I can hardly believe that fall is upon us already, but the beautiful crimson leaves outside my window attest to the fact that it's true. I am always sad to see the summer go, especially since we had such a short season of truly warm summer weather here in the Pacific Northwest, and yet I do relish autumn as a time to take stock of things, slow down, establish new routines and capture summer's last fleeting moments before we say good-bye for another year.

This summer was full of activity. At the end of May, my husband and I joined an amazing team of other bloggers and went to the Philippines with Compassion International, a brief but life-changing trip. Shortly after returning home, we joyfully discovered that we were expecting our 4th child! From there, the next two months became a blur of nausea and fatigue, pathetic suppers and overflowing laundry baskets, homestay students, and summer fun interspersed amidst it all.

In early July we lost a dear friend, and then spent a week on the Oregon Coast with her husband and children and some friends from church in early August. It was an emotional time, but a special opportunity, and we made many memories that we will cherish.

By mid-August, I was helping my husband full-steam ahead with registration and scheduling for our family business, Resound School of Music. Business is booming, which has made the business/daily life balance very challenging, but we're grateful for how the Lord has been blessing this work. From there, the weeks blurred together and somewhere in there we enjoyed family outings in the summer heat, my husband's and youngest child's birthdays, our 8th anniversary and then began the new homeschool year just the other week.

Homeschool This Year

With our oldest doing Gr.2 work and our second oldest now joining in and doing pre-kindergarten, it seems that the workload has increased significantly since last year. Here is our basic schedule for the weekdays:

• Aim to be finished eating by 8:30am, with everyone dressed and ready for the day, so that we can do chores and get the kitchen tidy before we begin at 9am.
• At 9am, I gather all 3 children together for a Circle Time, where we read a Bible story, work on memory verses, do one lesson from Get Wisdom (Biblically-based character lessons/devotionals for young kids), and pray together.
• At 9:15, I get my 6 1/2 year old settled with a non-fiction book on any variety of topics (science, history, art, etc) for silent reading while I work 1-on-1 with the 4 year old. He and I are doing a few preschool workbooks, flashcard games and simple worksheets (he's loving these dog and cat worksheets right now), with the intention of getting him used to spending a short but focused period of time at the table with me, and introducing him to his letter sounds (we aren't doing letter names yet- I like the method for teaching reading in Ruth Beechick's A Home Start in Reading), numbers and counting 1-10, shapes, colors, patterning, etc.
• From 9:30 until 10:30, we work on the basics- Language Arts (this year we're using First Language Lessons, Writing with Ease, Explode the Code, and Sequential Spelling, in addition to plenty of reading), and Math (Math-U-See Beta).
• At 10:30, the kids have snack and recess (outside if the weather is good) and mommy takes a breather or hops on the computer.
• At 10:45, we're back to whatever Language Arts we didn't get done before recess.
• Around 11, we begin a more extended period of time to work on history (we're doing Story of the World, Book 1- Ancient History), geography (Legends and Leagues from Veritas Press), and science (we're using various books from Evan Moore to explore Simple Machines, Energy, and Habitats this year, as well as another book on Rocks and Minerals). We do history twice a week, science twice, and geography once.
• We finish up by noon, when I begin to make lunch and Abbie can sit at the kitchen table finishing up anything that's not quite finished. Today she was drawing pictures of the tale of Gilgamesh (an ancient Assyrian folk tale) to complete our history lesson, for example.

What do I do with the 2 year old? Hmm, very good question. I still haven't really figured it out yet myself. I think that I'm going to train her to stay in a play pen, with various kinds of activities and toys for at least part of the time. Sometimes she sits in the high chair and either eats or colors. Sometimes she just plays happily. Sometimes she drives us all crazy and gets into everything.

We've definitely got some work to do in this area and I'm open to ideas. I really need to go back and re-read Natalie's excellent post with Seven Strategies for Home Schooling Moms (because I'll learn everything I can from a mom of 8!).

Pregnancy Update: 20 Weeks!

I love to hit the 20 week milestone. There's just something about being halfway there that is so encouraging for me.

I had the normal nausea and fatigue, but once I got to about 12 weeks, my stomach started to even out. I remained fairly tired until about 15-16 weeks, when I started feeling more like my usual self. My guess is that we're having a boy, since that's the same pattern that my son's pregnancy followed, whereas I remained both sick and tired right up until 16 weeks with my girls, but who knows?

Most days, I only vaguely remember that I'm pregnant. I suppose that's how it goes with #4! Life is so busy that it's only pulling on my maternity clothes in the morning, the achy muscles each time I get out of a chair, the evening indigestion or the occasional baby movements that remind me of this sweet little life growing inside.

I'm doing my best to simply eat well (lots of real, traditional foods- especially protein and calcium foods, and anything that's particularly nutrient dense), exercise often (this is key- a post on this topic is coming), and take my herbal nutrient supplements from Trilight Health (I'm using Tri-Iron and their pregnancy mineral formula). I'm also on a temporary, restricted diet to try to prevent having another baby with gut issues and food sensitivities, which you can read more about here.

Gardening and Preserving

Well, as I already alluded to earlier this summer, my beautiful new garden beds were a bit of a flop. Very nutrient-less, dead soil combined with a poor summer weather-wise to result in meager harvests. We did get a decent amount of garlic, heirloom tomatoes, green beans, carrots and greens, all things considering.

I've got plans to really enhance the soil this fall with composted manure and organic matter from the yard (leaves, grass, etc.) in hopes that by next spring, it will be bustling with life and ready to produce a better harvest.

I'm through with most of my summer preserving. At this point I've done:

• 1 double batch strawberry jam (I can't remember- maybe 8-10 pints?)
• 13 quarts of dill pickles
• 3 quarts of sweet pickles and 1 quart of sweet pickle relish
• 16 quarts of canned peaches
• Almost 200 lbs total of frozen blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, plus a couple of large bags of dried raspberries
• Over 50 pints of canned diced tomatoes
• 8 pints of canned tomato sauce, and probably one more batch yet to come (another 7 pints?)
• A jar of dehydrated green beans, and a small jar of dehydrated zucchini
• 16 frozen cubes of pesto
• 4 pints of salsa

Still to come is 20 lbs of canned pears (my hubby's favorite), as much canned applesauce as I have time for (and maybe a small batch of apple jelly), and lots of dried apple rings. Phew!

What's Coming Up

In blog news, I've recently welcomed some amazing new writers. I am also being joined by a virtual assistant, Lindsey, who will help me keep my head on straight. I'm asked so often how I "do it all", and the answer is, I don't. I've previously had help in the form of an advertising manager (thanks, Kate, and I'll miss you!) and now I am adding significantly more hours in the form of this virtual assistant.

