# Any square foot gardeners out there?



## navigator9 (Apr 1, 2016)

When I first moved to this house, I had a garden, and loved it. Once I got busy with soaping, I just had a few tomato plants in pots and that was it. But this year, since I've retired, I want to have a garden again. Years ago, when I saw square foot gardening on TV, it piqued my interest, so I've looked into it again, and it's sounding really good. If our crazy weather here in New England would cooperate, I might be able to get started, but it's supposed to get down to around 19 degrees on Monday morning, yikes! So I was wondering if any of you soapers are also square foot gardeners, and what you think of it. It seems like you get a lot of produce in a small space, and not so many pesky weeds. I know I want tons of tomatoes, and some cukes, and sugar snap peas. I wasn't even thinking about peppers this year, until I saw some Thunderbolts in the Burpee catalog. My house is pretty cool, so they took their time germinating, but there are now four teeny weeny pepper seedlings on my kitchen window sill. I gaze at them while I'm washing dishes, thinking..."Grow, grow, faster, faster!" So far, they're not listening. I'm trying to be patient.


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## shunt2011 (Apr 1, 2016)

I too would be interested. Since I started soaping and selling doing shows and markets I've only managed a handful of herbs and tomatoes.


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## TeresaT (Apr 1, 2016)

I did it one time a few years ago and discovered I am not a gardener.  However, it was actually a fun process and quite easy to do.  I planted cucumbers, squash, several different lettuces, tomatoes, radishes, spinach and a bunch of other stuff.  The problem I had was my neighbor cuts my grass.  And doesn't bag it.  So all of the cuttings went into my pristine SFG and I was weeding anyway.  WTH!?  Why bother with special soil and all the other stuff if I was still pulling weeds?  I will probably try it again when I retire and elevate the beds the next time.  It was fun eating the salad I grew.  Just not fun picking grass and other debris out of my lovely bed.  I skipped the following year, but decided the year after I would do it again.  The day I had gotten home with my SFG plan in my hands and the seeds, my planter was gone.  My neighbor cleaned up my yard and got rid of the wood for me because, "I knew you didn't need it."  "Uh, Yes, actually, I do.  Where is it?"  "Oh.  In my fire pit.  I didn't think you were going to use it.  You didn't use it last year and it was just sitting there rotting."    Gotta love those helpful neighbors.  BTW you can grow potatoes in a bale of straw!  Shove your spuds in the straw and wet it down.  Keep watering it and you'll have taters!  To harvest them you just bust up the bale when the roots start growing out of it.  Google it for more info.

ETA:  If you have a Kindle account, I can loan you my SFG ebook by Mel Bartholomew.   Let me know if you're interested.


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## navigator9 (Apr 1, 2016)

shunt2011 said:


> I too would be interested. Since I started soaping and selling doing shows and markets I've only managed a handful of herbs and tomatoes.



If you'd like to take a look... http://www.melbartholomew.com/what-is-square-foot-gardening/

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2FxJimob84[/ame]



TeresaT said:


> I did it one time a few years ago and discovered I am not a gardener.  However, it was actually a fun process and quite easy to do.  I planted cucumbers, squash, several different lettuces, tomatoes, radishes, spinach and a bunch of other stuff.  The problem I had was my neighbor cuts my grass.  And doesn't bag it.  So all of the cuttings went into my pristine SFG and I was weeding anyway.  WTH!?  Why bother with special soil and all the other stuff if I was still pulling weeds?  I will probably try it again when I retire and elevate the beds the next time.  It was fun eating the salad I grew.  Just not fun picking grass and other debris out of my lovely bed.  I skipped the following year, but decided the year after I would do it again.  The day I had gotten home with my SFG plan in my hands and the seeds, my planter was gone.  My neighbor cleaned up my yard and got rid of the wood for me because, "I knew you didn't need it."  "Uh, Yes, actually, I do.  Where is it?"  "Oh.  In my fire pit.  I didn't think you were going to use it.  You didn't use it last year and it was just sitting there rotting."    Gotta love those helpful neighbors.  BTW you can grow potatoes in a bale of straw!  Shove your spuds in the straw and wet it down.  Keep watering it and you'll have taters!  To harvest them you just bust up the bale when the roots start growing out of it.  Google it for more info.
> 
> ETA:  If you have a Kindle account, I can loan you my SFG ebook by Mel Bartholomew.   Let me know if you're interested.




