Square foot garden beds

Put together SFG recipe for "Mel's Mix" (1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost) this weekend. Very hard work.  Would not recommend attempting to build boxes, make soil mix and plant the same day.  Started to rain, so I didn't actually attach the grid (just laid it over the top), but I guess the smells from all the compost proved too irresistible for our dog.  That little garden girl got caught "black pawed"!  It's a good thing I hadn't put any seeds yet!  I just wanted to be sure the soil was ready to go since it is supposed to rain for the next few days and I thought it would be good for the soil to be thoroughly moistened.

Also, just got my shipment of micro clover from Bailey Seed.  According to what I've read, over-seeding with micro clover will help provide nitrogen to your grass ( clover is nitrogen fixing), is more      resistant to drought and pet urine, will blend into grass and stay green year round .  It's a little expensive (~$25 lb), but hopefully it will pay off in the long term.  We're supposed to have the lawn undergo core aeration next week, so I plan to seed the backyard with clover afterward.  Anyone else have any experience overseeding with clover?

Snow in April?!

Our poor cherry tree---wasn't expecting a snow storm in the middle of April.  Wasn't sure how best to protect the buds, so I just covered it with a garbage bag...any other tips?  Oh, also upon closer examination of the individual graft tag, I found that there are actually 5 grafts--there is also a Van cherry graft --a nice bonus.

4-in1 cherry tree now planted

Picked up the tree over the weekend and planted it in the backyard.  Couldn't put it in the spot in the corner that we had originally wanted since in digging the hole, we found the neighbor's tree roots extended into our yard about 15 feet, which was disappointing.  However, hopefully this spot will work out okay; gets at least 6 hours of sun and can be seen from the playroom.  The tree includes grafts of bing, Montmorency, Royal Ann, and Rainier cherries...now we just have to wait another 2-3 years to harvest, so by then the kids will actually be able to help pick the fruit.

New Cherry Tree

Over the weekend we bought a grafted cherry tree with Bing, Montmorency, Rainier varieties during our favorite nursery's opening weekend.  Since the weather out here is still a little iffy (can range from 30-60 degrees F from morning til night), we're still waiting to plant it for a few weeks.  Should take about three years for it to bear fruit and I can't wait to be able to pick multiple varieties of cherries all from our own backyard, although I wonder if multiple graft fruit trees fare any better, worse, or the same as regular single grafted trees...I guess only time will tell.  Also, I figure that once the tree starts baring fruit, depending on how well each graft fares, we might buy an additional tree of just that variety.

First blog post!

Biodome Seed Starter

My Little Garden Girl

Hello, this October our family finally put down roots and moved into our new "forever home".  Our backyard is basically empty, so with help from my trusty sidekick, Maddie, and Mel Bartholomew's book on square foot gardening, we plan on starting  a couple square foot gardens.  Last weekend, we bought  the supplies to make two 4x4 square foot gardens out of cedar.  One will be for vegetables and the other for a butterfly garden.  Above is a picture of some of the seedlings we've started in the bio dome from Park Seed.  Unfortunately, they're looking a little leggy, but I'm hoping that by the time we plant outside, they'll be okay.  I read that if you plant tomato seedlings sidewise, they'll start rooting all along the stem, so I may try that.

Anyone have any tips about starting/building a square foot garden?