For those of you who will be attending the blogging conference, Relevant, I am beyond excited to announce that I will be speaking there! I attended last year and had the most fabulous time, learning and fellowship with other Christian bloggers. It's such an honor to be a speaker this year, especially alongside some ladies whom I respect immensely, not to mention rooming with my sweet Philippines teammate Emily (whose new book Grace for the Good Girl has just been released- check it out!). The conference will take place in Harrisburg, PA, October 27th-29th.

And that's what's going on in our home... how about yours?

Image by Carl M

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Written by Meg Dickey, Contributing Writer

Last time we talked about how to harvest your herbs - now that you've harvested them, what are you going to do with them?

Here are my favorite ways to preserve herbs for out-of-season use:

Freezing

This method best preserves flavor.  Rinse the herbs and chop coarsely.  Place about 1-2 teaspoons in each compartment in an ice cube tray.  Cover with chicken stock, olive oil, or plain water and freeze.   Transfer frozen cubes to Ziplock bags for longer storage.  You can also spread herbs on a cookie sheet loosely and let freeze, transferring to Ziplock bags.  Thawed herbs work wonderfully for cooking!

Air Drying

Remove dead or damaged foliage.  Rinse only if necessary and let dry on a towel or spin in a salad spinner to remove all moisture.  Make small bunches, securing the stems with twine or twist ties and hang in a warm, dry shaded place, allowing for good air circulation.  Or, spread herbs on old window screens elevated from the ground.  Stir often to ensure even drying.  When leaves are crumbly dry, separate from the stems without crushing.  Store in glass (or plastic) containers in a cool, dry place away from sunlight, moisture, and heat.

Drying with Heat

This is the quickest option for drying, especially for those who live in high humidity areas.  It does tend to lessen the flavor and color of herbs, however, so keep that in mind.  A food dehydrator is always a great option, even more so if you can turn the heat down very low, to retain better flavor and color.  An oven will also work, although I generally only use this for roots, since it goes so quickly with the higher temperatures.  Spread the herbs on a cookie sheet, and use the lowest possibly setting, even the heat from a pilot light will work well.

My other favorite methods for preserving herbs involve a little more - but I think they're the BEST way to save many herbs for tasty uses!

Herbal Vinegars

This is the first way I actually learned to preserve herbs! Fill a tall jar about halfway with freshly cut herbs.  Cover completely with vinegar.  Let sit in a sunny windowsill for 3-4 weeks.  Strain out herbs, and rebottle in a pretty bottle if you'd like.  Will keep indefinitely in a cool cupboard. [This is one of my most popular herbal vinegars... great for this time of year!]

You can use any kind of vinegar you'd like, although I highly recommend you avoid white vinegar, even the organic kind, if you're planning to ingest it.  I use white vinegar for my cleaning, so I'll often infuse a gallon or so with herbs to help scent or disinfect an area (rosemary, pine, and lavender are a few of my favorites).

Use your culinary instinct when it comes to choosing which herbs and vinegars to use - tarragon is wonderful in white wine or raw apple cider vinegar.  Rosemary can withstand the robust flavor of basalmic or red wine vinegars.  I love to use chamomile in champagne vinegar - so light and tasty!  These can provide you with awesome flavors to use in dressings, condiments, and even as medicines.

Herbal Honey

I adore flavored honey.  It's nearly an obsession.  And as soon as I realized the herbal honey I made at home tasted better, was cheaper, and I could choose what flavors I wanted,  I was hooked. :-)  You can add fresh herbs directly to honey, but I recommend using dried herbs, just to prevent any chance of mildew or unwanted fermentation (I had a rather enlightening experience with fresh ginger honey! Nothing like a "pop" when you open the jar!).

Add about 1/4 cup of dried herbs to 1 cup of slightly warmed honey (you can do this by warming in the oven, on a sunny windowsill, or on the stovetop, as I did in the video).  Stir to combine.  Let sit in a warm area for 2 weeks.  You can strain out the herbs, or leave them - whichever you'd prefer.

Use anywhere you'd use honey - our family loved apple cinnamon rolls last winter drizzled with some of the cinnamon honey I had made.  Delicious! You can also use herbal honey as a medicine, which was something else our family tried last year.  I added garlic and sage directly to the honey, and let sit for 2 weeks. We had a wonderful, healing medicine that soothed throats and calmed coughs for our kids - and it wasn't a hassle to have them take it!

Herbal Salts & Sugars

This is a great way to preserve highly scented herbs such as lavender or lemon balm.  Slip a few fresh sprigs into a jar of salt or sugar, and let sit covered tightly for several weeks.  I use the herbal salts (usually with eucalyptus leaves or chamomile) for bathtimes... it makes a lovely relaxing experience.

Herbal sugars are wonderful for baking - I enjoy using the lavender sugar when I'm making cakes or cupcakes.  I also used the lemongrass sugar when I was making frosting for a cake.  It turned out to have a delicate lemon taste, which everyone loved.  I'm definitely going to be doing that again this year!

There are some of my ideas for preserving your herbs - what are YOURS?

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Written by Meg Dickey, Contributing Writer

Our weather may not be showing signs of Autumn, but our plants and gardens are certainly indicating it is time for harvesting!

If you have been consistently using your herbs throughout the summer, you may not feel you have many to preserve for the winter season (my catnip has been well-used this year, and I won't be saving hardly any!).  However, you certainly don't want to wait until the first freeze to start harvesting your herbs!

frost on a basil plant

You can begin harvesting your herbs for daily use when the plant has enough foliage to ensure continued growth. Successive harvests throughout the seasons encourage bushy plants with stronger leaf growth.  Plan to cut your plants back at least once during the growing season.

Harvest in the morning, after the dew dries, but before the temperatures begin to climb.  This is when the essential oils of the plant are at their strongest, and therefore their most effective.

Herbs produce their highest oil concentration and flavor after the flower buds appear, but before they open. Harvest at this time for most uses. Blooming plants such basil and oregano are still suitable for other uses, which we'll talk about next time.

Harvest annual herbs until frost, making as many successive harvests as possible without damaging the plant. Don't cut too near the ground, as this will retard future growth.  At the end of the season, harvest the entire plant.

Harvest perennial herbs until about one month before the frost date. Late pruning encourages tender growth that will be killed off by the frost, and plants need the regrowth to see them trough the winter.

Harvest tarragon or lavender flowers in early summer, then cut the plants to half their height to encourage fall flowering.

fennel in bloom

Harvest herb seeds (mustard, fennel) as the seed pods darken and dry, but before they burst.  Secure a paper bag over the seed head to complete ripening, then cut the stem and hang the bag for further drying.

freshly harvested bloodroot

Harvest herb roots (bloodroot, ginseng, chicory, goldenseal, horseradish, Oregon grape) after the foliage fades.

Next time, we'll talk about the different ways of preserving our harvest!

