Time to Prepare Your Beds For Spring Planting!

Hello Square Foot Garden friends! It is time to start preparing your beds for your Spring babies. (Note: these instructions are for those that have an existing Square Foot Garden and need to refresh it for Spring) If you don't have your own compost*, or, like me, you need to supplement a bit, now is the time to stock up on your bags of compost. Remember, the more varied the mixture, the merrier your plants will be. Try to get several kinds and sources of compost. Mushroom, cow, chicken... Place one small shovel full of your mixture in each square. You can mix them ahead of time, or if you are lazy like me, you can just open each bag and divide out between the squares. It isn't an exact science. Mix well with the existing mixture in your beds. Now you are ready to start planting. Please consult your area planting guide. Harris County, Texas is here http://harris.agrilife.org/files/2011/05/VegPlantingChart.pdf.

*If you are using only compost from the store, you will need to add a Tablespoon or so of bone meal (per square - there are 16 squares in each 4 x 4 garden) to help prevent your leaves from turning yellow because of a calcium deficiency. Scratch it into the soil if you have already planted the square. If it is just bare soil, mix it in well. If you are making your own compost, put in lots of crunched up egg shells and your calcium deficiency problem will be solved.

P.S. - those of you looking for the trellis net can find it at Home Depot near the seed display (our Katy Fry Road one has it in the entrance foyer. It is at the top of a rack in a bag called "Ferry-Morse Vine & Veggie Trellis Net" 5' x 10' for $3.98) You will have to cut it down a bit. I couldn't find it at Lowe's in the seed department where they normally carry it, or I would have gotten it there. Sometimes Wal-Mart carries it.