How do I grow these?

[cjr]

My inlaws said I could use their garden, but they are 45 min away. I have always wanted a garden. We live in the city in a medium sized lot. I convinced dh to build me some 4'x4' boxes, and then some 4'x3' boxes to put in front of the others. I am going to do the sfg.

So, how does butternut/acorn/spaghetti squash grow? Do they vine up? Will I need to put them along the fence on a trellus or mesh hooked to the fence? Does corn need a lot of root room, or can I grow it in a sfg? Is it better to start dill from seed or should I just get a plant already started?

[shaywyn]

Hi there! Here are a few on my opinions

So, how does butternut/acorn/spaghetti squash grow? Do they vine up? Will I need to put them along the fence on a trellus or mesh hooked to the fence?

It vines, you can let it sprawl, but for sfg, I guess you would want to trellis it. You will need to train it to whatever you use to trellis it and use an occasional tie up here and there. Also, you will need to use slings to support the fruit once they get a little size on 'em. I grow one winter squash called delicata that does not need to have the fruit supported while trellised, but heavier fruit need a little support. You can use strips of cotton, or a lot of people recycle old pantyhose, because they are flexible and breathe. I've only ever trellised the delicata, but it was very easy, not as daunting as it sounds, very enjoyable.

Does corn need a lot of root room, or can I grow it in a sfg?

I have read that corn can grow in as small an area as one foot. The method is to put one plant at each corner and one in the middle. So, 5 plants total. However, the smallest area I have grow it in is about 4ft by 4ft, spaced about 8 inches apart. Corn needs wind pollination from other corn, so your ears will be better if there's a good block of corn. Early corn does not get as tall as late corn so it would probably suit sfg nicely. Good Luck. Let us know if you try a foot or two of corn.

Is it better to start dill from seed or should I just get a plant already started?

I've grown dill for years, my experience is that is does much better when seeded. It doesn't like to be transplanted although I am sure if you had some nice size plants and were very careful with the roots, it would do fine also. I always plant seed and my neighbor always gives me some of her volunteers, the transplanted ones are usually stunted and go to seed very small. But by the time she gives me the plants, they have been suffering a bit, so that could be part of the problem. However, it's kind of nice because just as I use up the little plants she gives me, my seeded ones are getting nice and big. I have purchased a few dill plants in the past for containers and they have done okay, better than the volunteers.

Good Luck and Have fun!

[TigerTail]

Honestly I've been trying to sq ft garden for years- came across my old plans on graph paper the other day, & oh, my . Let's just say 'going by the book' was not terribly realistic.

Squash & corn are two plants that just take up humungous space. I've tried trellising & end up with vines that pull down anything I use- and last year had a huge metal structure. Heavy stuff that bent pipes like they were q-tips. (I had tromboncini rampicante zucchini take over the neighbor's elm tree on its way up & out! It is embarassing to have the neighbors ask why there is what appears to be zucchini 30 ft up in their tree!)

I'm growing sprawlers as sprawlers from now on, & devoting an entire bed to corn. Everytime I try to keep stuff in its own little sq ft, even soi-disant well-behaved vegetables like broccoli, everything goes mad, gets in each others space, & becomes impossible to care for properly. I may have to grow fewer varieties of veggies, & have more of some than I'd necessarily need, but it is just too much to care for, all mingly & companion-y. If I need to bt my cabbage, I just want to load up the cabbage, not pick & wiggle through 40 ft of beds trying to find them hiding under the cucumbers.

(Don't get me wrong, I'll still stake & grow some stuff vertically, but after watching 5 israeli honeydews fall from the vine & split, even supported in nets, I'm letting them do their thing on the ground. Woodlice are not as bad as dropping on a ripe melon!)

I feel like such a failure- the illustrations are so pretty, the 'three sisters' (corn, squash, beans), etc, so romantic a notion- it's what my goal was. But c'est la vie, I gotta do what works.

[Red]

I have limited space fenced off from the wild and pet life, so I liketo make the most of my space.

For corn, I got a variety that grows 2 ears to a stalk. I planted them 1 foot apart. When they are a few inches tall, I put in the seeds for dry beans. (or green beans). I put squash in the ends of plots or in any odd spot I can find. 4 zukes are at one end of the corn, the watermelon are on the end of an asparagus bed.

I figure in their going to sprawl,they can sprawl across my paths, about my yard, where ever they want except in the planting beds.

If you can, devote one 4x4 to corn. Plant four plants a week, for four weeks, in a square pattern. You may have to help polination along.


You might put the squash at your ILs.

And all herbs grow easily from seed!