Low Maintanence Vegetable Garden?

[Stschil]

My GF found this on the interwebz and bought the e-book

Food4Wealth - The Secret to the Easiest Way to Grow Fresh Organic Vegetables in your Veggie Garden without digging or weeding - low effort way to grow food

After reading through it, we decided to give this a shot. The reviews I found were positive for the most part and Mr White's principles for this low maintanence garden method seem very sound and ecological.

We have just finished setting the first of three 15'x15' raised beds using this method so, the present bouts of rain notwithstanding, wish us luck

We are hoping to be having homegrown, organic, heirloom veggies all summer and fall.

 

[J man]

That is how we do ours, it keeps growing every year. It is not 100% weed free but it is not terrible.

 

[Beech Grover]

we are using concrete block to out line ours. then you can plat flowers for the insect control in the holes in the blocks.

 

[88GT]

How do you get to the middle of your bed?

 

[in_betts]

How do you get to the middle of your bed?

Exactly. I made this mistake the first time (actually only 8' x 8') and it works MUCH better if you only make it wide enough to reach 2/3 of the way across from each side. Doesn't matter how long you make it, or make spirals or whatever you want, but reaching past center from each side helps tremendously. Beyond the reach thing is the fact that the most time, effort and money in your garden is in soil prep and conditioning; so why condition soil you are just going to walk on to get to the items in your garden?

Like I said I did it the first time, but won't again.

 

[Stschil]

How do you get to the middle of your bed?

Lay cardboard or old carpet in one foot paths, dividing the bed into four 4' x 15' planting beds.

I do admit, I should have layed the pathways first and then layed the hay, organic fertilizer (), and compost around them to save a little material, but, I have two more beds to pratice and perfect.

I've got all my cold seeds in the first bed now, in addition to transplanting some peas, pole beans, lettuce, peppers, onions, cabbage, and carrots that I started in the greenhouse. Tomatos are up, but still too young and fragile to put outside just yet.

 

[88GT]

Lay cardboard or old carpet in one foot paths, dividing the bed into four 4' x 15' planting beds.

I do admit, I should have layed the pathways first and then layed the hay, organic fertilizer (), and compost around them to save a little material, but, I have two more beds to pratice and perfect.

I've got all my cold seeds in the first bed now, in addition to transplanting some peas, pole beans, lettuce, peppers, onions, cabbage, and carrots that I started in the greenhouse. Tomatos are up, but still too young and fragile to put outside just yet.

So what's the big benefit over clustering them in one big bed then? You lose 45sq ft for walkways right off the bat. That's 20% of your plot area. Just curious.

Take this for what you paid for it: I've got 24" between my raised beds and find that it's not always quite enough. I also don't have to worry about my walkway being an integral part of my bed (each bed is self-contained in 4'x8' boxes constructed with 2x10s), so I can't accidentally dislodge or crush something behind me. If you haven't made the other beds yet, you might seriously consider creating those 4x15 beds as separate entities with more space between them.

 

[Stschil]

So what's the big benefit over clustering them in one big bed then? You lose 45sq ft for walkways right off the bat. That's 20% of your plot area. Just curious.

Take this for what you paid for it: I've got 24" between my raised beds and find that it's not always quite enough. I also don't have to worry about my walkway being an integral part of my bed (each bed is self-contained in 4'x8' boxes constructed with 2x10s), so I can't accidentally dislodge or crush something behind me. If you haven't made the other beds yet, you might seriously consider creating those 4x15 beds as separate entities with more space between them.

I think the benefit is weed control. Though I don't really know for sure T this point. This will be my first serious effort in gardening in many years so, contrary to the rules and regulations posted on my man card, I followed the instructions.
I decided to try it like the author said this season and see how it works. I can always switch later if I find it doesn't work well for me

 

[jedi]

So for $40 you get a PDF book and 60 mins of video on how to get started correct?
If their any other cost from the website for this info?

 

[Stschil]

So for $40 you get a PDF book and 60 mins of video on how to get started correct?
If their any other cost from the website for this info?

We've not encountered any additional cost from the website. The only costs after that have been in materials, seeds, etc. But I figure those are mostly one time expenses because I didn't have garden plots prior to this.


We have been saving newspapers all winter to use as a biodegradable weed block, and when we ran out, asked the local grocery store to save their out of date sale flyers for us. $0.00

Found hay that had molded and was useless for feed from a local farmer, again, $0.00

We did buy compost locally, but that was our choice because we wanted to start several large beds. From now on, compost will be produced from our grass clippings, leaves, kitchen waste, etc

We have planted nothing but heirloom seeds, so hopefully, we'll be able to harvest seeds for upcoming years, for swapping, and for helping out friends and neighbors

With all this rain, I've seen immediate benefits to the compost raised beds, they stay moist, but don't hold the water and drown out the plants. So far, everything I transplanted has stayed healty and some of my seeds have started to come through as well.

I would suggest that if you do buy this book, to print and bind it as well as backing it up with some sort of media storage method for future use/referance. My Fiance' does this with newsletters/books/articles etc all the time. It's nice to have the web and puter avail, but for me, nothing beats having the pages right there.

 

[Pamcake]

Oooohhh, be careful with the "hay", it is weed-seeds-on-a-stem, in your raised-bed garden... or did you use straw?

I'm doing "Square Foot Gardening" this year, which is 4' x 4' raised beds of custom "soil" mix (peat + compost + extra-coarse vermiculite), also on top of a weed barrier. They advise 36" between them for walking, kneeling, etc. I'm looking forward to the concept of starting from custom sterile soil so no weeding!!

We are all doing very similar gardens, with the super-soil raised beds. Great minds think alike!!!

This is the "official" website for the SquareFootGarden:
Welcome to Square Foot Gardening

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Square-Foot-Gardening-Garden-Space/dp/1579548563/ref=dp_ob_title_bk"]Amazon sells the book[/ame] for $12.85 w/ free SuperSaver shipping.

 

[jedi]

FYI..
Here is another idea for a garden with limited space.
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...grow_up_to_72_plants_in_a_55_gallon_drum.html

Grow it in 55 gallon barrels!

 

[! twitty]

We actually made ours with 4x4s. Made it 3 high and 16x8 total length. We didn't need to big of one since we mainly grow spinach for salads, as well as a few other things. It took 100 bags of soil to fill but has worked out greatly for us.

 

[PistolBob]

Food prices are soaring, gasoline prices are at records highs, the dollar is at record lows, unemployment is going up again, foreclosures are not slowing down, and the Oprah Winfrey show is about to go off the air....growing your own food is a good idea. Make sure to can a bunch for later. We'll need it.