Oh boy Teresa, that's some neighbor! I never thought about the lawn clippings/seeds getting into the bed. I'll have to mention that to my lawn guy. Maybe I can bribe him with some soap! I'll be growing mostly tomatoes, since that's most of what I buy from the farm stand, where they're awfully expensive! I could seriously eat garden tomatoes til they come out of my ears, I love them that much. So I figure I'll be able to save a bunch on tomatoes alone. And if there are too many, which I find hard to imagine, I have lots of tomato loving friends. Thanks for the offer of the Kindle version of the book, actually I picked up a hard copy at a tag sale a while ago. So far, it's still sounds good. And if there are weeds, I'm retired, so I've got the time. I'm dreaming of crunchy sugar snap peas, and tomato salads. Now if only the weather will cooperate!


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## shunt2011 (Apr 1, 2016)

Thank you. Very interesting. Guess I have a honey do list for my husband while I'm out doing shows this early spring to build me som plant beds.


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## DeeAnna (Apr 1, 2016)

When we travel with our horses, we use pine shavings in the trailer to soak up the pee and poop. I found out the shavings (used or not) are great for mulching flowers or veggies. You can get a big bale of shavings in a plastic bag for about $8 at your local farm supply store. Shavings are nice for mulching small areas like a SFG -- or any part of a larger garden with small plants that can't handle coarser or heavier mulch.


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## TeresaT (Apr 1, 2016)

Nav & Shunt, enjoy the benefits of your gardens.  There really is something satisfying about getting your hands dirty and eating what you've grown.  I'm just too tired to do it after working all day.  It's one more thing I'm looking forward to when I retire.  Soaping, spinning, knitting and gardening.  If I play it right, I'll never have to leave my house again.  All things can be delivered. :smile:


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## shunt2011 (Apr 1, 2016)

Last year was the first year I didn't plant a garden. Just planter tomatoes and herbs. I sure missed my zucchini, yellow squash, peas and beans.


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## fuzz-juzz (Apr 1, 2016)

Oh yes me me 
We have 4 huge boxes with soil and also some small trees in big pots. My favourite is my 1m high fig tree. We had about 30 huge sweet figs on it this summer. 
I skip the whole seedling thing, I tried but I failed so many times. There are few veg I grow from seed like beans and potatoes but that's it.
So, depending on the season we grow in summer tomatoes, cucumber,  beans, spring onion, capsicum, eggpkant. In winter peas, carrots and early spring potato. To put in perspective, from 2kg seed potato we had about 15kg potatoes on maybe 2m square box.
Tomatoes, same, six plants, kilos and kilos of tomatoes. I ended up freezing some. 
I love gardening!  My family always grew stuff and it's stuck with me. Nothing more satisfying than growing your own food.
I use minimal chemicals, so apart from the actual seeds, everything is basically organic.
You have to get your soil right,  pH and all the specific fertilizers for each veg. Also rotate stuff around. 
There's heaps of stuff to learn but once you get your head around it it's easy. Whole N P K balance etc.
I also have worm farm so all the scraps and dead foliage gets used up too.
If you need any help ask away


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## dibbles (Apr 1, 2016)

My daughter has done SFG and had success with tomatoes (hybrid and heirloom), eggplant, beans, peppers and herbs. 

I don't like gardening, but my husband does. Also living in a northern climate, we just can't get enough of the plucked from the vine tomatoes. When they are getting ripe faster than we can eat them/gift them, I just peel them and stew them and freeze. I once read that if you are adding less to the container of already frozen tomatoes, its fine to just keep adding as you go until the container is full. Makes the best chili during the long winter months, and super easy to do.


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## CTAnton (Apr 1, 2016)

Hey guys, I do this for a living and for myself.I've gardened in raised beds for 25 years. No soil compaction, warms up faster,concentrated place to water and fertilize. 
It doesn't take a lot of plants to feed a person in cukes and tomatoes. last year was a good year locally for both those staples and a lady friend had 3 cuke plants of the Asian variety and she had more than she knew why to do with...great pickles by the way. Tomatoes are feast or famine. One week you get 2 pounds, then the following week you get 30. I've never been a fan of raw tomatoes barring a BBT(basil bacon and tomato)but I do like my homemade sauce so if its sauce your after best to grow some of the determinate varieties that basically ripen all at once. Of course I am a sucker for cherry tomatoes, sun gold's are basically tomatoes and sugar all in one..
Just keep in mind that gardening this way does exhaust the soil of nutrients quickly so if the slugs in your area will allow it some kind of decomposing mulch would be in order and or additional fertilizer throughout the growing season...just my 5 cents, adjusted for inflation...


