squareftgardens4u

This is our 4th year at the fair, speaking about Square Foot Gardening. We have 2 L.A. County Fair dates – Friday September 7 and Friday September 28. Come and see us in the Flower and Garden building at 1 pm, 3 pm and 5 pm both days.  I love the fair, for family fun and lots of things to see, some new and some old and always interesting.  If you already grow your own food, great!  If you don’t but would like to learn more, you’re in the right place.  No GMO’s or pesticides allowed here, just a good wholesome method for helping you and your family to better health.

Happy gardening.

Good morning!  Memorial Day weekend is almost here.  Time to plant more veggies.  Here’s my list for spring/summer veggies: corn, squash, cucumbers, melon, beans – both bush and pole, and some onions, garlic, radishes and lettuce.  Don’t worry if your favorites aren’t on the list.  We can grow most of them now because of our beautiful temporate climate.  In fact, our Square Foot Garden earns its keep all through the year since we have mild winter days which are great for our cool weather crops.

While you are planning your planting, and I suggest you do just that, remember to plant your vining plants on the north side of your plots so they won’t block the sun from other plants.  Provide a trellis so they can grow vertically.  That will save space in your garden and both vine and vegetable will be healthier, with less pest and disease problems.   Make a sling to hang from the top of the trellis to support the heavier veggies like watermelon, etc.  Plant your vines in the 2nd row of squares if you want to provide shade for cool weather crops such as lettuce.

Tip:  A few days ago I visited the new Ganahl Lumber store at 3003 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena.  The folks there are helpful, friendly and knowledgeable, and the prices for Square Foot Garden frames are great.  I’m adding them to my resources list.

Welcome!  We are here to help you enjoy your square foot garden, to answer questions and share experiences about our gardens.  We will have book reviews and gardener profiles.

We welcome pictures of your garden and comments about how you solved a problem, or about something you need to resolve.

April 8, 2013

Are you ready for spring?  It’s time to start planting our spring vegetables.  What’s your favorite?  I’ve had my cool season garden all through the winter months.  Several kinds of lettuce, radishes, ruby chard, onions, beets, 3 kinds of kale, cabbage, and strawberries.  I dedicated a whole 4′ x 4′ plot to strawberries.  We’ve been picking them for a couple of weeks now.  Beautiful, juicy, flavorful, and so good for us.  I have 2 empty plots I’ll use for my spring planting, plus soon I’ll have more spaces in the winter plots.  I saved my seeds, so now I just have to plan what I want to grow and get them started.  I’m very interested in learning how to save seeds from heirlooms.  I have a thriving Momotaro yellow tomato that I can hardly wait to try.  Several kinds of squash, and I hope to find my Japanese cucumber seeds and get them going.  They are crispy and tasty, and grow so quickly once they get started.  Nasturtiums are blooming like crazy, adding lively color to the garden.  Pics coming soon.

September 1, 2011

Summer is almost over, and it’s time now to get our fall and winter plants started.  Summer squash and tomatoes are on their way out so we’ll plant cool weather crops such as broccoli, cabbage, celery, onions, radishes, carrots, winter squash, pumpkins and herbs.  I’m going to plant fava beans again as a cover crop and I’m looking for something else for a winter cover crop to replenish the soil for some of the other boxes.  Don’t know yet what that will be.  We’re picking a 2nd batch of dragon tongue beans from the ones that grew up the corn stalks this summer.  I was just about to pull them out when I noticed they seemed to have a 2nd life.  Interesting beans.  Purple stripes on the pods that disappear when cooked.  They look just like ordinary green garden beans after cooking.

Now that fall is arriving, garden clubs in the area are back on schedule so I have several to go to to present the Square Foot Gardening concept.  If you live in the Southern California area and are interested in learning more about having a speaker at your club, just send me an email.

I’m putting together some herb garden planter boxes for my talks and for gifts.  In addition to my sfg plots in my back yard I have several containers for various experiments.  I’ll add pictures soon.  Easy to do and a great way to introduce someone to gardening.

School gardening projects are so popular now.  I worked with a group – L.A.’s Best, last spring to start some after school gardens.  Great fun way for kids to learn.

We also got the rooftop garden at Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles started.  They serve 2500 meals per day to homeless people, and soon they will have lots of fresh vegetables to add to their menu.

Azusa got their community garden launched last spring.   When you’re in the area be sure to check it out.  It’s at Memorial Park.  There’s a demo square foot garden right by the front gate.

My next Square Foot Gardening workshop is October 8, 2011 from 10 to 1 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum.  Call them for details at (626) 821-3222.

I’ll be speaking again at the Los Angeles County Fair on September 9 and 30, at 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00 pm both days, in the Flower and Garden building.

Let me know how your garden is doing and what you are planting, and remember to have fun.

March 17, 2011

We had a great meeting at UC Irvine yesterday, starting with a super salad and fruit lunch, and then I talked about Square Foot Gardening, and about nasturtiums.  I think we all had a good time.  It’s time to get those gardens in.  Before you know it we will be having all kinds of tasty veggies and salad makings to enjoy.  I love the enthusiasm I see this time of year.

March 15, 2011

As I write this I’m thinking about our busy calendar.  Garden club talks, workshops and rooftop garden projects, with something going on every weekend, it seems.  I have a stack of seed catalogs to inspire me, and of course I want to grow almost everything I see.  I’m thankful now that I have a small garden that will keep me from getting totally out of control when it’s time to plant.  At least with square foot gardening I can plant more in less space so I can try out several things.

Please check the calendar to see if there is something for you to attend.