Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Square Foot Gardening in Earnest.

square foot gardening

Last week, you know, when we had spring :O, Stefan went out and arranged all the extras that we will be needing to set up our garden - Well the half of it anyway.

It has proved to be a lot harder than we had thought, as not all of the materials are readily available to us, and those that are, are quite costly.

So this is what we have got so far:

  • The wood for two beds ( We will get the rest of the wood at the end of this month or the end of May, all weather permitting!)
  • The Fleece for under the beds
  • Peat Moss Alternative - There is almost no possibility to buy Peat Moss here as the swiss do not want to sell it as it is a dwindling natural resource.


We have our own garden compost, which we will be using and buying an extra two or three different composts to add to that.


Our Vermiculite is also on the way, we finally found it through a tobacco growing company and have ordered enough for the two beds to start with.

Stefan has worked out that we will need 150 litres of each of the 3 soil components for each bed.

Our costs so far (2 Beds which equal 4 x 4 ft beds):

Wood, Fleece and Peat Moss Alternative - approx. $230
Vermiculte - $200

Understandably this cost is a once off which is a relief, as once they are standing it will be just a matter of topping up on the compost each year.

Do you garden in the SFG style?
Any tips?




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2 comments:

  1. I just googled SFG to see some images. It looks so nice and ordered but I can't see my father in law going for it. Do you think you loose space this way? We generally have just enough room to walk between rows to totally maximize the surface we plant but this means that sometimes picking things whilst not crushing others is like a game of twister!!
    Finally getting some sun here in Chamonix.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Emma,
      If you look on the plan that we have drawn up for our garden: HERE, you will see that we allow 60cm in between the beds which is really ample space to move about the beds, and because they are cornered off and slightly raised, you will not be standing on the beds at all.
      The aim of the Square foot garden is to optimize gardening space and ideal for small areas. I have even seen images of them on top of garden tables. I will be posting about the pros and cons of it all in the next week or so, once we have the beds up :) Sun out here as-well this morning hooray!!

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Natalie and Stefan

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