The above is my badly-drawn rendition of my "Three Sisters". I didn't get corn seeds because I have heirloom corn in my regular garden, and didn't want cross-pollination, but this works with the mammoth sunflowers too. 1 sunflower per square foot, 2 beans, 2 cukes, and a pumpkin in the corner. Of course, dill helps keep down pests. I plan on doing as many of these as I have seeds, space and energy!
The above pic is for the bell peppers. According to square foot gardening, one can plant 16 carrots per square foot. Because I have the bell pepper, a marigold and a pumpkin in each square foot, I figure 10 carrots will fit just fine. I'm going to do as many of these squares as I can.The Kids LOVES carrots!
I don't care much for cabbage but Hubby does so I'm going to make him some kraut. The dill helps to keep pests away and later I can use it in the kraut. Pumpkins again in the corner. This will probably be only one square (2 x 2 = 4 square feet).
My biggun! As many of these squares as I can create because we love carrots, and tomatoes are essential to our daily diet. I have the lettuce to the north because the tomato will shade them, preventing them from burning and bolting. I have a few carrots to the north of those because the lettuce will be kept picked, so there shouldn't be any shade over the carrots. Marigolds are an absolute MUST for tomato plantings. Keep away from the cabbage squares.Now... is it Spring yet?
5 comments:
I like the two dollar garden idea. And most of the seeds from the dollar store are open pollinated, so you could save seeds from them as well, and have a no dollar garden next year :-)
I love the idea of keeping the costs down. I picked up lots of wonderful heirloom seeds for free at our local Seed Swap - http://really-rose.blogspot.com/2010/01/2nd-annual-seed-swap.html - and I sort-of use the square foot gardening technique in the raised beds in my garden.
Thanks for the info about marigolds keeping pests away. I'd heard that years ago, but must have forgotten. I was given a generous supply of Jester Marigolds at that Seed Swap so will definitely liberally plant them in my garden this year.
Last year I planted borage around my tomatoes and that worked well too, but the borage got rather large and unruley. I saved some seeds so I can plant a few this year, but I think your suggestion of marigolds is much better.
Do you know if there are any plants that make a good deterent for slugs? I have a HUGE problem with slugs. Last year I planted one bed in my garden with cabbages and called them my "sacrificial cabbages" as the slugs absolutely loved them. It seemed the slugs stayed so busy with those cabbages that they did very little damage to anything else. Those cabbages did get rather unsightly and did not find their way into my kitchen as I felt they were too covered with slug slime. Any suggestions for a less unsightly slug control?
I also picked up several of those $0.20 packs of seeds -http://really-rose.blogspot.com/2010/02/plantation-products.html - and got mine at Wal-mart. They had a huge selection available, though I have noticed it's almost depleted now.
Happy gardening!
@ Really Rose-
There is an old saying- "You don't have a slug problem, you have a duck deficiency."
did no one tell you never to plant sunflowers near your garden soil?
Ali
ERic: both are good ideas. Rose: I've never had a slug problem but I'd go with Eric's suggestion, or pick them up and feed them to my chickens. I think putting out a small container with beer will work too. Anon: huh? Sunflowers are great in the garden... their roots are huge and long and really help out clay soil (which we have under our sandy-soil) so not sure what you're trying to say.
Thanks! Vikki
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