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## navigator9 (Apr 1, 2016)

Thanks everyone for your encouragement and advice. I've really missed a garden and am so looking forward to one this year. Teresa, I sure know how you feel, when I was working, I was just too tired too. Retirement is great, and all those people who asked me what I was going to do with myself, wasn't I going to be bored, are_* nuts*_! There's so much to do, all the fun stuff I was too tired for before. I can't wait for that first garden tomato to slice and put on top of my avocado toast, or just make a tomato and sweet vidalia onion salad with oil and vinegar. Mmmmm...I can almost taste it. And the smell of the tomato leaves on your hands. I'm getting tomato plants, the seeds just take too long, and I'm in a hurry. I'm doing the pepper by seed, because the ones I saw in the catalog look so much like the ones I got at the farm stand last summer that were sooo good. And the sugar snaps! They never even make it into the house. I just eat them out of hand. Can you tell I'm excited? lol And I have a window box for basil and cilantro. We have a chance of snow on Sunday and Monday, so all of this is just a dream for now.


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## Chefmom (Apr 1, 2016)

My mother did square foot gardening back in the day when it was on PBS.  She even had pieces of wood to section off her garden into perfect square foot plots.  I remember in the height of summer her garden looked like a pieced quilt with the wood framing each square.

Jump forward years to my gardening.  I picked up a copy of the original hardback at a book sale and used the theory for my gardening, but on a much larger scale.  Years ago I had the energy for a half acre garden that was divided into 5 foot wide growing beds and I filled the table and the freezer with what I grew.  As of a few years ago that energy is gone.  I have fatigue and can't do a whole lot of physical work at a time without resting...but I still pluck away at my garden.  I'm not willing to give it up completely.  

I don't grow as many vegetables as I used to, but last year my husband finally put together my old greenhouse for me to use again and I have started seeds for the first time in a quite a few years.  I'll have loads more flowers, but tomatoes, beans and squash are on the list to grow.

I've scaled way way back to just a few plants and just a few varieties, but my tomatoes are babies under lights in my basement and will be moving to the greenhouse when night temps stabilize.  I also have some flower seeds and herb seeds started.


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## fuzz-juzz (Apr 1, 2016)

I just popped fresh tomatoes into the freezer, without boiling. :-?
They turned out fine though, perfect in soups, casseroles, etc.
I never cook our snap peas and normal shelling peas, we just go out in the backyard and eat them freshly picked.


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## navigator9 (Apr 2, 2016)

Chefmom said:


> My mother did square foot gardening back in the day when it was on PBS.  She even had pieces of wood to section off her garden into perfect square foot plots.  I remember in the height of summer her garden looked like a pieced quilt with the wood framing each square.
> 
> Jump forward years to my gardening.  I picked up a copy of the original hardback at a book sale and used the theory for my gardening, but on a much larger scale.  Years ago I had the energy for a half acre garden that was divided into 5 foot wide growing beds and I filled the table and the freezer with what I grew.  As of a few years ago that energy is gone.  I have fatigue and can't do a whole lot of physical work at a time without resting...but I still pluck away at my garden.  I'm not willing to give it up completely.
> 
> ...



Ooooo...look at those tomatoes! What kind do you grow Chefmom? I'm trying some heirlooms this year, but my old Italian landlord used to swear by Big Boy, Jet Star and Early Girl. He really loved his tomatoes. 

I know what you mean about fatigue. I get really frustrated by physical limitations too, but I work a bit, rest a bit, work some more and sooner or later, things get done. Good luck with all of those tomatoes.


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## nsmar4211 (Apr 2, 2016)

I've tried most of the gardening theories, but down here in south Florida the bugs win unless you want to constantly be spraying (less poisonous or regular chemicals...doesn't matter). Tomatoes? Ferget it. Some people I know can grow them, me, nope. Every time it's a different issue.

This hot/cold/hot/SCORCHING/cold weather cycle this winter destroyed 90% of what I planted. I do have what I thoughttttt was collards left (it's heading so it's not the collards I wanted) and a few struggling pepper plants, but everything else died or bolted. I've even ordered "special" hot area seeds...not luck. I'm trying stuff from other areas but so far, no luck. One thing that did do decent was luffa gourds, but the amount of room they wanted to run in for the amount of gourds wasn't a good space investment. DEFINETLY not for square foot gardening! 