What herbs are you harvesting from your gardens this year?

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There's a woman who lives a few blocks down from me with this miraculous garden that seems to go from a freshly tilled plot to a wildly abundant gardener's delight in about one month flat (my husband keeps telling me not to be jealous because she probably uses Miracle-Gro or something of the chemical-sort).

She grows enough teepees full of green beans that I assume she must can and freeze then continually, and eat them weekly all winter and spring.

I, on the other hand, happily grow one bean teepee in my backyard garden. It produces just enough beans for us to eat them as a side dish with dinner every 2-4 days. That said, although we're green-bean-likers, I wouldn't say that we're green-bean-lovers.

(And if you don't grow or buy green beans, read on, because this can be used for other summer vegetables as well.)

Preserving in Small Batches

I wanted to figure out a way to preserve my excess beans, but had to avoid freezing this year as my freezer is literally jam-packed (ok, maybe not literally- it isn't full of jam, but rather strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, butter, and grass-fed beef, and did I mention I have 12 whole pastured chickens arriving in 5 days and not a clue where I am going to fit them?).

I settled on dedhyrating them in small batches and I am just thrilled with doing it this way. Here's why it works for me:

• I can use it for the smallest amount, even just one soup bowlful.
• It takes me 10 minutes flat to go from garden to dehydrator.
• They don't take up freezer space.
• I store them in a glass jar in my cupboard, and since they shrink down to about 1/3 their previous size they are simple to store indeed.
• As long as you have a dehydrator (any kind will do), you don't need a speck of special equipment.

Ready to learn how to dehydrate small batches of vegetables?

1. Take whatever veggies you have in abundance (yes, beans, but I've also used zucchini, and you could make this work for carrots, turnips, peas, etc.).

2. Start a small pot of water boiling on the stove. (Time= 30 seconds)

3. Chop them into the size that you will use when you are cooking with them in the winter. For my green beans, that's about 1 inch pieces (to toss into soup, stew, chicken pot pie). For zucchini, I like them diced in small chunks. If you choose carrots, keep in mind that really thick circles will take a long time to re-hydrate when you are cooking with them, so thinner circles or half-circles is a better choice. (Time= 2-3 minutes)

4. Your water should be boiling by now. Toss everything into the pot and set your timer (most veggies will blanche in 2 minutes, but see this post for more information on how to blanche vegetables). (Time= 2-3 minutes)

5. Meanwhile, put some cold water and a handful of ice in a small bowl of container. (Time= the 2 minutes while veggies are on the stove)

6. When the timer goes, take the pot off the stove and pour the contents through a colander, hot water going down the drain. Immediately dump the blanched vegetables into the bowl of ice cold water. Set timer for 2 more minutes. (Time= 2 minutes)

7. Get out a dehydrator tray and once your cold-water timer goes, drain one more time and dump the contents onto your tray. Spread them out evenly. Dehydrate for about 12 hours on the vegetable setting or around 125 F degrees. (Time= 1 minute)

Total time= 9 1/2 -10 1/2 minutes

Finishing Up and Storing Your Food

After about 12 hours in the dehydrator (sometimes even less), my beans, zucchini or what-have-you has shrunk to about 1/3 of their original size and dried thoroughly (and I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of that step). They will feel quite hard, like a dry bean or a piece of uncooked pasta.

I store mine in a glass mason jar. It takes a lot of beans to fill up a jar when they're so small, so it is quite space-efficient for those with little storage space. It's just best to keep the jar out of the light to help preserve the quality of your food.

When you go to use them, just think of how much you want in your recipe and go backwards, considering how much smaller your finished product was than what you started with. For example, if I want 1 cup of chopped beans, I'll use 1/3 cup dried beans. If you think you'll forget, put a note on your jar with a sticker or piece of masking tape, reminding you of the correct ratio.

How do you preserve small amounts of food, whether it's from the garden or market?

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Challenges or not, I couldn't give up gardening if I tried. Watching my plants grow, from a tiny seed into delicious food is just so rewarding (like this brand new broccoli head above, which we'll be eating in a another week or two).

This marks our first full summer in our current home, and so far, the garden hasn't been all I had hoped that it would be. We built garden boxes in the early spring (well, my brother-in-law built them) and then filled them with a truck load of dirt from a local nursery. The boxes are fantastic, nice and deep, with the option to remove the top layers and create extra boxes one day if I want to.

The first issue has been with the soil. I naively (having never purchased soil before, but always just working to amend what was in the ground) assumed that the soil would have a decent amount of nutrients and fertility already, and need only the regular fertilizing that I usually do throughout the summer. From the stunted growth, insect issues and sometimes obvious nutrient deficiencies, I was definitely wrong.

Now, I am playing catch-up with soil that is already thoroughly planted up, as I try to work in organic fertilizers, and add compost or manure when I'm able. It's not ideal. It takes time for the microbes in the soil to properly break down fertilizers and make the nutrients available to plants. This fall, I will have to really build up the soil in preparation for a better season next year.

Some things are growing nonetheless. The peas on the left (after a very slow start, they've finally taken off and are producing well), the garlic I planted in the fall looks amazing and is about ready to be harvested, and the weeds, well, they're abundant. Part of the garden back here doesn't get enough sun to grow anything except weeds.

I mistakenly judged the amount of sunshine that my five boxes would receive. This box and the one next to it probably receive more sunshine than any other, although I initially thought they would receive less, and so I used them for my cooler-weather vegetables (lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, beets, kale). Next year I'll know better.

I'm trying to really maximize my space. That empty row between the broccoli, and then the carrots and lettuce, now has beet seeds in it, as does that empty square up at the front.

It may be difficult to see in this picture of mostly tomatoes, but in between the large plants, I've planted lettuce seeds here and there. The goal was to use up every bit of precious space available, as well as to capture the shade that the tomatoes would provide for the lettuce later in the summer. There's also some basil tucked in on the end.

I am proud to say that I did have one huge victory this summer so far. Right before I left for the Philippines, my tomato seedlings were in the ground, but beginning to show definite signs of either disease or serious nutrient deficiency. I was unsure of what to do, but since I was about to leave, I just gave it my best shot, thinking I could always break down and buy new seedlings if mine were dead upon my return.

I ruthlessly cut away every branch and leaf that didn't look healthy (so hard to do). Then I dug fertilizer and compost in around each plant, in a circle around the base (but not touching the plant). I watered the fertilizer in well, packed up for my trip, and hoped for the best. Well, my efforts were successful! When I came home, everything was bright green again, looking healthy, and starting to grow new branches in place of what I had cut off. Yes!

These two long boxes are beside each other, and they're both having some of the same issues (not to mention that they are shadier than I expected when I planned to put tomatoes, cucumbers and beans in this space). Definitely slow growth like the rest of the garden, but also another mysterious issue that has me perplexed.

