The Merits of Square Foot Gardening!

When Reed and I first started out, he was living in a tiny one-room efficiency apartment that was part of an old house in the small town of Athens, WV. He had no tv, no phone, no car, no stereo, and no computer. Which in my eyes, made him a kind of modern day ascetic. He did have a big country yard and a garden though, and now that I think about it, the veggie garden was about the size of the apartment.

That was circa 2005, and it is the last time I have worked in a conventional garden. Since then, Reed and I lived in many more tiny apartments, but in 2008, we took up residence in our first house. With it, came a terrific yard. We wanted to plant our garden within the safety of the fenced section to protect it from deer, but there wasn't the space in there for a huge - conventional garden. Around this time - Reed discovered a gardening method known as square foot gardening.

Developed by Mel Bartholomew around 1981, this method minimizes labor and maximizes efficiency of space. Rather than having a large rectangular space "way out back" that requires constant weeding and thinning, and overly huge harvests all at once, a square foot gardener has one or more 4' X 4' garden squares. Each garden square may be subdivided into squares that may be as small as 1'' X 1''. Assuming you give this method a shot, you will be amazed at the large harvests that can be attained in such a small space. Further advantages are:

• Not having to step on your garden. Every gardener knows that stepping on garden soil is a major DON'T. It compacts soil making aeration and growth difficult. Still, you have to get in there to harvest and weed somehow. When standing outside a 4'X4' square, no stepping on precious soil is necessary.
• When one square is harvested completely (like a lettuce or pea square), just harvest and plant anew. If you are already propagating seedlings in an indoor greenhouse - you have a head start.
• A square foot garden can be planted closer to your house and takes up less yard space.
• You're not planting a huge row of tons of seeds just have to thin out half of a 12' row in a few weeks! When direct sowing, say, lettuce - you plant only 2 lettuce seeds for every lettuce plant you want. That only leaves a single sprout to thin.
  
• You're only growing as much as you need. Don't get me wrong, you can grow a lot of veggies. But you're not having tons of cucumbers rotting on the vine because you can't consume them as fast as they're growing.
• Again, woman friendly. You're not wrestling with some giant tiller every year. Once Reed dug up the squares (with only a shovel!) all I have to do is hoe it in the Spring. (And yes, he does that too!)
  

So - how is it done? I can't give you the whole picture here, but I'll try to provide an overview of how we do it.

1. Pick the location for your squares. They should be near each other, and near your house for easy access. You can use raise beds or dig up your soil and add amendments.
2. Decide how many squares you want and what you want to grow. Obviously, the amount and diversity of plants that can go in the square will depend on the type of plant. You can only plant 1 zucchini plant in a 4X4 square, but you can plant up to 16 cabbages in a 4X4 square because they only need 1 square foot to grow. (Of course, you can companion plant. Unless you just really love cabbage, you could plant all sorts things in there as long as you follow the spacing requirements).
3. Dig your 4' X 4' squares!
   
4. We are budget gardeners, so we form our bed edging out of refuse materials. After Reed digs a 4X4 square, he walls them in with boards or bricks. We've also used decorative flower bed fencing, but it doesn't keep the weeds out as well.
   
5. Divide up your squares. (Again, we're cheap - so I'm not even kidding, we use broken window blinds to mark off the individual squares). Again, how much you divide depends on the spacing requirements of what you want to plant there. Don't bother dividing for the zucchini square. This plant will produce all summer, but it needs the entire 4 foot space. For smaller plants, send 4 dividing lines horizontally across your square and 4 lines vertically across your square. This will give you 16 1-square foot squares. Don't think that's much? You can grow 16 carrots in only 1 square foot of soil. For realz!
6. Plant your seeds according to the spacing chart in Mel's book. So, if you plant carrot seeds only 1" apart, you can plant carrot 16 seeds. (If you have doubts about your seed viability, you may plant more and thin later).
   

We have a great time with our square foot garden. It's neat, it's pretty - and it's easy to manage. Back in Reed's 2005 garden - I kid you not, we would find dried up peppers as late as November that we missed in all the mess. These little gardens are so neat and so tidy, that pretty much never happens to us anymore.

For more details about Square Foot Gardening, check out his book in the picture up there, or better yet, buy it!