If you can get the dwarf plant varieties, they do well in the square foot method. Depends on your view of hybrids and all....

One thing with the square foot gardening, the soil will settle so fill the beds higher to allow for it (but make sure not too high or the water just washes the soil out). The theory of putting the plants close together does indeed pan out-a few experimental buckets I did that I thought were too crowded grew better than the ones that had space!


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## navigator9 (Apr 2, 2016)

nsmar4211 said:


> I've tried most of the gardening theories, but down here in south Florida the bugs win unless you want to constantly be spraying (less poisonous or regular chemicals...doesn't matter). Tomatoes? Ferget it. Some people I know can grow them, me, nope. Every time it's a different issue.
> 
> This hot/cold/hot/SCORCHING/cold weather cycle this winter destroyed 90% of what I planted. I do have what I thoughttttt was collards left (it's heading so it's not the collards I wanted) and a few struggling pepper plants, but everything else died or bolted. I've even ordered "special" hot area seeds...not luck. I'm trying stuff from other areas but so far, no luck. One thing that did do decent was luffa gourds, but the amount of room they wanted to run in for the amount of gourds wasn't a good space investment. DEFINETLY not for square foot gardening!
> 
> ...



Oh nsmar, it's funny, isn't it...we all have our gardening demons to  deal with. Here up north, we think you've got it made, but I guess  that's cause we're not dealing with your problems. I'm hoping for good luck, especially with my favorites, the tomatoes. I had good luck when I grew them years ago, they were taller than me, and loaded with fruit. We'll see how I do with this new method. Thanks for the tip on not overfilling the beds.


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## dibbles (Apr 2, 2016)

Since we're on the subject of gardening and planting seeds, has anyone grown calendula and dried the petals?


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## DeeAnna (Apr 2, 2016)

Dibbles -- I haven't ... yet ... but I want to! 

Here's a good resource for growing and using all kinds of herbs including calendula: www.herbsociety.org/herbs/profiles-and-guides.html

Here's where I was thinking about getting calendula seeds: https://www.richters.com/


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## penelopejane (Apr 2, 2016)

We have kangaroos, rabbits and bandicoots in the backyard so we have to fence the veggie patch. Deep into the soil - to foil the rabbits and bandicoots and high enough to foil the kangaroos.
I am determined to make a more substantial fence that has an easy access gate this year before I plant  a thing.


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## dibbles (Apr 2, 2016)

penelopejane said:


> We have kangaroos, rabbits and bandicoots in the backyard so we have to fence the veggie patch. Deep into the soil - to foil the rabbits and bandicoots and high enough to foil the kangaroos.
> I am determined to make a more substantial fence that has an easy access gate this year before I plant  a thing.



Sounds like here - only we have woodchuck, racoon and deer. We don't see many rabbits any more - fox and coyote have taken a toll :cry:


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## Steve85569 (Apr 2, 2016)

Jan's garden is 7 boxes that are 4' x 8' ( 1.3 x 2.6 metres) in raised beds. Caged to keep deer and raccoons out. I know it's not the smaller "square foot" gardening that we did in town but it's a much more controlled garden - and earlier - than mine out by the creek. Mine is about 1/3 acre and fenced the same way. We have strawberries in bloom out west and the cooler weather plants like peas and spinach are up and growing.

Steve


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## navigator9 (Apr 2, 2016)

dibbles said:


> Since we're on the subject of gardening and planting seeds, has anyone grown calendula and dried the petals?



They're in the marigold family, aren't they? They should be pretty easy to grow, I would think.



dibbles said:


> Sounds like here - only we have woodchuck, racoon and deer. We don't see many rabbits any more - fox and coyote have taken a toll :cry:



I've got deer, rabbits, chipmunks and a whole family of groundhogs, although they may not be back, since I filled in the tunnel they had dug right next to the foundation at the back of the house. The cats and I used to love to watch them. They're pretty amusing, although very destructive. I thought they had destroyed my peonies, after digging their tunnel right underneath them, but I noticed yesterday, that all the little peony shoots are coming up. It's funny, back when I did have my garden, the groundhogs never bothered it, they only seemed to munch on the lawn. This is a picture, taken through the screened window, of mama standing guard, while one of her babies has a snack. I hope they've moved on to greener pastures. But here is a video I watched about keeping deer out of the garden. Don't know how well it works, but it's easy and cheap enough. [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ySzNEuuKc[/ame]


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## Chefmom (Apr 3, 2016)

I grow calendula, as well as a lot of other herbs, and I wildcraft them from my yard and surrounding area as well.  I buy the seeds of the high resin medicinal variety of calendula from Fedco seeds, and I try to save my own along the way.

