square foot garden

SQUARE FOOT GARDEN

i have made several of these 4 foot square gardens for friends
for the habitat houses and for my wife shes school

this year i decided to build a 4 foot square garden and donate
it to a silent auction to raise monies for our team organicgreendoctor
in the williamson county walk to end alzheimers
the silent auction will be at the reunion grille in cedar park
a nice venue for this
it will be the first week of september the exact date is being finalized

my friend has just finished the alzheimers quilt she made for the auction
she is a plastic surgeon who does quilting and does a blog for a hobby
when i receive it next week ill take pictures and will post more details
on it

heres the recipe for the 4 foot square garden that the
organicgreendoctor himself will personally build
help site the garden at the winners place
help chose the fall veggies to be planted
prep the site
and assist in planting the veggies in the fall garden

ingredients
love for organic gardening and the wish to inspire others to
do this type of gardening

32 feet of 2in x 6in x 8ft cedar boards
8 feet of 2in x 4in x 8ft cedar board

1/2 cubic yard of hill country soil from the natural gardener

4  2 cubic feet bags of lady bug brand square foot gardening blend
wire to separate garden into 1 foot squares
nails

instructions on what to plant in the garden in the fall and in
the spring
instructions on caring for the garden

on the site assessment i will look at sun exposure
you must have 6 hours or sun or you can not have veggies
growing in the garden

i will look for compass alignment looking for the best sun
exposure

i will look for light exposure for the summer and the winter
looking at trees shrubs etc that may affect the gardens
placement

then
i we since i want the new owner to get involved and get their
hands dirty and put in some sweat equity
will scrape out a square that is 8 ft x 8 ft
then a 4 ft square hole will be dug down to 12 inches
removing the soil to be used somewhere else or if its
good soil replace it in the hole
the bottom will be filled with newspapers and maybe
cardboard as this kills weeds and hold moisture in the soil
also worms love to eat newspapers

then the square foot garden frame will be placed on the new soil
a 1 foot wide layer of cardboard will be placed around the
new frame to help keep weeds and grass from growing
into the new garden

















it would look something like this without the central composter
and the frame would be 6 inches higher than this one

then the hill country soil and the square foot garden soil will be
placed in the frame

you now have a 4 foot square garden with a soil depth of 2 feet
that will work much better in this hot dry climate

this picture is on the square foot garden we planted at my wife shes
school which has concrete blocks instead of cedar but it gives
you a better idea of the height of this new square foot garden
that we will build

you also have 16 one foot squares to plant fall veggies
which i we will plant together

suggested fall plantings are
spinach
lettuce
beets
carrots
swiss chard
cilantro
kale and more kale
broccoli
snap peas
cabbage
asian greens
radish
cauliflower
brussel sprouts
chinese cabbage
onion
garlic
turnips
arugula
etc

so if youve always wanted a square foot garden at your place
come make a bid on this one at our silent auction
the garden will be built with love and hopes for years of
enjoyment of growing your own veggies

also the monies will be going to a good cause

the organicgreen doctor