It seems that there is some sort of cucumber-loving insect in these boxes, and pretty much every time a new seedling pops its pretty green head up, it is eaten within a day or two. Some of them are even eaten below ground as soon as they sprout. Other plants are being nibbled on, like the radishes (again, planted in rows between tomatoes) and the beans, but nothing as badly as the cucumbers. Does anyone have a clue what's going on with my poor cukes?

My fifth box, another sunny one. This has 4 red mini-bell peppers (I've opted for mini peppers because of their significantly shorter growing season, which suits our climate better than most peppers), two summer squash (one zucchini and one scallop squash), as well as 6 cucumbers (which I will grow vertically up poles) and then some (still small) dill and cilantro plants.

And yes, I do intend to weed out the weaker 4 of the 8 cucumber seedlings in the middle. With my cucumber issues so far this summer, I wasn't taking any chances!

Lastly, the side garden, which was planted with something decorative and leafy long before we moved here. Last summer I tried to just dig up as much of the (very deeply rooted and invasive) plants so that I could put in some tomatoes. They did grow, but it was pretty mediocre. I think they had so much root/nutrient competition that they couldn't flourish.

This summer I have been attempting to smother and kill off the original plants with these big sheets of plastic. Towards the front left and right you can see two openings, where I have put seeds, for Sugar Baby watermelons, and Butternut squash. The red arrow is pointing to the Butternut seedling that finally came up (second or maybe third attempt?), but the watermelon seeds still refuse to sprout.

I am contemplating putting in some blueberry or strawberry plants for next year instead, after leaving the garden entirely covered by plastic until the weeds (ahem, pretty plants) are gone. Any other ideas for me?

And that is the state of my garden... how is your garden doing? What challenges have you worked to overcome this year?

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Written by Meg Dickey, Contributing Writer

This month at Keeper of the Home, we're discussing Gardening 101, and we're continuing this week with the second part of Gardening with Herbs 101.  Let's jump right in to my favorite part of gardening: what to grow!

First, consider your needs:

What herbs do you love the smell of?  What tastes do you enjoy adding to your food?  What tea are you always splurging on?  What kinds of medicine does your family use during the year?  Do you want a garden your children can enjoy too? Are you in need of a quiet place to spend an early morning?

The answers to these questions will give you a great start to what herbs you might enjoy in your garden. Stephanie gave some great tips on how to plant a garden that works for where you live last week, so keep those guidelines in mind as we choose our herbs.

Theme Gardens

I adore theme gardening.  It's not for everyone - I have several friends who find the idea of organizing such a thing daunting, and would rather have a beautiful hodge-podge of plants scattered throughout the yard. The idea behind theme gardening is to group plants together according to their uses.  There are many ways of choosing which ones fit your needs best.  Here are some ideas to get you started:

Kitchen Garden

This is the most basic of herb gardens, and can easily be purchased as a kit from a local store.  You do not need much space to provide a surprising amount of fresh herbs for your kitchen.

A Kitchen Garden in a Pot

Our first kitchen garden was a windowsill garden.  It contained rosemary, lavender, sage, and thyme - perfect for a quick herbs de provence blend for soup, or to season a homemade dressing.  Other excellent herbs to add are tarragon, dill, marjoram, basil, oregano and chives.  I am also planning to add a bay tree at some point in time, since I use bay to flavor so many things!

I think one of the best ways to plan a kitchen garden is to make sure it's close by. If you have to walk out back, around the corner of the garage, and 6 feet past the swingset to pick your herbs for dinner, it's far more likely you'll just reach for a bottle out of the cupboard, or worse, simply forget about the plants sitting back there and pick some up from the store.  You can have different pots of herbs on your back steps, on your front porch, or even hanging from the porch ceiling, but you should be able to get to them easily.

Medicinal Herb Garden

This has to be the biggest money saver for our family, hands down.  After spending so much money on herbal teas, medicinal tinctures, and various other remedies, we finally clued in and spent our money to build a medicinal herb garden.

A whimsical medicinal herb garden

I sat down one evening and poured through my herb books, checking to see what herbs were used most often in our home, and what was practical to grow in our area.  I also chose those plants which were better utilized fresh, as well as noting what herbs were the most costly to purchase outright.  Because we mix and sell herbal blends and tinctures, we wanted to make certain we had quality plants to start with.  Growing our own was a great way to get that security, as well as cut down our overhead costs.

Our medicinal garden contains lavender, catnip, poppy, feverfew, chamomile, valerian, lemon balm, spearmint, peppermint, St. John's wort, nettle, plantain and calendula.  I will also be attempting to add lemon myrtle tree and an elder tree (for berries and flowers) at some point in time.  Other excellent options would be tulsi (Holy Basil), arnica, or angelica.

Children's Herb Garden

I don't know about anyone else's children, but mine LOVE dirt.  If I am out in the garden, they all want to be out there too, helping to dig holes, pour water, and watch things grow!  We started giving our boys garden chores last year, and they thrived with them.  This year, we're taking a little different tack, and allowing them to choose their own plants, as well as maintaining them.

Our boys working in the berry gardens

Our boys specifically requested "teepees" for their gardens this year, so we've planted climbing sunflowers to cover their hideaways [in addition to the pole beans].  Other great ones to let the little ones try out are pineapple sage, lemon balm, or any of the scented geraniums, which come in scents like lime, apricot, orange, and strawberry.

Children also get a kick out of smelling the plants in the mint family, especially peppermint, spearmint and chocolate mint.  Our boys also like to "heal themselves" with plants, so we try to make sure there is at least one aloe plant where they can find it. :-)

There are so many other options for theme gardening - potpourri herbs, medieval, butterfly, shakespearean, pizza or Peter Rabbit (two great children's options).  Here are some great resources to consider:

• Your Backyard Herb Garden, by Miranda Smith
• Themes for Herb Gardens, by Kim Fletcher
• Roots, Shoots, Bucket & Boots, by Sharon Lovejoy
• Sunflower Houses, by Sharon Lovejoy

Are you excited to start your herb gardens yet?  I know I am!  What herbs are you considering for your gardens this year?

Other Related Posts You May Enjoy

• Gardening with Herbs 101: What To Grow
• A Tale of Two Gardens part one and part two
• How to Plan Your Garden part one and part two
• Organization in the Garden: Evaluating What You Have and What You Need
• Getting Organized in the Garden: Seed Starting and Planting Schedule
• Naturally Controlling Pests in the Organic Garden
• 5 Steps to Being a Lazy Gardener
• Gardening in Less-than-Ideal Spaces
• 7 Gardening Lessons from a Novice Gardener
• Selecting Seeds for Garden Success
• How to Plant a Garden that Works for Where You Live
• 7 Reasons to Square Foot Garden
• Plan & Plant Now for Sustainability, Freedom, and a Backyard Revolution

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

• Gardening with Herbs 101: Where to Begin
• How to Plan Your Garden
• Gardening with Herbs 101: Preserving Your Herbs
• What It Means to Be Well

Ask Keeper of the Home To Recommend Your Posts

Our Sponsor:

• Plan to Eat: Simple meal planning. Your recipes. Monthly planner. Grocery lists.

