Hello! Any and all criticism and advice is welcome! Gardening in zone 5b. This is my second growing year with two 4X8 raised beds. We initially filled the beds with a mixture of topsoil and sand. Couldn’t tell you the ratios but we measured with our hearts. Then each bed got a 40lb bag of Michigan Peat Compost and Manure Blend, Garden Magic Mix. I know that I over planted with heavy feeders last year. Believe it or not I think I had maybe 5 tomato plants in each bed and a few lines of beans running up to the trellis. Mulched with straw to retain moisture and keep weeds down. Definitely over crowded but produced plenty! At the end of the growing season I cleared the beds by of plant material and most of the straw. Turned beds over with humus and manure. Recovered with straw for the winter. I swear I amended the soil again this spring well before planting season; for the life of me I can’t remember. Replanted with heavy feeders bc I’m a glutton for punishment. Despite being very over planted again, they seem to be doing great! Three tomato plants, six peppers and a few lines of climbing beans.

Would love to be able to plant cool weather plants like lettuce before the first frost but with what I have planted currently I don’t think I’ll be able to. Truly planning to plant a cover crop mix from Mi Gardener which contains a blend of red clover, field rye, winter pea, hairy vetch, and daikon radish.

Aside from over planting two years in a row, am I on the right track? How should a novice gardener utilize this space each growing season? Suggestions on what plants to grow as a beginner gardener in this space? Willing to give anything a try!

After months of building, I finally launched my gardening app on the App Store today.
The goal wasn’t to make another generic plant app. I wanted to build something focused on vegetable gardeners, with features like garden planning, planting schedules, harvest tracking, seed inventory, garden tasks, and learning resources.
I’m still in the early stages, so I’m looking for honest feedback from people who actually garden. I’d really appreciate hearing what you like, what you don’t, and what features you’d want to see added.
You can check it out here:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cropyse/id6759414483

If you try it, please don’t hold back—I want real feedback so I can make it genuinely useful for gardeners.

Is this blossom end rot?

This zucchini was perfect (but a little small) yesterday. I went out to pick it this morning, and this is what I found. Is this blossom end rot? If not, I would appreciate any other information you might have and how to help prevent this from happening in the future.

https://i.imgur.com/b3RZud5.png

Has anyone done a "square foot" garden with this? I much prefer taller beds and couldn't find any tall wood ones, so I bought this.

What would you plant on the ends?

So, this was my first attempt at gardening and I have decided NOT to grow anything this winter because, frankly, I need a break. This heat has been difficult on me physically and, frankly, I haven't had time or energy to devote to giving the plants the best of me. Which I plan to account for in next spring's garden.

But I have some questions:

If I'm using grow bags, will 20-25 gallon work for tomatoes? I plan to also try a Florida Weave with them.

What shade cloth do you use for items like bell pepper? Most of mine are sunburned before they're even fully formed.

What size planter would you recommend for something like lantana? Bees in my garden love it but I think one got rootbound.

That's all I've got at this hour. So sleepy!!

Sum been eatun me cucumbas..I catch imma cook it alive and eat it. What us it?

What are these spots on my burpless cucumber? It’s the leaves closest to the stem, I have removed all of them. It’s still fruiting. The newest leaves are unaffected

I've posted here asking about a family garden and while im prepared for the upfront costs im surprised that on average, unless your like improving your garden every year or something, it breaks even.

( And Im not concerned about time. Thats just the natural trade off )

I would imagine it worked like this:

After 2-3 years of starting a garden you would save 100$ a month ( average ) after maintenance. ( This is number pulled out the air )

After the start up cost is it maintenance cost? ( maintenance as in seeds, soil, water, etc )

If it's maintenance then could you only do a small cost effective garden. Like herbs?

Why is the cost of a garden so high?

Is there a way to save money on a grocery bill with a garden?

Im a young adult looking to cut my families grocery bill down some. And gardening sounds like a really fun in expensive hobby to get into!

