I'm having the same problem as you, EG. My vote is the spacing/depth. My broccoli in the SFG never matured past a quarter sized head and were alltogether smallish before they started to bolt, but the ones in large pots with the same exposure, same soil and same fertilization were amazing in their growth.

My cabbage hasn't formed good heads either, but I'll tell you they've perked up quite a bit now that I've removed the broccoli and created some space.

ribbit - I think the spacing is the main issue. The reason why I think this - I had a good friend that planted his corn 4/sqft as Mel suggests, and he said they didn't do well at all. When I asked him what his thoughts were on it, he stated that he didn't think there was enough nutrients in each square (at 6" deep) to support 4 plants. I'm planning on staggering the cabbage and broccoli with my next planting.

EG

I vote weather as the primary cause, but what do I know. I've never grown cabbage and wouldn't know how. My broccoli did great at 1/SF, though they did grow all funky to get enough light behind my cauliflower. It actually grew out over the edge of the bed to grow around it. Very odd.

I do know that once nights drop below 50 degrees regularly, growth drops significantly. Could that be the problem? Knowing your soil mix is good, I would think it could get plenty of nutrients.

Maybe, just maybe, another issue could be the fertilization. Maybe too much nitrogen caused the leaves to outgrow the head. Ok, I'm stretching, but trying to help.

EG, I staggered my boxes this year and found the broccoli shadded out the cabbage behind it and the cabbage in front did better, but I bet Sinfonian has a point. I wonder if you tried the exact same thing in the spring if you'd have vastly different results. It's been below 50 at night for some time.

EG. That comment really got me to thinking...I did not plant any of the cauliflower,broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts in side by side squares but scattered them throughout the garden.

While these all grew find the squares beside them suffered in almost every case. Now my thoughts to correct this was to plant them side by side this coming spring. Now I am wondering what that will do.

Also the mulching makes a huge difference. I did one box with black plastic mulch and one without and the mulch makes a big difference.

I went and added complete progress pictures of my cabbage in the progress posting of my square foot garden...

Here are some of them..

July 30th

August 3rd..

Here is a link that might be useful: Square Foot garden progress pics

Mike, your pics got me to thinking too. I did my first experimental fall planting of cabbage and cauliflower this season. I spaced mine 1 per foot/ side by side. I noticed that my center-most plants were the largest, and the ones on the perimeter were slower/smaller. Your pics seem to show the same scenario. Do you think it might have something to do with drying out faster along the edges? maybe not so much the space but the moisture? I just thought I'd throw that observation into the pot.

sinfonian - my broccoli did great at 1/sqft, but this cabbage is a different story. Everything has been done exactly the same for both veggies...I'm wondering if the cabbage requires more fertilization than the broccoli. I'll have to research that one...Also, it has been very cold here for a while...

ribbit - we'll get this thing figured out. I'm germinating an early season variety for the 2009 garden. It's supposed to mature 2 weeks earlier than the bonnie hybrid I have out there now.

Mike - That's really interesting. Were all of your plants germinated at the same time?

fanfortony - I think you're onto something there....the middle of the bed should be able to stay moist for a longer period of time, because it's not as exposed to wind/sun/etc. as the outer squares.

EG

Quote: Mike - That's really interesting. Were all of your plants germinated at the same time?

Yes...

Grey beard checking in here.;o) I think that most seasoned gardeners that have converted to SFGing do not follow MelÂs book to the letter. Why not start a separate post for each possible cause of poor performance as you did for plant spacing? Each one could require extensive discussion and over shadow the others or lead to confusion.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

Most of us here don't follow Mel's spacing to the letter. I mean, who wants to plant 20 tomato plants to get the production of 5? Just make space for your tomatoes. Of course, you could do just what Mel says, it just isn't the best for everyone. Just ask Granny. She's about as non-Mel as a SFG can be, but her garden is amazing.

I would love to hear this discussion. Are you germinating your seeds for putting out in January now eg? I'd like to start mine, but I'm not sure how early is too early. We will actually get a week or two of quite warm followed by snow from February to May (yes, we got snow the first week of May last year, lol). So, I'm not certain when I can put what out. We have a calendar in the extension, but it's pretty vague.
I think SFG is a means to an end. I don't think Mel expected people to follow it to the letter. However, I would think the foot marking thing would be the least important part of it, and he seems pretty excited about it on his website.

carolyn - Yes...I started yesterday. I'll start a new thread for the germination thing.

John - I think that's a great idea.

EG

Very important update!

I contacted Mr. Tim Beckman, who is a Purdue Advanced Master Gardener, and asked for his opinion on my cabbage issue. I figured if anyone would know, he would! He's the sqft cole crop man.....Anyway, he does his at 1/sqft., chooses an early variety, and only applies organic fertilizer at the time of transplant. That's it! He said that it's really difficult for them to form heads in extremely cold weather. Yay! I didn't suck this time....

EG

Here is a link that might be useful: Tim's Square foot garden website

Ha, I knew it was the weather! After seeing just how bloody slow all my veggies are growing in our cool but not freezing weather. I figured it would happen to you with your colder weather. Just like me, there are plants that just needed to be planted sooner I guess. I think just about all my veggies could have been started sooner.

Really glad the spacing isn't off. There's always next year and who knows, cover them and maybe they'll head over the winter?

Frankly, when I heard you went to an expert, I assumed they would poopah SFGing out of hand. Most "experts" do. But this guy sounds very open minded! Great find EG!

Yeah, sinfonian - that made me feel a whole lot better about it. I really liked this spacing, anyway.

EG

You rock EG! The guy at OSU extension recommended that I call this fellow who is a very well known researcher and I have chickened out. "Hey, you don't know me at all, and you're this totally famous guy, can you answer a research question for my blog?" OK, I'll call him next week. I'll list the name of the grad student who answers my questions, lol. You SO rock EG!!

Carolyn - I'm pretty assertive, and don't get rattled by "big or famous" people. The way I see it, they're just like the rest of us, and besides....I'm bigger than most of them! Ha! (Big ol' redneck)Anyway, Tim is a super nice guy, and told me to contact him anytime. He's a superb sf gardener.

EG

Yeah, I get a bit anxious about talking to big-wigs, but after talking to our CEO long ago, finding out he was a regular guy, it made me feel better.

It also made me feel good to be able to converse with Patti the Garden Girl from the get-go, way before I knew absolutely anything about gardening.

Now Mel, not sure I'd be as gung ho about talking to him, hehe mostly for fear of him finding out I don't follow his method to the letter. Then again, he's filming with Patti as I type and I'm sure he'll notice she's quite the hybrid SFGer at best, hehe.

ROFL, what's funny about that is that I worked on several political campaigns in college and I've met a number of very famous folks in politics. Somehow, meeting someone who can actually DO something and KNOWS something sets me back...
Sinfonian, if Mel actually met you, I'd think he should thank you. You've done an amazing amount of work on reporting in your garden. Hybrid is good in this case, I expect we're all hybrids in some way.
EG, I got two more kinds of peas this morning: cascadia and oregon sugar pod. They are from 2008 and were on sale at the Ace hardware. Want some? My poor hubby was like, "I don't suppose I'm going to talk you out of this?" I was all, "Nope." Heh, poor man...

Carolyn - that's funny....I'll have to pass on the peas, though. I reckon all I need is some of those dang little packets! Medo's gonna have to spill the goods.

EG

I'm going to try cascadia when I get done with my oregon somethingerothers. I wonder if yours the 32" or 6' kind? hehe

Great find Carolyn, both should do well for you.