welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

square foot garden, be careful

SQUARE FOOT GARDEN
my wife she and i are going to donate a new
square foot garden to the new homeowner of
the habitat for humanity house im working on

i took some left over 2x6 untreated boards and
made a 4 ft frame with reinforcement of  the corners

i then ran some wire every foot across the frame to
make 1 square foot spaces for planting

we will dig up 6 inches of soil from the garden spot
and place the soil in her compost pile
then will line the bottom of the hole
with cardboard that will extend up to the top of the boards

this will block all weeds from popping through
then will line this wilh sheets of newspapers
this will help hold in moisture and will provide some food for worms
they love newspapers

(the home owner has deep soil not like my thin caliche soil so as the
newspapers and cardboard break down and the compost composts
her deep soil will  only get better
her garden should be better each year)

then will surround the frame with plastic sheeting covered with
mulch or crushed granite to keep away grass and weeds

we then will dump into the hole and frame good organic garden soil that
was purchased at the natural gardeners store
it has all the goodies needed to plant and grow vegetables
compost, green sand, minerals, good bacteria and good fungi

the home owner will be able to just plant her vegetables and
then just water and wait for the crops to come in

we also will be adding a 1 ft diameter cylinder of concrete wire with
an inner ring of chicken wire which will be placed in the middle of the garden
it will be buried 1-2 ft into the soil and will extend 2-3 ft over
the top of the soil
this will be filled with compost material and will be watered well
as it composts down she will be able to add more compost material
and water
this will feed and partially water this 4 ft square garden

its my version of a keyhole square foot garden

when its all completed i will post a picture of it

also all that green stuff in that picture is all weeds that are surrounding
my barn
many of your yards look this way
you cant spray your way out of all these weeds
keep em mowed so they wont set seed
read my last weeks blog to amy on what to do

BE CAREFUL
its so unseasonably warm here you have to be careful and
avoid that urge to stick the maters and peppers in the ground
if you do and you live around here they will probably get nipped
by a frost that is probably coming

i know because i do it every year and usually lose them
you can put them in pots and move them inside and out every
day then transplant them into the garden later on in march

last year the tomatoes that did the best
which isnt saying much since none of them did well last year
i put in a large container and kept it in a small green house
until the first week of april then planted it

be sure and prep your garden bed with 1-2 inches of compost
and add some organic fertilizer over the bed also
make sure and keep it watered if we dont get rain
then all you have to do is plant the veggies when the
day comes

this year my goal is to avoid the urge
if i can

the organicgreen doctor

4 comments:

  1. Dr. Nash.. Do you acidify your soil? The soil here in cariage hills is very alkaline and I used organic sulfur to acidify the soil. Am told taters like acid soil.
    What do you think?
    ron on the lawn

    ReplyDelete
  2. ron on the lawn
    most organic people just add compost to the yard and organic fertilizer
    not sure about the suflur

    i use raised beds in my garden so the ph tends to be more neutral or acid
    i also use rain water to irrigate with and it is on the slightly acid side
    i plant potatoes every year and they seem to do well
    togd

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey There,

    This is Kevin from the Square Foot Gardening Foundation - great to see your project! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. We'd also like to see any pictures of the garden in full production mode, so send those over if you can and we'll feature them on Mel's blog! Good luck and happy gardening!

    ReplyDelete
  4. kevin sfg fondation
    have read mels books
    mine is copyrighted 1981
    have listened to him on the radio here in austin when he has been on the show with john dromgoole
    plan to use johns ladybug square foot garden blend in this particular garden

    he and mel talked about it on the show

    yes ill take pictures at the beginning and as the garden grows and send them to mels blog

    i am and have always been a big fan of mel bartholomew

    togd

    ReplyDelete