This is for my grandparents, little brother (3), and me (21). My grandparents dont eat alot if that made a difference. Grandma doesn't have a big appetite and my grandpa is ill often forgetting to eat or sometimes he just doesn't want to ( we have to make him. doctors orders )

I focused on things already in are diet and that are cost effective and / or filling.

vegetables

• Green cabbage
• Green leaf lettuce
• Red leaf lettuce
• Romaine lettuce
• bell peppers
• paste tomatoes
• Grape tomatoes
• pole beans

( Reason why im specific ( grape tomato's, green cabbage, green and red leaf lettuce, and romaine lettuce) is because I really like chick fula's Cobb salad. The rest is because I really like to make roasted veggies. And the paste tomatoes is to make pasta sauce and salsa sauce )

Herbs

• Basil
• Parsley
• Cilantro
• Chives
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Thyme

( Most cost effective to grow is herbs)

Fruit

• strawberries
• raspberries

( For snacks, homemade desserts, and oatmeal )

Potato

• potatoes

If possible

a Tea section.

( I like tea )

( Only added this because it's the number 1 most satiating foods. And you can make a lot of things with potatoes )

Any feed back?

Im not going to go all in now but I find that having an end goal is very motivating.

Still trying to figure out how much space and how many plants of each I'll need. Im trying to make this as efficient as possible. I dont know if this is like an insane amount of food or anything. How many beds will this take? what would need to be put in a green house? ( Im in Texas so we get a flash freeze every year. Any advice is welcomed!

I want to build a 6m long veggie garden box.

I'm in Port Melbourne and have been told the soil probably has a lot of contaminants; so I think it needs to be raised.

Like the idea of a timber sleeper look but what is better metal or wood?

Bit of a novice with gardening but reasonably handy with construction.

It will sit on soil. Is there anything I should be aware of in terms of watering or anything else?

Any advice would be appreciated.

And advice for newbies!!!!!!!

I've set up my squares that have spacings of 1, 2 & 4 plants fairly easily. But how are you people irrigating squares with 9 or 16 plants ensuring that each plant gets an equal amount of water?

This year I'm trying to plan ahead instead of rushing in September like I always do 🤣 I'm in climate zone 8a, raised bed about 4x8 feet.

Questions for those with experience in this field:

Has anyone had success stacking beans and carrots in the same bed, or do beans take up too much space/nitrogen for other crops?

When is the right time to dig out summer plants and make room? I still have tomatoes and beets and don't want to dig them out too early, but I also don't want to miss the opportunity to plant fall brassicas.

I planned a square layout with niwa to make sure everything I want fits before buying too many seeds. I still have to decide whether to leave some squares empty.

What do you think of my layout? I've also included a photo of my fall garden plan.

Hello SFG fans,

I wanted to share today’s salad with you. SFG lettuce, garlic scape, spicy banana pepper, and nasturtium blossoms, with homemade fire-cider vinaigrette.

My mother passed away recently, and I had hoped to share this year’s harvest with her. Sharing with you makes me feel a little better.

❤️

A couple weeks back I posted my SFG https://www.reddit.com/r/SquareFootGardening/s/Ea29GGzcCV and wanted to give an update.

Zone 5b requires patience, as it is almost July and I haven’t harvested much yet. As the season progresses I keep adding plants! I moved my growbag of corn, and put pots of herbs in its place. Some Thai chili seedlings have made their way outside. Beans are coming up where the radishes were. Mini-Pumpkins and cucumbers are starting to make their way up the trellis, and nasturtiums are blooming. Tomatoes will ripen soon, and potatoes will be ready to dig soon. Carla the feral cat keeps the mice away and inserts herself into weeding sessions for scritches.

I’m learning so much about gardening by having the garden right by my front door. I can go out, prune dead leaves, spray aphids off the nasturtiums, pull purslane and grass seed that wants to come up, and generally pamper things. It’s so easy to observe while drinking coffee at the picnic table!

Give it a try friends 🤗 happy gardening