As for pests I have groundhogs, rabbits and deer.  Groundhogs are dealt with quickly as they will do a lot of damage in a short amount of time and send out invites to all their relatives in the area to join them.  The only true defense against deer is electric fences, unless you feel like building a 12 foot high fence or a double fence system.  Whatever is growing outside of the fence will never be enough and they will mow down a garden even if they don't find the plants tasty...they will still taste.  The bunnies are handled by keeping a good healthy clover growing in the lawn, they prefer clover and will not touch my garden if they have clover.

Except for the deer, my chickens are the worst for my garden, so they must be fenced out of anything I want to not be dug up or eaten.  

I do love fresh tomatoes, and the last few growing seasons have been hell with rain and disease, even cherry tomatoes haven't produced anything.  In the past I have grown large amounts of paste tomatoes (Roma and Amish Paste) and my favorite hybrid beefsteak type "Beefmaster" for making sauce etc, but this year I am scaling way back to keep tomatoes out of the garden and only growing in the greenhouse and maybe large pots.  I am growing a few plants of a variety I saved seed from some years back called Mini Pearl(I'm surprised the seeds sprouted) I also have a cherry tomato called "Camp Joy" that reminds me of a variety my grandmother grew when I was little.  They have full flavor and not just sugar like so many new tomatoes.  I also am trying a new basic globe tomato, a French hybrid called "Crimson Carmello".

I'm growing more flowers this year, I've been adding perennials each year and I made a seed order from the Monticello gardens for some heritage varieties to try.  I used to center my gardens around vegetables, but then I always wished I had more blooms, so this year I'm trying some new things, and mass plantings in my former veggie beds.


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## navigator9 (Apr 4, 2016)

My first post has a pic of my pepper sprouts. In this pic, you can see that more of them have emerged, but what I really want you to notice is on the other side of the window. SNOW!!! That's right. April snow. It's beginning to feel like spring will never get here. It helps a little to have these tiny green sprouts to look at, and remind me that soon enough, I'll be complaining about the heat!


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## dixiedragon (Apr 4, 2016)

I have read about (not yet tried) people planting directly in the bag of potting soil. Buy a bag of soil, puncture the back of the bag, and lay it down. Slice a big X in the top and stick your plant in the center of the X. The bag keeps weeds from growing there, just like landscape cloth.

I have the fanciest mulch. My mom wood turns, and all of her sawdust goes on the garden. (Except walnut). So some of my mulch is from exotic Koa wood from Hawaii, curly maple, oak, pecan, etc.


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## navigator9 (Apr 4, 2016)

dixiedragon said:


> I have read about (not yet tried) people planting directly in the bag of potting soil. Buy a bag of soil, puncture the back of the bag, and lay it down. Slice a big X in the top and stick your plant in the center of the X. The bag keeps weeds from growing there, just like landscape cloth.
> 
> I have the fanciest mulch. My mom wood turns, and all of her sawdust goes on the garden. (Except walnut). So some of my mulch is from exotic Koa wood from Hawaii, curly maple, oak, pecan, etc.



Dixie, I worked in a hospital where this method was used to allow patients in wheelchairs to garden. The bags were placed on top of a wooden table capable of supporting the weight of the bags, and then patients were able to roll their wheelchairs right up to the table. These table top gardens were very popular, and you should have seen the tomatoes they grew! I've also read about square foot table top gardening, a life saver for people who love to garden but find it hard to get down to ground level. And back up again.


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## JuneP (Apr 4, 2016)

I started square ft gardening three years ago and fell in love with it. For starters I have 2, 2 ft. deep beds, 4 ft. wide and 8 ft long. I filled them with high quality, organic potting mix and then used the recommended amt. of plants per square. I didn't use the potting blend they recommended. I also fertilized once a week with 1 tsp of appropriate organic fertlizer per square. For root veggies I used root vegetable fertilizer, and regular organic for the other veggies. I used only one square per tomato plant and had tons of tomatoes. They say you can't grow potatoes using this method, but I did! 

