Donna’s Square Foot Garden Part 37
March 22, 2010 by admin
Filed under Gardening Videos
I found great tiny kits at The Home Depot for raised bed gardening. They are the perfect size, affordable, and probably in stock at most stores. All you will need to get your SFG started is a grid (very important) and the “All New Square Foot Gardening” book!! I am so glad to have stumbled on these in the garden center. HD is also selling really adorable rain barrels and compost bins too! My recommendation is to get them BEFORE spring arrives. Gardening is time critical and you certainly do not want to have to move on back orders to begin your garden! 
Oops! Also, when I mentioned these were $50, I meant $50 per bed vs the kits are $59!
it’s nice to toss arugula fresh in HOT pasta and let it wilt down in the hot pasta – it mellows the spiciness
Donna how is the garden? I also live in NW Fl, in P’cola and I have been growing tomatoes in containers for many years. This year I’m going to SFG after watching your videos. My beds are ready and I plan to plant on 3/6 while watching the temperatures.Never remember this many cold days for this length of time. I’ve always had my plants in by 3/1 and rarely ever had to protect them. Thanks
Hello Donna,
I always wanted to start up a garden for my daughters, my wife and myself. I have seen all your vid’s and wish you congrats and i thank you to inspire me. Coming days we start up the SFG in our garden. We can’t work in the original ground cous this ground is not good for gardening. Now i’ve seen you vids we are inspired and start these days with building up our garden. Thx alot and greetings from Belgium – Europe
P.S. Still need to find out what soil to use…
Hi!
You must be reading my mind! This year I have already started enough seed for basil and marigolds in every box! I am just sure it will help with the insects.
Thanks so much for watching!
The marigolds do attract spider mites and slugs so you might want to take preventative measures for that since I saw you had issues with slugs in the spring.
I have really enjoyed your video’s. I too live in that hot part of the country, but on the other side (south tx), and have loved Sq Ft Gardening. I actually have a copy of his older book as well, and the vhs video’s of his show.
Your videos have inspired me to jump back into gardening. Just so you know..year 1 you had marigolds, which are a good insect repellent and I didn’t see them last year. You might want to add them again. I usually have at least one sq per box of them.
It is Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. Thanks for watching!
hello donna,
i just watch all of your video’s, and im ready to star on my own gardeing! what is the title and author of the aquare foot gardening book? thanks so much for the inspirtation.
i love your video’s…i live in south alabama and rains like everey day and my plants don’t like it at all i had watermelon and guard’s planted but they died and i have shallots planted
love your video’s i have seedlings in my window’s and alot of shallot growing in my room but i had guards and watermelon planted in my back yard but they both died and i live in south alabama and it rain’s here like every day and it does not like my plant hope they grow
Sounds good to me! I have ordered a book called “Carrots Love Tomatoes”, I hope to read it soon. It should help educate me on companion planting.
i heard that onion has an onion fly and a carrot has a carrot fly if u plant them together the flys will stay away because the onion fly hates the smell of carrots and the carrot fly hates the smell of onions im going to try that out this year
Oh! I hope to grow garlic soon! The variety of crocus is Crocus Sativus. You can find them easily on line at certain times in the year. when the bulbs are divided.
Thanks! Mine do not get as big in the fall as they do in the spring. It seems the “Early Dividend” variety likes the temps to go from cold to warm vs warm to cold. I am learning it has more to do with the variety of what I grow vs WHAT I grow. This is a real education for me! I hope, by starting seeds indoors this season, I will have a little more control over my garden Because I am learning, in the past, I have always been at the mercy of the home improvement center for transplants!
I highly recommend getting the book “Square Foot Gardening”, you may even find it at your library. The mix is:
!/3 parts of compost, peat, and coarse vermiculite. Thanks for watching!
Thanks! I purchased them with the intention of staining the outside and the top, not the inside, to prevent just what you are talking about! Thanks for letting me know about how fragile cedar can be, I thought it was more durable. I appreciate your comment. Happy Gardening!
The raised bed kits look pretty cool…I stained my current beds but I lined the inside of the beds with several layers of plastic sheeting…Mostly to keep the moisture off the wood, but I imagine it would keep toxins from getting through as well. Love your videos!
dont stain them it will posion your food. the stain will eventually get in to your food. I have 8×4 wood boxes. Yes, it does not last but, at least I know that the stain and cemicle will not get in the food. ceader will break easy, it cracks easy.
I have the hardest time growing lettuce..it wants to get spindly and fall over and dry up..last yr summer burned it up so hope to plant it early spring in partial shade…what is the Mel’s mixure consist of??
Donna your Broccoli always looks so good, mine finnally has a little heads the size of a quarter but it is taking forever
Hi, love your videos. Do you need a certain variety of crocus for saffron? I wish we had your weather, we have 2 feet of snow here in Hampshire, England. I planted onions and garlic in November, it should over winter but I hate not being able to grow anything in the winter. Thanks for the videos, I am green with envy (just about the only green thing around in all this snow).
Hey! The beds I purchased are made from cedar, so insects, like termites, will not be a problem. The other bed (one step up from the cedar), which Home Depot sells, is made out of some kind of composite…probably recycled (made to LOOK LIKE Redwood). Most composite is recycled. Thanks for watching! Don’t forget your grid!
what are those made of, Donna? Are they those plastic wood made from recycled materials? I would like that. I went to the lumber store and got non-treated 2x6s and cut to lenght and screwed together for my bed. But I think if I found some nice plastic that wouldn’t degrade over time (made from recycled) I’d love it. Thanks so much for sharing all your gardening, I can’t wait to see your new beds