Square Foot Garden

For Mother's Day, Daddy built me a 4' x 4' frame out of 2x6s. He covered the bottom with weed block and filled the box with a three part mix of vermiculite, peat moss and compost. This is a square foot garden as designed by Mel Bartholomew in his book titled "All New Square Foot Gardening".

After Daddy strung a grid of twine separating each square foot, I planted it. So far I've planted cantaloupe, carrots, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, two types of lettuce, carrots, beans and marigolds. I've got three square foot sections left to plant. I'd like to put some radishes and chives in those. I've also reserved two square feet for pumpkins seeds.

Yes, I know, pumpkins need a lot of room to sprawl. However, I plan to let them grow on a trellis. On...a...trellis..., you read that right. Crazy I know, but I'm going to really test out Mr. Bartholomew's claims. I'll let you all know how it works.

So far, I've noticed the garden MUST be watered well every day because the peat/vermiculite/compost mixture drains quickly. You'd think the peat moss would hold moisture more effectively. Maybe I have yet to get it thoroughly wet.