I've moved since and have now built plain soil, raised beds. I don't know how well I'll do this season since I didn't have time to get my soil tested, so I just worked in several inches of mushroom compost and am using the same organic fertilizers I've used before.  My veggie, Secret Garden only gets full sun on about 40% of it, so  I'm putting those veggies that are supposed to do ok with only 3-6 hrs of sun and keeping my fingers crossed.

I also try to use the rules of companion planting as well.

QUOTE=navigator9;588222]When I first moved to this house, I had a garden, and loved it. Once I got busy with soaping, I just had a few tomato plants in pots and that was it. But this year, since I've retired, I want to have a garden again. Years ago, when I saw square foot gardening on TV, it piqued my interest, so I've looked into it again, and it's sounding really good. If our crazy weather here in New England would cooperate, I might be able to get started, but it's supposed to get down to around 19 degrees on Monday morning, yikes! So I was wondering if any of you soapers are also square foot gardeners, and what you think of it. It seems like you get a lot of produce in a small space, and not so many pesky weeds. I know I want tons of tomatoes, and some cukes, and sugar snap peas. I wasn't even thinking about peppers this year, until I saw some Thunderbolts in the Burpee catalog. My house is pretty cool, so they took their time germinating, but there are now four teeny weeny pepper seedlings on my kitchen window sill. I gaze at them while I'm washing dishes, thinking..."Grow, grow, faster, faster!" So far, they're not listening. I'm trying to be patient.[/QUOTE]


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## navigator9 (Apr 5, 2016)

I just ran across this idea, and it's really brilliant. I don't have a greenhouse, but I've got plastic tubs! I'll be doing this with my pepper plants when they get a little bigger. I thought it was too good not to pass along. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/68820700534466682/


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## Chefmom (Apr 5, 2016)

navigator9 said:


> I just ran across this idea, and it's really brilliant. I don't have a greenhouse, but I've got plastic tubs! I'll be doing this with my pepper plants when they get a little bigger. I thought it was too good not to pass along. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/68820700534466682/



That is a good idea for a small amount of plants.  One word of advise, even on a cool day don't put the lid on top, it doesn't take much sun to cook those little babies.  I would lay the lid on, but sideways to let air circulate. If you have a little thermometer to put in the tub to keep an eye on the temp is always good.


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## Susie (Apr 5, 2016)

I am going to go one further and say to lay the lid upside down on the ground, then put the plants on the inside of the lid, and put the tub over the top.  You can prop the tub up on one side or the other for air flow and slowly harden them off in preparation for planting.  That gives you a mini greenhouse that will allow room to grow without having to take the plants out to water them.  You can also drop the tub flat if there is a danger of frost.  I have started many a garden plant and citrus tree using this method.


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## navigator9 (Apr 5, 2016)

Chefmom said:


> That is a good idea for a small amount of plants.  One word of advise, even on a cool day don't put the lid on top, it doesn't take much sun to cook those little babies.  I would lay the lid on, but sideways to let air circulate. If you have a little thermometer to put in the tub to keep an eye on the temp is always good.



Good advice, Chefmom. I was thinking of leaving them out on the screen porch in the tub, lid off, during the day, to harden them off. Then put the lid on, and put them in the garage at night. It's like a little, portable cold frame! It's gonna be a while before I can even think of this because...we have snow on the ground from yesterday, and it's only in the 20s. But I can watch my little seedlings and dream of big, gorgeous peppers. :-D

Last night I dreamt of the garden, and beautiful red tomatoes. In the dream, I twisted one off the vine, still warm from the sun, and ate it like an apple. I can still taste it. Is there anything better than that?


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## Chefmom (Apr 6, 2016)

navigator9 said:


> Last night I dreamt of the garden, and beautiful red tomatoes. In the dream, I twisted one off the vine, still warm from the sun, and ate it like an apple. I can still taste it. Is there anything better than that?


My favorite time each year is when the first tomato comes ripe, biting into it and having the juices run down your chin, warm from the sun.  Oh yea!  Makes all the work worth it in that one moment.

When I had my big garden, every morning's breakfast was a wander through the garden just grazing on what was there.  Green beans, lettuce, corn, tomatoes, peas, peppers, even the sharp heat of a scallion!!  I would pick and eat.  Best way for sure! 
http://www.soapmakingforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/


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