Square Foot Gardening:

I've decided to try Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening method.  I really liked his book.  "All New Square Foot Gardening" (http://www.amazon.com/All-New-Square-Foot-Gardening/dp/1591862027).

This book is sooooo easy to understand for the new gardener.  I'm an engineer by trade and so I want black and white, cut and dry, 0's and 1's.  I like when things are straightforward and formulaic.  This book was for me, plus it was plain simple on top of that.

I started by amending my soil via Mel's method:

1/3 peat moss
1/3 blended compost
1/3 coarse vermiculite

Ok, so I fibbed.  I couldn't get coarse vermiculite, so I got coarse perl-lite.  I hope I'll be ok.  And, the blended compost was supposed to be 5 types of store bought compost, and instead I got two.  But, one of the compost sacks was already a blend of compost made from 25 different veggies (http://ecoscraps.com/).  So I figured I was already part way there with that blend.  So I just blended the 25-veg-blend with some other brand.

Here is my square foot garden (approximately 8 square feet!):

You see the other thing I cheated on is the grid divider on the planter box.  I used string and nails, because that's easiest for me.  He used actual wood slats to make the dividers.  Yes, Mel's grid will last longer than mine, but mine was super easy to put up.

I planted 16 radishes in the upper left hand square, and today I saw them growing!

I was very excited to see 16 little guys sprouting up!  You can see I have bird netting covering all of my planter box.  I've got some little critters who like to snack on my veggies.  In this neighborhood we have skunk, opossum, and raccoon.  Well, and rats too.  Someone made a feast of some kale I was growing -- tasty stuff. 

Back to Mel's book, did you know that Mel is coming to San Diego?  This week!  (http://www.squarefootgardening.com/greetings-from-san-diego/)  I'm bummed I can't go.  Too much going on at work.  But I think this would have been fun to attend.

So while Mel's book was great at addressing how to amend your soil, and how to implement the square foot gardening method, I have yet to find a book that simply and easily addresses when to sow your seeds.  It's kind of hard to understand those frost date charts, especially when the area of San Diego that I live in has no frost!  But I'm working on it....

Tomorrow's topic:  radishes!