Were you as inspired as I was by Shannon's post on Tuesday? I completely understand what she means about becoming more and more excited each year as she considers what she can grow and preserve. I feel the same way. Spring is positively pregnant with possibility when it comes to envisioning my garden and what we will eat from it.

With that in mind, let's continue to talk garden planning. Last week I went through the initial steps of determining what you want to grow and how much of it you want to grow. Today we'll continue to make it super practical by talking about space and layout considerations, and how to know what to put where.

Step 3: How much space do you have?

My calculations in Step 2 quickly begin to beg the question, just how much growing space do I need to grow what I want?

For this step, it’s crucial to know how much space each vegetable requires. For example:

• A tomato plant needs at least a square foot, but usually closer to 2 square feet (based on growing them vertically, not letting them sprawl).
• In 1 square foot, you can also grow about 16 carrots.
• 1 zucchini plant also needs about 2 square feet.
• You can grow two cucumber plants (vertically) side by side in 1 square foot.

To learn what each crop requires, there are a number of ways of going about it. One is simply to look on your seed packet, since many of them tell you the spacing on the back, along with other important information about that particular crop. Or check out one of these helpful articles: Intensive Spacing Guide, Plant Spacing in a Square Foot Garden, or Vegetable Spacing Guide.

At this point, what you need is a map of your garden. I have often just sketched mine on paper, plotting out the spacings approximately.

Though this works, an even better way to do it is to have a to-scale graph of how much garden space you actually have, so that a one inch square on your paper equals one square foot in your garden. This lets you plan things out in an accurate way. For those using raised beds or containers, here's a link to some garden planning resources that includes a Square Foot garden planner and a Container planner.

Another option is to try making a map of your garden or backyard as I did, using the site GrowVeg (which is where my images in this post and last week's post came from). A bonus is that it has vegetable spacing automatically built in so you can easily see how much space each crop takes, although I find a few of the spacing settings to be larger than how I usually plant them.

They have a 30-day free trial and for those of you who are very visual, as I am, I think that you’ll find it really handy to see such a clear picture of how your garden will look during summer’s peak, when everything is big and bushy, as opposed to trying to imagine it when you’re putting teeny seeds or seedlings into the wide open dirt in spring.

Once you know your crop spacings...

Based on what you think you’d like to grow, and how much of it you’d like to grow, start filling in your garden map (start in pencil, or print off several pages so that you can make a draft and then a final copy), just to get a feel for how everything fits in. Don't worry yet about which crops should go beside each other, or which ones do best vertically or in shadier spots. That comes in a moment.

Plot your crops onto the map by priority. By this I mean that if you listed tomatoes as the crop that is most important to you, plan your tomato growing spaces first. It’s like the concept of big rocks and little rocks in your personal schedule. Put what’s most important in first, and then let the things of lesser priority fit in where they can around the important ones.

Go down your list one by one, filling spots in and crossing the crops on your list off. You won’t get through them all, most likely, and that's why you do it in order of priority. The goal right now is simply to see how your desired crops will fit into the garden space that you have available.

In my current garden, potatoes get relegated only to being grown in a garbage can with no actual garden space. I’m growing barely any winter squash due to lack of sprawling room for the vines. I’ve ditched onions completely because I’ve never had huge success and I can readily buy affordable organic onions. I probably won’t grow any turnips or parsnips (not my family’s faves anyways), my radishes get tucked into little spaces here and there because they’re small and forgiving, and I’m going to have to try most of my herbs in containers or in the front yard. That’s ok, though, because my most important crops are getting the space they need.

Step 4: Determine what goes where.

This is where the pencil really comes in handy. You’ll want to start trying out different spacings and arrangements of your crops.

Things to consider:

Tall crops next to shorter crops. Foe example, it might be good to put shade-tolerating lettuce next to tall tomatoes plants to prevent bolting in the summer heat, but your sun-loving summer squash or herbs might not be quite as thrilled if the toms are blocking out all their light. If you're using boxes or your garden has a fence along one edge, it's often a good strategy to place your taller crops towards the back and shorter ones towards the front.

Just another example of how you might space out different veggies in a 4x4 ft garden space.

Full sun vs. partial sun. If you have some parts of the garden that receive less sun than others, you’ll want to use those for shade-tolerant crops (all greens, peas, carrots, etc.) and keep the sunniest real estate for the pickier crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash).

Ease of gardening. If you put your tomatoes or pole beans at the back along the fence, in behind a bunch of leafier crops, will you be able to get in there to harvest them properly? You might, if you have good side access and the bed isn't too wide, but just try to envision what your access will look like when things are big and bushy in mid-August.

Succession plantings. If you’re hoping to do a second planting of some of your crops, like my plan to put in cabbage for the fall when the garlic finishes up in early July, you’ll want to have those plans in your mind as you select crop locations for the spring and early summer.

Companion planting. Though I haven’t personally found this to be a really important part of my decision-making process (because I’m not as convinced of it’s importance as some other gardeners are), you might still want to consider which plants would benefit from being closer to (or father away from) others. A good resource for learning more is the book Carrots Love Tomatoes.

Crop rotation. It’s best not to plant the same crops in the same place, two years in a row. Keeping your garden records or maps from previous years is helpful so that you can ensure things get moved around, to prevent recurring disease issues, too much nutrient-loss to the soil, etc.

Aesthetics. I’m a pretty pragmatic gal, so I personally don't care how nicely laid out my garden is, so long as I get a good harvest. But some of you do care how it looks, and if that matters then you should try to lay things out in a way that looks pleasing to you.

Just give it your best shot

Remember, there's no right or wrong way to arrange your garden. I used to sketch and re-sketch my garden, trying to come up with the "perfect" layout. It doesn't exist. Especially if I'm rotating my crops, because I'll find a layout that really works, only to have to change things up again next season.

Don't let a desire for that "perfect" layout drive you crazy or paralyze you. Most veggies will still grow pretty well even if you make a few mistakes in where they go. Practice makes things better, and we all learn as we go, but you can still have garden success even if you're mostly guessing what should go where.

What have you planned for this year's garden? How did you make your decisions about what you would grow and where to put it?

