Sunday 28 September 2014

Our First Square Foot Garden

So I really can't take credit for our square foot garden...my husband made the wooden structure himself and lovely took care of all of the plants from seeds. He did a lot of research on when to plant and how many you can plant in each square. Getting 16 different vegetables in a square foot is pretty amazing.

Hubby planted the seeds with the girls in around May - I think he was a month late in the growing season but we still had new growth in September. Around October everything started to go.

It was so satisfying watching your food grow and know exactly where it came from and it was wonderful to offer your guests a salad that is entirely from your own garden! Love it!

Our girls decorated the outside, which promptly washed off with the first rain fall.

First sprouts of life...

Green abundance with everything going strong! 

Starting to see first flowers and edible leaves.

As you can see I've picked all the lettuce leaves. My spinach was a bit disappointing :(
The watermelon is growing well as are all the other vegetables!

Tomatoes in the sunset :)


Pretty moths courting on the butternut squash flower.

Our first beet harvest!


Delicious lettuce - I loved making salads directly from my garden. Amazing feeling to feel self sufficient!


A little medly of some of the vegetables we harvested...

The sugar snap peas were amazing!


The watermelon, and baby watermelon grew so fast.




The jalapeno plant... 

A rainbow of beets ... 


Butternut pumpkin squash... 

Last few days of growth...

My herb garden...
(Flat leaf parsley, mint, basil & parsley)
 Oregano

 The wildflowers I planted from seeds grew amazingly with little effort...

A little Utah jay bird that came to visit...

  The sun setting on the last of our harvest before the weather starts to get cold. 


Some of the recipes I made with my harvest;

Jalapenos = Jalapeno Poppers
Green Tomatoes - Fried Green Tomatoes
Butternut Squash - Thai Red/Yellow Curry with Pumpkin
Carrots = "Chicken" Pot Pie
Butternut Squash Flowers = Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
Beets = Golden Beet Hummus
Lettuce = Green Bean, Tomato & Avocado Salad
Sugar Snap Peas = Chilli Jam Stir Fry
Baby Leeks = Potato Leek Soup
Tomatoes = Simple SalsaBruschetta (one of my favourite things on the planet)

Last of the harvest - frozen for a rainy day :)




4 comments:

  1. How fantastic! I've been planning my veggie garden recently so this has come in really handy and I'm reconsidering my original plans :D

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  2. Wow did you really grow all this on a square foot? Or is the structure 4' by 4' with each plant inside its own square foot?

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  3. Yes Jason, it was all on a square foot garden, except the herbs and wildflowers which were in pots. My husband did the research of how many you are supposed to plant in each square and watered them generously everyday - it;s very hot and dry here! I was amazed by how much we got out of it, especially when you'd pick some things and a week later they had grown new ones. Each square is a square foot so it is 4' x 4' all together. You get 16 squares, one for each vegetable.

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  4. Thank you Veganopoulous! It was a very rewarding experience and we're talking about how many poor we can do next year! It is so much easier that you think.

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