Saturday 11 July was the big day: Square foot garden day! It has been a while since I last used a drill and I’d rather kept it that way as I’m not very comfortable around these things. But there was no escape; the Square Foot Garden had to be build!

So, 2 weeks ago I went out to get the wood, the compost, the peat moss, some seeds, a huge shovel, a hammer, nails and material to create the grid.

Last week I went to my parents’ place and borrowed my father’s drill and some screws (he won’t be seeing those back). I also ordered the Vermiculite online and got free seeds with it.

So, there I was, facing the task ahead. I started putting the box together (scary that drill) and soon discovered that the wood wasn’t exactly the specified size (you can see a bit of a crack in the centre of the box).





Next a show of strength (vermiculite is super light weight) as I carry the bags for the soil mix into the garden.

With the box completed and all required supplies out in the garden it would be smooth sailing.
 
 



Emptying the bags to get the soil mixture was a piece of cake. Mixing the soil with my huge shovel wasn’t really. And since there was compost in there I had to think twice before I started mixing the soil by hand.

With the soil in place (steady mixing for 30 minutes recommended for extra dirty hands) it was time for the grid. The grid is made of 6 plastic strips nailed to the box.

In Sri Lanka we might be using different material for this, in our attempts to keep the environmental impact of this project to an absolute minimum.

Unlike drilling I quite like using a hammer. Putting the grid on is fairly easy as long as you make some markings on it so you are certain you’ll end up with 16 even squares.

After all that majorly hard work it was time for watering. This was the first time there was any water on the scene. Square Foot Gardening is very light work and I certainly didn’t break out in a sweat.


After watering it was time to plant. I have absolutely no idea about planting seeds and the instructions on the packages weren’t to my liking. Putting some flower, vegetable and fruits 25 centimetres (10 inches) apart? Didn’t think so!

When finally done I decided to discuss the issue of planting seeds with my neighbour, the cat, who was in total agreement.

And how could she not be? The result looked great.

As a reward for all this hard work it has been raining most of this Sunday saving me from watering the plants.


I do hope that Square Foot Gardening will work out. The theory behind this method indicates this to be a perfect solution to be implemented back in Sri Lanka. It is relatively cheap, certainly easy to realize and a great thing for people on their responsible volunteer holiday to engage in.

So, fingers crossed.


Next update: when we see the first shoots coming up!

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 9:56 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.