efficient and effective gardening made easy - concordia college
DESCRIPTION
Efficient and Effective Gardening Made Easy - Concordia CollegeTRANSCRIPT
+
Efficient & Effective Gardening Made Easy
Jason Bergstrand
Ph: 701-306-5280
All New Square Foot Gardening
By Mel Bartholomew
+
Improve your families health: Eating more fresh fruits and
vegetables is one of the most important things you and your
family can do to stay healthy
Save money on groceries: Your grocery bill will shrink as
you begin to stock your pantry with fresh produce from your
backyard
Reduce food waste: When it’s “yours” you will be less likely
to take it for granted and more likely to eat it or preserve it
before it goes to waste
Get outdoor exercise: planting, watering, and harvesting
add purposeful physical activity to your day
+
continued
Stop worrying about food safety: When you responsibly grow your own food you don’t have to worry about contamination that may occur at the farm, manufacturer or during transportation process
Enjoy better tasting food: Fresh food is the best food! If it tastes better, you’ll be more likely to eat the healthy, fresh produce that you know your body needs
Reduce environmental impact: Food grown organically will spare the earth the burden of unnecessary air and water pollution. Less transport of fresh produce from all over the world reduces the use of fossil fuels
Build a sense of pride: Growing your own food is one of the most purposeful and important things a person can do. It’s work that directly helps you thrive, nourish your family and maintain your health
+
Grow more in less space,
no tilling, no thinning, very
little weeding
Grow your own nutritious foods
and save money
Local foods are better for the
environment
Encourages family involvement
Source of physical activity
+
1. Layout- Arrange your garden in squares, not rows. Lay it out in
basic sections of 4’x4’ areas. 4’ wide but any length
2. Boxes- Construct boxes to hold soil mix above ground in a raised
bed
3. Aisles- Space boxes 3’ apart to form walking paths
4. Soil- Fill boxes with special soil mix: 1/3 compost. 1/3 peat moss
1/3 coarse vermiculite
5. Grids- Construct a square foot grid for the top of each box to
organize and space plants
+
6. Care- NEVER walk on your garden soil. Tend to your garden by
reaching in from the sides
7. Select- Plant a different flower, vegetable, or herb crop in each
square foot using 1,4,9, or 16 plants per square foot
8. Plant- Conserve seeds, plant only a pinch or 2 or 3 seeds per hole
9. Water- Water by hand from a bucket of sun-warmed water
10. Harvest-When you finish harvesting a square, add compost and
replant it with a different crop
+
The following mix of soil is ideal for the SFG. It controls weeds,
maximizes nutritional value of food and production levels.
1/3 Compost- 5 varieties is best (chicken, sheep, cow manure...)
1/3 Peat Moss
1/3 Vermiculite
Build Frame Fill Mix Add Grids
Grids made
from wood lathe
Mel Bartholomew’s Mix
Add Trellis
+
One 4x4 garden will feed 1 person (salad or dish) for the entire summer
Advantages
Economical- reduces everything to 1/5 the space Mel Bartholomew, Author of SFG
New Method- easy to understand
User Friendly- all ages can do it
Locate Anywhere- close to your house
Efficient- produces up to 2x in much less space
Earth Friendly- reduce, reuse, recycle
Very Productive- just enough as you need
+
Spacing Examples For SFG
1 Plant/SF – Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Corn, Okra, Eggplant, Peppers, Tomatoes
4 Plants/SF(6” apart)- Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Marigolds
9 Plants/SF (4” apart) Bush Beans, Beets, Spinach
16 Plants/SF – Carrots, Radishes, Onions
+Trellis Trellis Trellis Trellis
Tomato
1
Cucumber
1
Cucumber
1
Tomato
1
Pepper
1
Peas
9
Beans
9
Pepper
1
Beans
9
Beets
9
Carrots
16
Peas
9
Radish
16
Onions
16
Lettuce
16
Spinach
9
Number indicates the number of plants or seeds to be spaced in each square foot of your garden.