Other Related Posts You May Enjoy

• How to Plan Your Garden part one
• A Tale of Two Gardens part one and part two
• Organization in the Garden: Evaluating What You Have and What You Need
• Getting Organized in the Garden: Seed Starting and Planting Schedule
• Naturally Controlling Pests in the Organic Garden
• 5 Steps to Being a Lazy Gardener
• Gardening in Less-than-Ideal Spaces
• 7 Gardening Lessons from a Novice Gardener
• Selecting Seeds for Garden Success
• Gardening with Herbs 101: Where to Begin
• Gardening with Herbs 101: What To Grow
• How to Plant a Garden that Works for Where You Live
• 7 Reasons to Square Foot Garden
• Plan & Plant Now for Sustainability, Freedom, and a Backyard Revolution

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

• How to Plan Your Garden
• How to Make Your Own (Unrefined) Powdered Sugar
• How To Quickly Get Your Home Ready For Guests
• Buying seeds for your garden

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• Plan to Eat: Simple meal planning. Your recipes. Monthly planner. Grocery lists.

I am not an expert gardener and have only spent the last few years taking a stab at preserving what we eat and eating what we preserve. Every year, though, I grow more and more excited because every year we are learning, producing, and preserving more.

I have learned that amazing things can happen when you simply choose to work at producing and preserving foods rather than spending time doing other things. I have been greatly encouraged and informed by the new book Surviving Off Off-Grid. I have watched the reaction to this book's release and I believe that people are hungry (pun intended) for a different way of life.

Why Does It Matter?

Our family desires to live a simple, debt-free, agrarian way of life. This will allow my husband to be at home alongside the children and myself, working for our basic needs with our own two hands. More importantly, though, it allows us to rely directly on God's providence for our very basic necessities without the distraction and corruption so prevalent in our consumer-based society.

It is our family's goal to be producers rather than consumers. While we currently reside just outside of a large city, we chose to rent an older duplex with a backyard available for gardening and while my husband works an 8-5 desk job, he also does a lot of the manual labor of gardening and I do garden upkeep, harvesting, preserving, and cooking.

By beginning our journey with food production, learning to buy from local farmers and eat seasonally, and learning the most sustainable methods of food preservation, we have learned that it is possible to start at zero and work your way to grocery store independence.

It Doesn't Have to Be All or Nothing

Like I said before, I am not that experienced of a gardener. With all of our other responsibilities we have not taken the time to learn the intricacies of organic gardening. We lost our entire cabbage crop (12 giant heads) last year to pests and just when our four cucumber plants looked like I'd be pickling dozens of quarts, they up and turned yellow and completely died on us. It was a sad day.

So we do what we can. We tear up ground with hand tools, add some compost, plant some seeds, water when there's time, and wait to see what happens. Last year we were able to grow much of our own produce needs for the summer, but I relied on local farmers for most of what I preserved.

Three Sustainable Methods of Food Preservation

In my book Simple Food {for winter} I go into detail about the benefits of choosing these three sustainable preservation methods:

Lacto-Fermentation.

If you would have told me five years ago that we would have fallen in love with fermented vegetables I would have said you were off your rocker. I have written an article for beginners, I have posted recipes for salsa and kimchi, I have shared 5 tips for delicious lacto-fermented dill pickles, I shared my sauerkraut method in Simple Food {for winter}.

I can not say enough about how easy and sustainable this method is, not to mention how incredibly beneficial fermented vegetables are not only for your digestive health, but your immune system and your energy as well. And these things keep for a very long time in cold storage - see mine at 7 months old.

Dehydration.

How hard can it be to chop fruits & vegetables and throw them into a dehydrator? Not very and that's why I'm a fan. When I've got 45 zucchinis staring me in the face, I dehydrate them. When we've picked 10 pounds of blueberries at the local farm, I dehydrate them. When our turnips showed signs that our makeshift root cellar wasn't going to keep them as long we hoped, I dehydrated them. When I came home with a ridiculous amount of apples from my father's trees, I dehydrated them. And then I made pie out of them in January.

Root Cellaring.

Dig a hole deep enough to go below the frost line and in a way that keeps water out and you have a root cellar. We kept potatoes in our miniature root cellar this past winter for a few months. All my husband did was dig a hole, fasten some plastic around the opening to keep it dry, and drop our bushel of potatoes in the bottom. This experiment wasn't entirely successful, but it did work for a short time, and will have us digging a root cellar as soon as we get on some land.

All three of these can be done with or without electricity, do not require you to stand over a boiling kettle in August, and preserve and actually increase the the nutrition of the foods you are preserving.

I canned tomatoes and apple butter this past summer. The rest of the food was preserved with one of the above methods and we were able to feed our family without a single grocery store trip for two months. And we will still have enough dehydrated and fermented vegetables to last us through our earliest spring harvests.

Why Now?

Side note: While I'd love to go on for hours on this topic, there is simply not enough space. For more on how I use dehydrated, fermented, and root cellared foods for nutrient-dense winter meals check out Simple Food {for winter} and look out for the spring edition in April.

It is early spring (very early for us northerners), and yet here I am talking about preserving food. What you plant (and plan for) now, though, will determine how you eat next January. You can start fermenting radishes and dehydrating spring onions and even spinach if you have more than you can eat.

After these early crops have been harvested you can add some more compost, throw in some cucumber and tomato seeds and every week that you harvest or head to your farmers market you can put aside a jar or two of fermented or dehydrated foods. Grow winter squash, bulb onions, garlic, potatoes, turnips, apples, and beets for your root cellar.

Every seed you plant is a step towards sustainability. Every jar you ferment is freedom from more consumerism. Truly this newness of spring is the time to start a revolution... right in your own backyard.

What are you planning & planting for your revolution?

Other Related Posts You May Enjoy

• A Tale of Two Gardens part one and part two
• How to Plan Your Garden part one and part two
• Organization in the Garden: Evaluating What You Have and What You Need
• Getting Organized in the Garden: Seed Starting and Planting Schedule
• Naturally Controlling Pests in the Organic Garden
• 5 Steps to Being a Lazy Gardener
• Gardening in Less-than-Ideal Spaces
• 7 Gardening Lessons from a Novice Gardener
• Selecting Seeds for Garden Success
• Gardening with Herbs 101: Where to Begin
• Gardening with Herbs 101: What To Grow
• How to Plant a Garden that Works for Where You Live
• 7 Reasons to Square Foot Garden

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

• An Update on Our GAPS Diet and Related Q&A
• Frugality as a Means of Giving (and Meet Keeper of the Home’s New Sponsor Child!)
• How to Plan Your Garden
• 7 Gardening Lessons from a Novice Gardener

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From my own garden plans, two of my raised beds with plans for greens, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.

In our Gardening 101 series, we’ve talked about a lot of different things so far... how to select seeds for better success, growing herbs, gardening based on where you live, square foot gardening.

