ok, but you guys should also post how far apart you'd really plant something, and say, how deep, if you have a preferrence of how wide the square should be instead of how it is supposed to be for certain things.. that type of thing. i think that would be really cool!! ~Medo

Medo, I usually go by the spacing on the seed packet. If it says to plant something 4" apart, then I do the entire block with every seed 4" from the others. If it says 12 inches apart, then I'd plant it smack dab in the middle of one square. I try to vision what size a plant is when it's full grown, and I allow that much space for the plant. For the sfg, I sometimes chose the smaller varieties, especially in things like cabbages, tomatoes and such. If I plant "Pixie" tomatoes, I can plant one to a square. If I plant "Celebrity, each plant takes four squares because I let them bush, I don't prune to a single stem. So I think that's a good rule of thumb. Grab a tape measure and go see how big some of these veggies are when they are full grown, and allow them that much space in your garden next year.

For a particular plant, try googling for it, for example "strawberry spacing" or "asparagus spacing".

Or, follow the sfg directions, many have very good luck with those spacings. It's really a matter of preferance.

I like my beds to be 12" deep, but I'm on sandy soil so it really doesn't need to be that deep. I just love deep, rich soil. I have one bed for things like lettuce that don't have long roots, and it's only 6" deep. Long, strong rooted plants will find their way through the good soil and down into the sandy soil in my gardens. I put my beds over sod, but I expect that to decompose by next spring, so my beds will just get deeper and better each year on their own, without getting higher.

Hope this helps *g*

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I think it is an excellent idea. However, I would not average the results because of all the variables. A very important one would be the weather conditions and length of season. What would be of value to me is if somebody else from the North East Zone 5 would post there results. If they were significantly different from mine, we could get together and try to identify other variables that may cause the differences. Just as somebody from the South East Zone 7 should be more comparable to you. What say you?

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

I agree John, for instance - someone in the north is gonna have a much larger yield on those veggies that prefer cooler temperatures, as they wouldn't do as well in the south. Also, I don't think we should use the zone hardiness map. Instead, I feel that perhaps each state should be identified.

Medo - I can see where depth of soil and also spacing would be very beneficial. I'll list mine along with the numbers.

EG

EG, using state rather than zone won't work. sinfonian and I both live in Washington, he has a very different climate on his side of the state than I do on mine. He lives in wet green area, I live in dry desert area. I think we could compare by planting dates. I could compare with those who's main cool weather crops are planted around April 1 and warm weather crops May 1-15. Even then there will be variables. I have access to abundant water, and use a timed sprinkler system. You might be in a draught and sprinkle from a can weekly. I might use 10-10-10 fertilizer and you might use a "miracle gro deluxe". I might plant my seeds 1/4" deeper than you did.

Maybe instead of a yield comparison, we should just stick to show-and-tell and learn from each other's successes and failures.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Granny - hhmmm...you've got a point. There seems to be too many variables involved. Thanks for your input. I suggest we drop this thread. :)

EG

Bah, and I was excited to share exactly how many carrots grew per SF. No, not really.

My warm weather crops sucked this year because we missed a month in there, I'm sure of it. Summer came late and left two months early. My tomatoes were tiny and I'm not sure I'll get the big push to rippen them. Cukes are doing ok. Corn has been a disappointment. And my beans were iffy tasting, but the bush beans grew well once they germinated (huge problem there) but my pole beans just started producing in the last few days. Not sure they'll do anything.

No surprise I lost hehe. Next year should be a better summer, at least everyone's hoping it will be.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

Now I dun gone and ruined yer fun :-(

Ole Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

ya know granny, that's a typical guy, ruin it a little, or their idea, and then BOOM!!! ya gotta drop the WHOLE shibang!! thanks EG!!! i wanted to learn something and you had to take it all away!! great job!!! **big grinn** ~Medo

P.S. thank you Granny!! that's a Huge help!! your awesome!! :')

My only problem with sticking to show n tell is that I'm so new to SFG that I truly have no idea how many of anything to expect. It would be nice to hear something from everyone, even if we leave off every single detail, or just allow people to add the details they'd like to. It's just really hard when I see my green beans growing and I truly have no idea how much it will provide, or I'm planning a fall garden and don't have even a clue how many squares to plant of lettuce or whatever the case might be. Right now, I'm just winging it, so for me, it would be nice to have just a wee bit more info. I love the show n tell threads, but they rarely tell you about full harvests. They just show you the first fruits or a particular day's harvest. This isn't much info to go on, you know?

~Angela (who's still not home yet and school starts monday)

I can say that I did romaine at 4/sq ft and they were fine. Enormous, but fine. Spinach was 9/sq ft. only 6 germinated, but they were also fine. I did tomatoes at 1/sq ft and did not realize to prune back to one stem. Yikes! That has been an unholy mess, but harvest seems fine.I have cucumbers at 1/sq ft and I have harvested 1/day for the last two weeks. I have the pumpkins at 1/3 sq ft and I've only got one full sized pumpkin per vine, but that's fine for my purposes: one for carving in oct and one for pies, I'm good. I have watermelon 1/3 sq ft and so far it has four watermelons on it. The peppers that are in the front are 1/sq ft. They have produced 10 so far on one plant and 6 on the other. It should be noted the yellow bell pepper had the main stem snap off in the last rain. That stem had nearly 10 baby peppers on it (dang it!!). I see potential for 20/plant with bell peppers. That's enough for me. I got a handful of peas, but I was growing them incorrectly. I've gotten 10 pole beans so far. 9/sq ft.

