The boxes are built!! We built three 4' x 4' squarefoot garden boxes last weekend. Today I filled one of them with soil, using a mix of 1/3 composted manure, 1/3 organic compost and 1/3 planting mix (from Mother Earth Gardens here in Minneapolis*). We are planning to have the soil for the other two delivered because it is more affordable to buy in bulk.
I had started some cold hardy greens a few weeks ago and I put those in the first box. We have kale, a few kinds of lettuce, rainbow chard and mustard greens to start with. Bunnies are plentiful here in Minneapolis so I also have a small bag of Bunny Barrier at each corner of the box. Just to make sure, I also threw in a couple of marigolds which may not survive colder weather but will hopefully keep our furry friends at bay!
I didn't mark off the
individual squares on this box because all of the things I was doing seemed to take an entire square. When I put in the next batch, however, I will really be looking to maximize the space so I'll post more about that later. If you are thinking of starting a squarefoot garden, I highly recommend looking at one of Mel Bartholomew's books. They are a great resource and contain lots of great ideas and plans.
That's all for now, I'll add more when I have some more progress!
* I have been very impressed with the urban farm movement in the Twin Cities. I also visited Eggplant Urban Farm Supply today in St. Paul to find some lemon cucumber seeds and we attended the Gardening Matters conference last weekend where we met lots of interesting urban farmers and aspiring farmers like us.
