Summer time brings an array of locally harvested fruits and vegetables, and locally, one urban garden is producing quite a bit. Today on To Your Health, Catherine Hansen visits the early explorers group and tells us more about the benefits of gardening at a young age.
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Square Foot Gardening is a special type of gardening that is very intensive. You can plant more veggies in a smaller space than in a conventional garden.

We planted our seedlings in our square foot garden approximately two months before this video update. Please note, we do live in southeastern Michigan, however, our gardens are really taking off! We found square foot gardening to be an excellent choice for us for the following reasons:

1. Excellent water retention: We take lots of mini-vacations in the summertime and usually come home to dried out, dead plants. But the special soil mixture retains water so well, it makes it possible for us to come home to thriving gardens.
2. Little to no weeding: I have not had to weed at all so far!

What makes square foot gardening special is the following key elements:

1. Raised Beds:

Garden box frames should be no wider than
4 feet x any length, and 6 to 8 inches deep. We opted for 3 x 6 raised beds.

2. Special Soil Mixture (Mel’s Mix):

1/3 coarse vermiculite
1/3 peat moss
1/3 blended compost

3. The Grid

Grid – 1 foot by 1 foot grid (must be permanent)-
On top of each frame place a permanent grid that divides the box into one foot squares. The grid is the unique feature that makes the whole system work so well.

4: Plant Spacing: Depending on the mature size of the plant, grow 1, 4, 9, or 16 equally spaced plants per square foot. Choose fruits and veggies that make sense for your family and for the intensive planting style of the Square Foot Garden.

Here is a great resource for knowing how many plants to plant per square:
http://plantandplate.com/p-downloads/PlantandPlate-SFG-planner.pdf

Learn more and meet the inventor of the Square Foot Gardening method:
http://www.melbartholomew.com/what-is-square-foot-gardening/

Thank you for watching!
SSL Family Mom
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TYH: The Benefits Of Gardening At A Young Age

| Gardening Education | 15 Comments
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15 Comments

  • Alecia Sorensen

    Peppers need to be started indoors about four weeks before your last frost if you live in the northern united states. There is a free method of slug/snail repellent sprinkle used coffee grounds around your plants to keep new slugs from moving into your garden. If you already have slugs or snails then make a circular barrier around your plant about an inch wide make sure there are no gaps, you want to do a circle big enough to surround any part of the plant that is touching the ground. Don't place the coffee ground ring closer than two inches to a stem else the slugs will reach over the grounds and climb the stem. Inside of the circular line as an extra precaution you can sprinkle more grounds right up to the stem. The best way to get used coffee grounds is to go to a local coffee shop in the morning and ask if they will collect the spent grounds for you to pick up shortly before they close, almost no shops will say no, Starbucks almost

  • 1q2w3e4r911

    First question: Did the pepper seed need to be imbibed first (pre-soaking in water)? Second questions: mollusks (snails and slugs). A plate with a little beer in it will kill them.?

  • Katie Madison

    Really, a square foot gardening is a great choice to adopt. If you deal with big or small home garden, you can choose this techniques to plant some veggie. Less space will be used and can get more output. So i think it will be a better idea to convert any home garden into square foot garden.?

  • Posies Cottage

    in your hydroponics are you using a root accelerator? Though you have good soil, peppers sometime require a little hormone boost . You could try supper thrive, or a product called roots. There slow because your roots are not growing well. Good luck?

  • Steven Kroiss

    For your peppers, start them indoors and let the get to about 8-12" tall before moving them outside. That will help get them a good and strong start. (Maybe even start them in the aquaponics)

    As for the brocolli, it is a bug that comes out at night like the other commenter said. One thing that will help is watering the plant with compost tea. It will supercharge the growing of the plant and provide a natural protection from bugs.?

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