Wow! Thanks, Carolyn. That's some pretty good and interesting info. I wure would like to see threads that people do in the future with their harvest pics, etc., also include this kind of great info!

~Angela

I'd say tonight's harvest was typical of what I pick every other day. Low on the zucchini, as it's slowed down considerably, and doesn't include the green beans and a cucumber that I picked yesterday, or the several crookneck squash that will have to be picked tomorrow.

From 3 determinate tomato plants (each planted in four squares, as I let mine bush out naturally) 4 1/2 pounds. All but two tomatoes came from one plant...the smashed one.

From one cucumber planted in 1 square, 1/2 pound

From one zuccini, the small plant that is taking up four squares right now, 1 1/2 pounds

From one cherry tomato that is running rampant over four squares (it could/should have been trimmed), 1/2 pound

That's 7 1/2 pounds from 21 squares, but everything was from plants that take the most room to grow. Yeilds per square would be much better for beets, onions, beans, carrots, etc.

Every time I have weighed my produce, it has been in the 6-7 pound range, and just a couple of weeks ago, I was picking that amount daily. I'm guessing the "old" garden totals about 75 square feet, with the zucchini and crooknecks taking up more than their fair share.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

very good info!! see that's the kinda stuff i'm looking for!! :') you guys are the total bomb!! "many hugs" i'm so tired and i wanna go to sleep but i have one more load of clothes to do!! LOL i really wish i could convince them to go naked!! LOL ~Medo

LOL! Medo... oh, heavens...

Also, I do want to agree with Medo, there.... thanks VERY much for the GREAT info. I am very excited!

~Angela

Hey Granny....I know you're sick of the word Zucchini, but I have a question for you....How many zucchini per plant did you get this year? I'm thinking that 4 plants may be too much for me, after I fix my drainage problem.

EG

EG, I planted one hill of zucchini (3 seeds) and thinned out the weakest, so I ended up letting two grow. The weaker one I transplanted elswhere in the garden, and it just began giving me zuccs, I think I've probably picked four from that one. From the hill? I'd have to guess I was averaging 3-4 per day for quite a while, now I'm only getting 3-4 per week. BUT, as I said elsewhere, it is beginning to put out a lot of new blossoms and baby zuccs again, and we're looking at a good month or more of good weather. I know you are a zucchini freak, so you'd probably consume more of them than we do, and I'm not freezing any shredded/sliced zucchini and you probably will. So, I think four total plants might be about right for you. I wouldn't do any more, and it will give you some idea as to how many you'll want for the next year.

Today I harvested (from the same gardens as my previous post) the typical 6-7 pounds. Tomatoes 2 lb., cherry tomatoes 3/4 lb., cucumbers 1-1/4 lb., green beans 10 oz., yellow crookneck squash 1 lb. 6 oz., mesclun greens 4 oz. and 2 green peppers that were not ready to pick, but the wind broke the stem off...4 oz. I think that comes to 6 -1/2 pounds for today.

Now, admit it. Does your kitchen windowsill look like mine all summer?

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Granny - thanks for giving me that information. Because of my zucchini failure this year, I basically didn't know what to expect from a good year. I will plan on 4 plants next year, because i'd like to freeze quite a bit for winter. That's a nice picture of a daily harvest you got there! My windowsill only looks like that for probably 3 weeks solid, then the numbers start diminishing. Of course, if I wanted to plant more tomatoes, and also stagger the plantings - I think I could make mine look like yours. :)

EG

Add another pound to today's total. I missed a zucchini...easy to do, but it was right up front, so I don't know how I kept from tripping over it. So that makes 7-1/2 pounds for today.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

next year i plan to plant instead of 3 of each kind of tomato's, i'm gonna plant 2 of each kind, cherokee purple, potatoe/tomato, roma, celeberty,better boy or is it big boy? or any kinda dark colored tomato as in black or brown or blue anything crazy!!!! LOL even if its striped way cool!! LOL so if ya come across it!! pleas save me some seeds and if i have something or ya want something let me know, i'll look for it! so i'll have them for one whole bed. i'm thinking i want to do the trellis's like the cattle panel, and instead of up like they show, over so the vege's will grow thru the panels and the kids can get them. Hee Hee. not sure about how to do the maters though. any idea's on them?? ~Medo

Medo, I'm going to make cages from pvc next year. I am so used to working with that stuff (I've always installed my own underground sprinkling systems) it will be a cinch!

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's the kind I'm building

Forgot to add, I'm going to paint mine green with Fusion paint! PVC will turn black in the sun and heat, so a coat of paint protects it. And I think it will look nice (shouldn't even show).

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Those do look cool, Granny. I think green will be more appealing to me, like you said you were doing. The neatest thing is that you can add to it as needed. hmmmm I will think about this as it seems easy enough. I think that PVC in the hot sun can be dangerous though. I thought I read that somewhere. I'll do some more research on that tomorrow... I'm getting tired...

~Angela