Square foot gardening: something old, something new…

Now that we have passed Imbolc (technically Feb 2, the mid point between the solstice and the equinox), the days are starting get a bit longer, and things are starting to sprout, despite frigid evenings.  Its about this time of year that the urge to grow things gets stronger.

I had been wanting more vegetable garden space last fall, and so decided to put in one more square foot bed, and completely rehab the soil in the oldest bed — its has been going for about 4 years now, so a couple of days ago, I went off to the lumber yard and got enough lumber for another bed, picked up some agricultural grade vermiculite, and lots of SeaSoil.  A day later, there was a new bed, and the garlic from the old bed had been transplanted into pots.  One thing I noticed during the rehab, was that I have gotten so used to the look of the gridded beds, that they look naked without the squares!  Never fear, they are decent again!

As the new bed was laid out, I was also puttering around in the greenhouse, setting up a heater to made seed starting easier, and decided I would replace the freestanding pots at the end of the greenhouse with another 1/2 square foot garden bed (2 ft x 4 ft), which will be perfect for heat loving plants, as it gets sun for most of the day.

Finally, I gathered up the loose bricks I had in the yard, and started on an herb spiral.  Right now, it doesn’t have soil in it, but is laid out to a size I think will work well.   So here are the views of the beds on the side of the house…

and the view of the new bed behind the greenhouse, and the bed nestled close to the house.  These all get good exposure to the sun during the summer months.  The bed  behind the greenhouse still needs filling!

I am thinking about one more bed, but am not too sure yet if it is too close to the walnut tree…

Things in the greenhouse include some greens started to carry me though spring, and some seeds started to transplant to the garden in late March/early April.  10 degrees C at night seems to be a good temperature to prevent cranky seedlings.