Our summer squash provided us with nearly 300 pounds throughout the season from just 12 plants. These were planted in the other half of greenhouse #2. Our family and families in the neighborhood enjoyed fresh squash, and we canned, dried and froze some as well. Our turkeys and chickens loved the squash too.

Our tomato harvest was also a big hit. Recently we brought in the green and ripening tomatoes to the sunroom so our first frosts wouldn’t nail them. These were the ones that we wanted to save at the end of the season. We brought them in using a wheelbarrow. That tells you how much we gathered.

If you’re looking to pitch the produce bill, a greenhouse is the way to go. I recently visited with neighbors of mine that built a homemade PVC greenhouse, and others that built two kits; a high tunnel and a low tunnel.

I’ve posted pictures and discussion on the website, so folks can see what can be done with simple greenhouse structures that are cheap and relatively easy to build.

Clair

I can relate to Jennifer. Some of my tomato plants have died. Of those that are left, 4 are Supersweet 100s that produce one or two little tomatoes at a time and, one is a supersteak variety with a couple big still green tomatoes. I’m thinking my problems are not casued by not adequately amending the soil and the smoke that hung over Northern California for at least two months.

On the flipside, my parsnips seem to be doing well. My first planting of carrots did okay, but the second planting never took off. Oh well, I’m excited to start the new fall planting…

I took a break this year from gardening, but I love Square Foot Gardening–the author’s terrific. I have extremely fond memories of vertical trellises I made out of wooden pallets so that my Blacktail Mountain watermelons could grow vertically–and I had organic watermelon into November in New Jersey that way. I also fondly recall double-digging 20 (count ‘em) 4 foot by 4 squares, with 2 foot wide paths in between, and composting. I also got compost from my organic food co-op, which was gladly provided, and turned up my nose at grass clippings if I couldn’t be certain that they were indeed organic. My gardening club supplied the leaves and the manure. No bags of chemically treated soil from the store for me–organic all the way.

Whatever method you use, it helps not to walk on the aerated soil (use a plank if you must) and to plan no bed to be wider than four feet, so as to be accessible from all sides. Use floating row covers and an inexpensive hothouse (build yourself for under $100) to extend the season into the winter and spring.

The only thing I can think of that is a better way than square foot gardening perhaps is Bio-intensive Gardening, created by John Jeavons. See his book, “How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Can Imagine” and his Biointensive workshops. It’s like taking Square Foot Gardening to the next level.

Happy gardening!

We have tomatoes but they are still all green. Our weather is opposite to yours, its been really cool and rainy all summer, and the tomatoes are large but not ripening.

Squash was so-so. We only have 1 plant, and it produced 3 so far, but a lot of other fruit has fallen off and died before getting big enough to eat. We have added miracle grow and now things are doing better, but for while it was really sad.

We also have broccoli, and that’s the biggest disappointment, just leaves, no florets.

I’ve also learned a lot and plan on doing this again next year.

Last year we built two greenhouses and this year I am completing a third. We are up to our neck in summer squash, the tomatoes are a jungle, and we had great success with peas, lettuce, herbs and cucumbers. Our winter squash is also a great success, with perhaps 50 fruits that will help us make it through the winter.

Check out my website under Build a Greenhouse, and you’ll see examples of our greenhouses and harvest.

Every four days we are harvesting about 12 pounds of squash. The tomatoes are coming on now, and when they hit big, we’ll be in heaven.

Part of our frugal freedom is to ditch the produce bill and get our food fresh from the garden.

I can’t think of a better frugal thing to do.

Clair

If you are great at raising tomatoes it might be an idea to start a neighbourhood vegetable bartering service. One family one vege and then exchange with the rest.

Looking forward to reading more about your next year’s bigger and more advanced version of SFG.

Best regards

Regards

My outdoor square foot gardens are still doing great (watering is key) because I chose plants that I knew would be successful for our climate. My SFGs in the greenhouse have not done quite as well because I don’t have a proper ventilation system, and because it’s very difficult to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and squash here in AK!!
Try it again next year…water often and try making your own compost to amend your soil. I made a bunch last summer to enhance my soil this summer, and it helped a lot. I’m making a lot more compost this summer for next year right now.