I know that the process of planning what and how much and when and where to plant everything can be one of the most daunting aspects of gardening. It’s a place where a lot of people get stuck. They’ve got an idea of things they’d like to grow, they know where the garden will be, they’ve bought some seeds, but now what?

In this two part series, I’m going to walk you through the process of planning out an actual garden-- my own. I’m going to show you the steps I take, how I make my decisions, what the plans look like, and how those plans translate into simple steps that I can follow through with.

It's all about taking theories and concepts, and turning them into vegetables on your plate. Sounds good, right?

Step 1: What do you want to grow?

Based upon my family’s preferences and foods that I like to preserve, these are the foods I most want to grow, listed in order of priority:

Your list might look quite different, but from #1-19, these are the veggies that matter to me most (I know, I'm not exactly a minimalist, am I?). I’ll tell you right now that I don’t have as much space in my garden as I have veggies on my wishlist. So I make compromises, but I’ll get to that in a little while.

For now, make a list of the veggies that most matter to you (or fruit, if that’s something you want in your garden- I grow just a few things, like some raspberry canes and a rhubarb plant). Do it based on what your family eats the most, on what costs the most where you live, on vegetables that you want to buy organic but can’t afford (the Dirty Dozen comes in handy here), on the things that you think taste the best when they’re garden fresh, etc.

Step 2: How much do you want to grow?

Personally, I like to grow enough to eat freely throughout the harvest season, with as much extra for preserving as possible. At this point, with only a small-ish backyard garden, I certainly don’t expect to put enough nearly food up to keep us going through the winter (though it is surprising how much can be grown in a small space).

There are a lot of charts out there that tell you how much you need to grow to feed a family of 4. They’re usually based on rows, which I don’t find very helpful (although some do show how many plants per row, and the yield, which is slightly more useful).

I find the info in the book Square Foot Gardening gives a good general guide for determining how much room I need. He writes about how many 4x4 ft blocks (or 16 square feet) you need to feed fresh produce to 2 people (2-4 blocks, depending how much you eat and the variety you want), 4 people (4-6 blocks), and then additional space for preserving.

I have 86.5 sq ft in raised beds, another 38 sq ft in the ground, a garbage can for my potatoes and a bunch of containers for my raspberries. My 130+ square feet equals about 8 4x4 ft blocks. According to the Square Foot calculations I should be able to grow enough to feed us well during harvest months, plus have some to preserve. I would agree that the space I have will allow us to do just that.

The so-so garden location behind the shed, where I'm growing my year's worth of garlic, plus all of my peas along some chicken wire on the side of the shed, plus a rhubarb plant.

Ultimately, I find that it’s easiest to just guess-timate how much our family eats and plan to plant in accord with those numbers. Here are some of my own examples:

• Cucumbers (slicing)- 2-3 large or 5-6 small per week
• Tomatoes- 6-8 small or 3-5 large per week, and a bowlful of cherry toms
• Zucchini- 1-4 per week (totally depends how we’re using them)
• Carrots- 5-10 per week (depends on size, if they’re baby ones we’ll eat way more)

With this in mind, here’s what I might plan:

• Cucumbers (slicing)- 5-6 plants (they grow slowly where we live, but if you live somewhere hot you might need a couple less plants for the same yield)
• Tomatoes- 2-3 regular plants, plus a cherry tomato plant
• Zucchini- 1 plant is probably enough (because they reproduce just like bunnies :)
• Carrots- We start harvesting them around June/July, so I’ll plant 8 carrots for each week of the summer from that point on. If I planted 112, that would do us through about 14 weeks of summer (mid-June to end of September). I would want to stagger my planting over 4-6 weeks so they’re not all ready at once.

Notice that I haven’t taken preserving into account yet. If I want to also preserve zucchini in addition to eating it fresh, for example, I will grow 2 plants instead of 1, so that I can shred and freeze a lot for the winter. I like to can and dehydrate about 60-100 lbs of tomatoes each summer, so I’ll want another 8-10 plants purely for preserving purposes.

Now your next step is to take your list from Step 1, and either based on your own gardening experience or these links, jot down beside each vegetable how much you might need to grow to get what you want.

In this snapshot of part of my garden, I'm growing 12 tomato plants, 2-4 for fresh eating and the rest for preserving. 8 cucumbers plants, half for eating and half for pickling. There are also mini red bell peppers, basil and melons as well.

Planning Your Own Garden

If you're wondering how I made these awesome garden planning images, it's this new site I just discovered called GrowVeg.com. Basically it is a garden planning software. You use it's tools to draw up a map of your yard or garden, as close to scale as possible (you can be quite precise with it), and then you drag and drop the specific crops that you want to grow. You can pull them larger to make rows or blocks of the same crops, you can label them as specific varieties (like my 6 different tomato varieties), and all sorts of other customizations. It shows you the spacing that each plant needs, and give you sowing and harvest dates (which are based on weather stations near your home, so they're fairly accurate).

I'm using their 30-day free trial at the moment (a one-year subscription is $25, 2 years is $40). I haven't quite decided if I want to go ahead and subscribe but so far I'm pretty impressed, and I'll show you more of how this can be a helpful tool in the next post. I am an affiliate, so if you go ahead and purchase through my links I make a small commission, which helps me to keep this site running (so thanks!).

In the next post, I'll continue to walk you through translating those numbers of what you desire to grow and harvest into the space that you actually have available, and then some tips on how to arrange it all in a way that works.

What are your biggest challenges in planning your garden?

Other Related Posts You May Enjoy

• How to Plan Your Garden part two
• A Tale of Two Gardens part one and part two
• Organization in the Garden: Evaluating What You Have and What You Need
• Getting Organized in the Garden: Seed Starting and Planting Schedule
• Naturally Controlling Pests in the Organic Garden
• 5 Steps to Being a Lazy Gardener
• Gardening in Less-than-Ideal Spaces
• 7 Gardening Lessons from a Novice Gardener
• Selecting Seeds for Garden Success
• Gardening with Herbs 101: Where to Begin
• Gardening with Herbs 101: What To Grow
• How to Plant a Garden that Works for Where You Live
• 7 Reasons to Square Foot Garden
• Plan & Plant Now for Sustainability, Freedom, and a Backyard Revolution

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

• How to Make Your Own (Unrefined) Powdered Sugar
• How to Plan Your Garden, Part 2
• Buying seeds for your garden
• How to Make Nut Butter

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• Plan to Eat: Simple meal planning. Your recipes. Monthly planner. Grocery lists.

Written by Stacey T, Contributing Writer

Spring is right around the corner, literally.  The first day of Spring officially arrives on Sunday!

With the arrival of spring, there’s lots of talk here on Keeper of the Home about gardening this month.  Yet Gardening 101 wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Square Foot Gardening.

Square Foot Gardening is the perfect solution for those that would love to garden but feel they don’t the space, time or experience.