Questions can be directed to:
Dale L. Siebert, Extension Agent – 642-7793
Square Foot Garden Plot
Otter Tail Government Service Center
Pavers and Ledge 4’ x4’
Tip:
Gardens need
6-8
hrs/sunlight/day
Tip:
Place trellis on
North side to not
block southern
exposure of sun
Located close to employee entry
Onions
Pole beans-trellis on back side of garage
4 ‘x12’ Box
Summer squash & Zucchini
+
Do
Train your plants to grow vertically (use trellis-place it on North side)
Keep a diary of your garden’s progress- helps in design from yr to yr
Rotate crops each season to reduce disease and improve pest control
Practice composting
Keep learning new information & techniques- (SFG, internet, library)
Don’t
Use old tires or treated lumber to make a raised bed vegetable garden
They may leak harmful chemicals into the food
Over plant, start small and add to your garden in later years
+
Let produce climb
trellis system
Grow vertically
Tomatoes being
supported by
trellis system
Tip: pinch off
tops by August,
so energy goes
back into
Tomatoes not
the vine
+
What country
or civilization
was most
likely to
develop the
idea for
container
gardening?
+Container Gardening
Benefits
Allows you to enjoy plants where traditional garden is
awkward or impossible
Plants can thrive on rooftops, decks, balconies, or
stairs
Grow different plants together that support each other
Oregano repels insects that bother broccoli and oregano
enhances the flavor of beans
Plants can easily be moved if necessary
Rain, sun, disease, used as an insect repellant
+Hanging Baskets
Medium sized pot
Tomato
with tomato cage
Tip:
Can be moved
around for
convenience
+
Cucumbers in a container
Flowers
Herbs
Vegetables
+Grow plants anywhere
in just about anything
+Tabletop Square Foot Garden
+Patio Potato
Planter
Cherry
Tomatoes
+
Benefits of Composting
Growing hardly plants and vegetables
Reducing the need for weeding
Keeping your yard clean
Reducing yard waste in landfills
Producing natural soil conditioner
+ Plants that Keep Insects and
Pests at Bay
Marigolds
Nasturtium
Cosmos
Aster
Rosemary
Basil
+
•Eat fresh produce daily from your garden
•Store extra foods by canning or freezing
•Feel great by giving away food to neighbors,
friends, and food pantry
+ Ideas to Engage and Sustain
Children’s Interest Let them be a part of the design of the garden- what to plant,
how much and where
Let them develop a theme for the garden such as: pizza, salsa,
soup or stir fry garden and give it a special name
“The Smith’s Spicy Salsa & Soup Garden”
Teach them to propagate seeds and transplant veggies and
flowers into the garden in the spring
Give them assignments such as watering, weeding and
composting kitchen food scraps
Play counting games with the grids and produce
Have children check on the garden each day and report:
insects, damage to plants, and predators
+Resources
www.squarefootgardening.com
www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/
www.kidsgardening.org Ideas for children
http://childrens.wcroc.cfans.umn.edu/pages/educators/lesson1.php
University of Minnesota
http://www.gardeners.com/Vegetable-Gardening/5069,default,pg.html
Shows video of raised beds in a variety of themes
www.organicgardeningguru.com/ Benefits of organic gardening
+
(2) 2”x8”x8’ wood- cut boards in half to build 4’x4’ frame
Use newspaper or weed barrier for bottom of frame. Use plywood and cut drainage holes for a table top version
½” rebar (2) 4’ sections. Pound 1 ½-2’ into the ground on the ends of the NORTH side of your garden
3/4” conduit (2) 6’ sections and (1) 4’ section. Use elbow brackets to hold the 3 pieces together and slide over the rebar
If desired add (2) conduit brackets to secure trellis to bottom part of the garden frame
Trellis netting- attach netting to the trellis frame
Most importantly the soil mix: 1/3 Compost (5 varieties), 1/3 Peat Moss, and 1/3 Coarse Vermiculite