A small garden.

 Howdy folks! Here comes the first real blog post.  It's gonna be pretty basic stuff till I get my rhythem (and have time to experiment with the things i'm growing), but fun all-the-same! So today I wanted to touch on "the small garden." Like I said last week, we've moved outside of the city and have an in-ground garden. Although it's only been one year since I switched from a small city garden to the great-wide-out-doors,  it's so easy to forget the other side!
So because most of my gardening tips from here-on-out will likely be focused on the larger in-ground garden (as far as wording and photos go) I want to address that almost anything can be grown in a smaller setting too!

So today is all about the little-guy! The small garden! The space-saver garden! For those with less space, or simply for those that would rather look at flowers than veggies. You can tuck a small veggie garden away somewhere and save your space for pretty blooms!


The method I was taught by my Mother-in-law is called "square foot gardening". And this is far more than a measurement system for planting. There are several editions of a book that you can learn all about it. But the main secret, is in the soil. When you're going to be planting things quite close together, you need to make sure you have a nice rich soil blend that is going to keep up with the nutritional needs of your plants!  Just like people, your plants are what they eat! If your soil is poor, your harvest will be equally poor. Good soil, good crop.

(Yes, these pictures are from when my 5 year old was a baby... but mostly to prove just how easy and productive it is to square-foot-garden! I did it with a very chaotic new baby!)





The soil blend recommended in the book is referred to as "mel's mix". He recommends a 3-way blend of 3 simple ingredients...

- Peat moss

- Vermiculite (not perilite)

- Pure compost (home made or a mix of various kinds of store bought).

one day's bean harvest from  4 square feet of bean plants... ;)  Also peas, tomatoes, red onions and chives.

Peat Moss: It's a dieing garden supply simply because (in all honesty), it's not the most environmentally friendly choice. That being said, peat moss is an incredible asset in your soil blend. Think of it as nature's sponge in saw-dust form. Whether dead or alive, it can soak up to 26 TIMES it's dry weight in water. So having 1/3 of your soil as peat moss allows for both excellent water retention, as well as excellent drainage. Not to wet, not too dry. :)  The reason it's not all that ethical, is because it is a natural resource that renews MUCH SLOWER than it's being harvested from peat bogs... So it's sort-of up there with deforestation in a way. The removal of nature's sponge, leads to more flooding in areas around the bogs, because there's no longer that giant land-mass of peat to soak up the water... (sorry... now ya know! lol). I know there are some man-made products coming to market in increasing popularity, however, they are far more expensive. So pick your battles (and your social justice causes) and go from there. I choose people for my causes, so that being said, I did use peat moss. And it can be bought at any hardware store or garden store (cheapest at hardware though). Buy the largest bag of it, dump it onto a tarp to fluff it up, and work out your 1/3 volumes from there



Vermiculite: Vermiculite?? isn't that the isbestus stuff in people's attic? Well..yes lol but not cancer-causing when you buy the right stuff from the garden store! Its actually made of rock... But heated a special way, and it expands... So basically its rock pop-corn (And what a yummy treat for the garden). This helps fluff-ify your garden bed.  It keeps the soil nice and airy which helps with strong root growth, as well as makes weeding a piece of cake! So well-worth the inclusion, despite it being a bit pricey. It's important not to substitute perilite here, as it just basically floats to the top of your soil over time...
For the purposes of making a garden bed, I suggest you call several greenhouses and ask them about their largest size bag of vermiculite and the cost. you can usually find the largest size bags (the kind where you can only buy 3 at a time if you have a mini-van with the back seats folded down lol) for about $30-40 each at greenhouses. Usually one of these bags will cover a 4X4  square foot garden's mel's mix.

no really, look at the garden boxes! ;) These are my mothers, built higher up for her to reach without bending far.

Compost: I'm sure I'll have one or two other posts about compost in the future, but for now, basically, compost is your decomposed organic matter. When you buy it in store, its almost always a manure of some kind. either cow, sheep or pig manure. You can sometimes get horse compost from local ranchers, but I'd only recommend getting this to add to your compost bin. fresh manure can burn your plants. it needs to be composted. The higher the price you pay, the less weeds you'll get from your compost... (just a general rule). You can also make your own compost with a compost bin in the summer time! I also suggest, if you're using store bought compost, to buy a variety of types. (some cow, some pig etc...). Also try to hunt down a bag of worm-castings, as these are very nutrient dense and a great addition if your compost isn't going to be home-made.  Compost is your only source of nutrients, so do not skimp out on the quantity here. The first two are for texture and moisture.

another one-day harvest from my square foot garden in Winnipeg. Cucumbers, zucchini, squash, carrots, corn, oregano, thyme, and savory.

And that is the 3-ingredient blend that makes mel's mix! I usually use a bucket and just go around in a circle from peat moss, to vermiculite to compost,  filling my garden boxes, untill the square foot garden is full. At the end of each season of gardening, just open up your garden compost bin (by now, maintenance should be easily done with home-made compost volume). One hand-full of compost per square foot. Churn it in, and your garden is ready for seeds next spring. Its actually that easy! Every 4-5 years its not a bad idea to whip up some fresh mel's mix to top-up the beds. you lose soil in the root-pulling, or from wind, or just general compaction over time.



The rest of square-foot-gardening, i'll let you research, but basically it's an above-ground garden, with specific guidelines for how close to plant everything (much closer than an in-ground garden, because the soil is prepped for this). And away you go! So much harvest for very little effort. The soil costs money the first year of square foot gardening, but other than a hand-full of compost-per-foot each year, it's maintenance-free!


Planting is easy/quick, and so is harvesting (it's all right in reach). Weeding is almost non-existent because your plants literally crowd them out.



So if you've been using the excuse "our yard is too small for a garden"... well think again! Got a sunny 4 foot corner? that's all you need! :)

Get green!!

*i am not affiliated with any of my links. these are genuine recommendations. I don't get kick-backs.*