Tomatoes

 When I was growing up, we let our tomato plants sprawl. That took up a lot of space. In sqf, tomato plants get 1 square foot. I dig a deep hole so almost the entire seedling is buried. They will send out roots along the entire buried stem. I put in several crushed egg shells for each seedling. The calcium helps prevent blossom end rot, as does not ripening on the ground. In the book, he makes vertical frames of fence posts and string. That didn't work for me. It's too windy here, I guess. I use 6 foot garden stakes and a 3 foot by 4 foot piece of chicken wire. Push the stakes through the wire a foot apart. Then set the posts at the 4 corners of the tomato square.

 They go about 2 feet deep, leaving not much space between the ground and the bottom of the wire. The open side faces the north side of my garden. The plants "lean" toward the sun and away from the open space.

 A blossom stem. Future tomatoes.

 A new branch. Sqf says to break these "suckers" off so the plant will focus energy on fewer tomatoes. I leave them until a month before first frost date, mid august here. 2 weeks before first frost, I break off all the new growth tips and blossom stems which haven't yet set fruit. This focuses energy on ripening fruit. Green tomatoes at frost don't do any good. I always pick every one before frost is predicted. Some of them ripen, but many wind up on the compost.

The last few days of waiting for ripe tomatoes always seem so long!

Green Beans

 I do like green beans. I have only grown bush beans. Pole beans would take less garden space, except my vertical grow spots are full of tomatoes. Square foot gardening divides the garden into square foot sections. Each square can hold 9 bean plants. 3 rows of 3. Just put the seeds in their final spacing. No thinning, no wasted seeds. Each seed packet, stored in the fridge will last more than 1 year.

I put a section of chicken wire around my garden, above the concrete risers. Squirrels don't seem to like climbing over it. They were burying corn in my garden, which then grew in the wrong place. Not to mention that they were digging up my plants. It always seemed to be too late for the corn to mature, which was frustrating.

The onions from the next square are starting to mature and fall over. I plant a square or 2 of beans every week until 10 weeks before the average first frost date. Once they start maturing, that gives me a continuous harvest.

Rhubarb

At this end, I planted rhubarb. After it goes to seed, the stalks cook up watery, which is OK for a sauce to top ice cream. Rhubarb has also been called pie plant.
Rhubarb Pie
3 cups cubed rhubarb
1 cup sugar
3 T. Flour
1 egg
2 pie shells
Put rhubarb in one pie shell. Mix sugar, egg, and flour. Pour over rhubarb. Put other pie shell on top. Crimp edges. Pierce top pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
Yummy!!

basics

My sister made this "stepping stone".

When I started to build a raised garden, everyone said, "Why?" and "Isn't the dirt in your yard good?" and "How are you going to fill it?" My back yard is a lake every spring. Can't garden in 2" of standing water! My zone 4 growing season here is from mid-May to mid-September. I really don't want to lose even a few weeks. Also, this wall is the perfect height for sitting on while gardening.

This book has lots of useful information. It was published in 1981, so some of the information is outdated, but the basic premise is still sound. I'll be referring to SFG frequently.

My garden is 4' x 31'. SFG recommends 4' x 4' garden beds. I don't have enough yard space to have walkways between small beds, so I made one long bed that I can reach into and walk around.