What is Square Foot Gardening?

Square Foot Gardening is a simple and unique method of raised bed gardening.  It was developed by Mel Bartholomew in the 1970’s as a more efficient way to garden.  The seeds or seedlings are planted in clearly marked 1x1 square foot plots, hence the name.

The size of the mature plant determines how many plants go in each square foot.  For example, smaller plants such as carrots, radishes and onions may be planted 16 or more per square where larger plants such as broccoli, peppers and tomatoes have only one plant per square or may even use multiple squares for one plant.

This time last year, my husband and I were gearing up for our first ever season of Square Foot Gardening.  We researched and planned for months, trying to figure out the best way to have a garden in our small backyard.  We decided on square foot gardening and, overall, we were really happy with the outcome.  In the future, we’ll do a few things differently (I’ll explain later in the post), but we will definitely have square foot gardens in the future!

Image by a GOOD and SIMPLE life

Here are 7 reasons to have a Square Foot Garden:

1.  Easy Start Up

This method of gardening really is easy.  Those with basic woodworking skills can easily build their own frames for the garden, or if tools and skill are not available, the frames can be purchased at a variety of places.  The gardens can be small to fit in nearly any space, and they do not rely on the quality of the local soil.

My husband, Mason, built our frames out of 2X12 untreated lumber.  He also rigged up a cold frame using heavy painters plastic and PVC pipe so we could plant even earlier in the season.

2.  No soil improvements

For those who have worked to make their soil just right for gardening, you know that that is back breaking work and often it requires the use of special equipment such as a rototiller.

With square foot gardening, the raised beds are placed above the ground, right on top of your existing soil, and a special soil mix is used for the garden, so there is no need to worry about improving your existing soil.

The soil in our previous home was clay and very difficult to work with in most areas of the yard.  In instances where we were planting in other areas, we spent a lot of time and effort trying to improve our soil.  We mixed in manure and compost but the results always seemed mediocre.

On the other hand, our square foot garden had it’s own special soil that was easy to create and use.

3. Mel’x Mix

While many facets of the square foot gardening method are adaptable to your preferences, space and situation, Mel’s Mix is the area in which you’ll want to follow the instructions exactly.  Mel’s Mix is the recommended soil for use in your square foot garden.  It is a combination of ⅓ peat moss, ⅓ vermiculite and ⅓ compost so it may be the most expensive part, yet it’s likely to be the most valuable too.

We really liked working with it and found many advantages.  Mel’s Mix absorbs and holds the moisture such that you don’t have to water as often or as much as typical soils, saving water costs.  It’s also naturally very loose, making weeding a breeze, saving you a lot of time and effort.  Planting and harvesting are also simple because of the looseness of the soil.

Although we don’t have any experience with this yet, it seems that the upkeep of the soil from year to year would be minimal.  You may need to add to the soil after a few years but for the most part, the soil will remain intact and ready for planting year after year without much effort between plantings.

Image by a GOOD and SIMPLE life

4.   Low Maintenance Garden

Is there such a thing as a low maintenance garden?  Yes, there is!   Mel’s Mix remains loose and crumbly so it’s very easy to work with, whether planting, weeding or harvesting.

I’m one of the few who actually enjoys weeding (to a point) but I didn’t have much work in the garden to do all summer long.  You are far less likely to get weeds in the first place - because you’re not using soil that has existing weed seeds in it - and if you do get a few, they are very easy to pull out. In our square foot garden, we only had a couple weeds pop up each week or so but they were very easy to pull out.  This made managing and weeding the garden very easy.

I had a flower bed in the front yard of that same house where I was constantly fighting weeds and trying to keep the soil moist enough to nurture the plants.  I spent more time in my little flower bed last summer than I did our entire garden!

5.  Raised Beds

The raised beds used in Square Foot Gardening are useful for several reasons:

• They extend the growing season. The soil warms earlier in the spring and stays warm longer in the fall allowing you to stretch your gardening calendar.  In addition, many plants such as tomatoes and peppers prefer a warm soil so they will thrive in your raised beds.
• They have better drainage than typical gardens given that they are up off the ground.
• They eliminate soil compaction. This method of gardening encourages beds that are small enough that you can reach everything from the sides without walking through them.  You don’t need to worry about compacting the soil, which can adversely affect your plants.
• They allow the garden to “breathe” better - due to excess moisture being able to drain and also because the soil remains light, your plants will receive more oxygen than in a typical garden.

6.  Very adaptable

Your square foot garden can be made to almost any dimensions according to what will work best in your yard and in your available space.  It is recommended, however, that you keep your garden at a maximum of 4 ft. deep so that you can always have easy access and can reach each square.

We actually made two Square Foot Gardens, each 8x2 ½ feet, and we lined them up end-to-end.  That’s what worked best for the space that we had available.  In hindsight however, and something that we will do differently in the future, we placed our gardens too close to the back fence and so managing the last ½ foot of garden was more difficult than it should have been.

In the future, we’ll allow for plenty of room on all sides of the garden so planting, thinning, trimming and harvesting will be much easier.  We won’t need much, just a couple of feet around the entire garden will be perfect.

Another adaptation that I’ve seen recently is raising your square foot garden to waist level creating a table top garden.  This is particularly good for those who don’t want to have to bend over in order to work in the garden.  And if you have kids, animals or pets that might be tempted to disturb your garden, having a tabletop garden is also advantageous so you can raise it up out of their reach.

7.  High Yield

It seems counter-intuitive that a smaller garden would produce a higher yield but it’s true.  Without needing walking space in order to reach every plant, you’re able to plant in each and every inch, which enables you to get the most out of your garden.

Our little garden harvested over 14 lbs. of produce in June and July alone.  August and September were very hectic for us so we lost track of what we were harvesting, but I’m sure we more than doubled the first two months’ harvests.

Whatever your situation, your gardening experience and expertise, or the lack thereof, give square foot gardening a try!

Here’s some references for more information:

www.squarefootgardening.org - The official site of Square Foot Gardening.

Book: All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space! by Mel Bartholomew

Have you had a Square Foot Garden?  What did you enjoy most about it?

Top Image by a GOOD and SIMPLE life

Other Related Posts You May Enjoy

• A Tale of Two Gardens part one and part two
• How to Plan Your Garden part one and part two
• Organization in the Garden: Evaluating What You Have and What You Need
• Getting Organized in the Garden: Seed Starting and Planting Schedule
• Naturally Controlling Pests in the Organic Garden
• 5 Steps to Being a Lazy Gardener
• Gardening in Less-than-Ideal Spaces
• 7 Gardening Lessons from a Novice Gardener
• Selecting Seeds for Garden Success
• Gardening with Herbs 101: Where to Begin
• Gardening with Herbs 101: What To Grow
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