Building a SFG Raised Bed

Okay, so here's the deal. You may have read the beginning posts of the blog, or you may not have. So if you did, this may be a little trip down memory lane, or something new. How did the Overnight Gardeners decide to build a garden? Overnight, really. We met some friends for dinner and they were talking of their in-the-ground garden and planting corn, tomatoes, etc. (a spring garden), and we decided to come home and start looking up back yard gardening on the net. Lo and behold we came across the concept of square foot gardening.

What is square foot gardening (SFG)? Well, the short of it is using the least amount of space to get the most of your crop. The creator of the method is Mel Bartholomew and he has written a couple books on the topic. (Most of which can be borrowed from one's local public library.) The basic concept is that different crops need a different amount of growing space (whether below-ground or above-ground, i.e., roots or shoots) and that is how one determines how many plants of each species goes in one square foot. Mel's ideal SFG raised bed is a 4' x 4' square.

Our first two SFG raised beds were 4' x 8' (we excitedly thought, if 4' x4' was good, then twice as big would be better!--not necessarily). The bed was 8" deep. Below are detailed instructions on building a 4' x 8' x 8" raised bed. This information can, of course, be adapted to whatever size and depth bed you want.

List of tools and supplies:

1. measuring tape
2. pencil
3. drill with drill bits
4. two (2) 2' x 12' x 8" untreated boards
   
5. a tub of decking screws
6. one (1) 4 x 4 x whatever length board (not a necessary component)
   

The first beds we built, I brought the boards home and cut them to size myself using my miter saw. However, in successive beds, I have just had the people at big box store cut the boards to size for me. Essentially, I would have them cut 4' off each of the 12' boards. These 4' boards will be used to made our "width" of our bed. The remainder of the boards would make the 8' "length". **Note: this instructions will go along with how we built the first set of SFG beds; we were kind of particular and measured out holes, etc.. Since then, we just eyeball it.

Step 1: Measure holes for placement of wood screws.


Step 2: Pre-drill holes through the 2" x 4' x 8" boards to make it easier to get through all the wood.

Step 3: Secure the 2" x 4' x 8" boards to the 4" x 4" corner supports with decking screws.


Step 4: Pre-drill the 2" x 8' x 8" boards and secure them to the portion of the bed you've already made and voila!


The next post will detail placing the raised bed frame, prepping the ground and soil for your SFG.

A tale of two greens

Prior to a month ago, if someone told me they were making a pot of greens, mustard, collard, and turnip greens instantly came to mind. But since we planted our fall/winter garden, my view of greens has expanded dramatically. When we made our pilgrimage to our local garden store to purchase our transplants for the fall garden, we came upon broccoli raab. We bought a set of four and off we went. Upon planting, they took off! They produce more leaves than one could even imagine! (The broccoli raab plants can be seen below. They are the largest plants in the bed.)

10.9.2011-------------------------------------------10.20.11

11.6.11----------------------------------------------Leaves harvested 11.6.11

The other plants surrounding the broccoli raab are all cool weather plants, but they did not take off nearly as fast as the broccoli raab. When we saw these leaves growing like crazy, we did a little research and found that you can actually cook them up as though they were other "greens. So we started harvesting them and Ell started putting them in with the mustard greens. Paired with the mustard greens has proven to be delicious and full of nutrients. And the broccoli raab just keep on keeping on.

The Mighty Corn Earworm

Lately, I've been biologically controlling and physically controlling the cabbageworm populations on our broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and collard greens. About once a day, I head out to the garden to see if there are any new holes on the leaves of the cole crop plants, and when I spot some, I turn the leaf over to (most of the time) find a little teensy baby caterpillar munching away. Sometimes the worms are so young, they don't even have their green coloring yet (which I can partly assume comes from the chlorophyll they're injesting), but sometimes they can be about 1 inch long and about half the diameter of a No. 2 pencil. This worm I'm familiar with, however the worm below was a new one for me.

After a little research, I believe I have correctly identified this caterpillar as a corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea). I did kill the worm at the time, and I am glad I did. They can wreak havoc on cabbage plants, lettuce, really all kinds of crops. I am glad I spotted him while we were out in the garden harvesting mustard greens before he got a chance to enjoy them himself. Until next time...