climb. And my neighbor might need to know where not to go with his snowblower next winter. (He talked me into sinking the wood to driveway level or lower, so he wouldn’t hit it with the snowblower. I don’t know that I sank it deep enough.)

So far, even though one 4′x4′ square foot garden wouldn’t feed me for a year, it is an effortless way of growing food (once the frame is installed, and the “Mel’s Mix” is added). The biggest effort is picking the food, and preparing or preserving it. But that’s something anyone would do, even if they buy it. So, my attitude is that this is something simple enough for children to do. And in parts of the world where the growing season is longer, and where winter isn’t a problem, it could produce a whole lot more food than where I live — either because plants would continue producing, or because new plants could replace them.

And even though I have only one Square Foot Garden, and the rest is planted in rows or in pots, I did adapt some of his ideas. For example, I tried to make the garden small enough that I wouldn’t have to walk through it, except one pathway in the back area. My potted tomatoes are growing in Mel’s Mix. And I did opt for growing plants closer together than the seed packets recommend. I’m working on a compost pile, but don’t really know how to do it, so I’m just adding compost to my pile of top soil for now, and will use that next year.

(My dad had a compost pile in the back, which is fenced in on 3 1/2 sides. But my neighbor has been using it as an area for burning wood and lawn waste. So I don’t consider it too good for using, especially since it’s currently full of branches, etc. — until we can start burning again in September. And I’m not convinced that ash is good for much. So for now, my garbage can of “compost tea” seems like my best option for fertilizer.)

I may add another Square Foot Garden next year, either in the new area by the garage, or on the blacktop in front of my dirt pile. Otherwise, I’ll find another use for my remaining vermiculite.

Next Spring, I’ll start my tomato, cabbage & broccoli earlier in the house, like around the beginning of March. Instead of using the flat starter pots, I’ll use the larger square flat pots, so the plants will have more room to grow and just have to be transplanted once into the garden in May. I’ll direct seed my beets, carrots, beans, peas & potatoes in the ground as soon as possible. If necessary, I can put my “plant tent” over the garden, so I don’t have to worry about a late frost (or even a timely frost, if I plant too early, like in March or April). And maybe I’ll look around for some free-to-cheap lumber, like an old skid that I can use to make more SFG frames. (Maybe I can get some wood from someone in my FreeCycle group.) If I put new wood frames in the new area, I don’t have to worry so much if they rot, because they’ll be above ground, and because I don’t particularly care if they don’t last for years.

For previous posts, click on the “veganic” tag.