Grow your own heirlooms

A couple of times in this blog, I’ve referenced “heirloom” flowers or vegetables. Like “organic”, a word like “heirloom” might sound good on the cover of a catalog…but if you’re like I was a few years ago, you’re probably wondering - what exactly does it mean?, And what makes it special? Read on for the answers and then some!
What is an heirloom plant?
An heirloom plant (usually a flower, fruit, or vegetable) is one that was developed before a certain year in history and can hail from anywhere plants can grow. Depending on who you talk to – this date can fluctuate, by say oh, – 50 to 100 years! But, most heirloom enthusiasts go by the year 1951. An heirloom plant is also open-pollinated. That means that if you grow an heirloom pepper from seed, the seeds of that pepper will be viable to grow more peppers the following year. Most peppers (and other produce) that you buy at the store have been highly hybridized and are therefore, sterile.
Why 1951?
Produce in particular was a lot different prior to 1951. It seems like a leap, but World War II and its aftershocks might have actually had a latent effect on the way we grow and consume our vegetables. During both World Wars, “victory gardens” planted in the home yard and parks were employed to raise morale, and more practically, to ease the public food shortage in the wake of war-time rationing and limited resources. Many modern heirlooms existed in these gardens and it was indeed an ingenious way to cope with wartime hardship. However, after 1951, the war was behind us and the population of the U.S. was growing (you’ve heard of the baby boom I’m sure). Perhaps as a result of this, commercial growers began to raise produce with the goal of higher yields, faster production, larger size and brighter color - at the expense of flavor and nutritional content.
A second impact came with the development of our Interstate system. During his time in Germany, President Eisenhower was exceedingly impressed with the Autobahn Highway. He felt a similar system would be imperative to the future defense of the United States and consequently, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was passed. But the impacts of such a system had more effects than those related to defense and disaster relief. In addition to effects on tourism, culture, and even crime, the creation of interstates have had long-term effects on food. Before World War II, a trip from my house to central California could take weeks – maybe a month with my sense of direction! Today, a truck can drive from California to Appalachia in 3 days. Whereas in the past, such a thing would be impossible, today it is commonplace. But the vegetables withstanding such a journey would have to change, both genetically and chemically to accommodate such a feat...

The Agriculture Department has tracked levels of 13 major nutrients in fruits and vegetables from 1950 to 1999 and found, six noticeable declines -- protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin and vitamin C. The declines ranged from 6 percent; for protein, 15 percent for iron, 20 percent for vitamin C, and 38 percent for riboflavin. This is just one of many, many studies yielding similar results. (It’s happening in the UK as well). So, on one hand, while it is now possible to enjoy California oranges year-round in West Virginia, or strawberries in the dead of winter – they are not as nutritious as they once were – or could be.

Is it Time to Bring Back the Victory Garden?
I think so. While nutrition is diminishing, rising gas prices are in turn, raising the cost of our produce so – in effect, we’re paying more for less. (But I bet you don’t need this blog to tell you that!). That said, there are more reasons than just practical ones to grow your own heirloom veggies.

• They’re FUN!! And they will change everything you thought you knew about vegetables. After exploring one heirloom catalog - you’ll find that carrots are purple, zucchinis are round, watermelons have stars and moons, peppers are chocolate, and the best tomatoes in the world – are black.

• They really do taste better. The Black Prince tomato is the best tomato I’ve ever had. I would bet they're higher in Vitamin C and lycopene too.

• They’re environmentally significant. Biodiversity of plants (like animals) is decreasing. There are actually seed banks and non-profits (like Seedsavers) that exist just to preserve and propagate heirloom seeds. You can purchase many of these varieties from a catalog. But some heirlooms are so old, and so rare - they are a part of history that may only be in the possession of a few individuals.

• They're personal. John Ott and his wife left their home in Bavaria in the year 1867 and set sail for America. The Otts had few belongings, and spoke rudimentary English, but stowed with them two seeds to comfort them and remind them of their ancestral land. One was the German Pink tomato. The other was "Grandpa Ott's" Morning Glory. Before John Ott died, he passed the seeds onto his grand-daughter Diane Whealey, who as it turned out - started the SeedSavers Exchange. Had John died before, these heirloom plants would have been almost certainly lost in time.
  
• "Radiator" Charlie Byles bred the "Mortgage Lifter tomato" in his own garden in the 1940s. It turned out to be such a fantastic tomato, it became known nation-wide and he paid off his mortgage with it. "Radiator Charlie" was from Logan, WV.
• Some history buffs even raise whole gardens that reflect "1920s home gardens" or replicas of victory gardens of the World Wars.
• They have stood the test of time. But you should know, they haven't been subjected to modern-day growing techniques designed for disease resistance or very long-term freshness.
  

So, there you have it. Just about every reason under the sun to grow heirloom plants. If your curiosity is piqued, this link http://www.seedsavers.org/ is a good place to start. (They have flowers too!) And if you're really curious about heirloom veggies, come to my house around oh, July this year and see for yourself!