Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Square Foot Gardening Templates - AKA Super-Dad Post #2

The parental units went to a holiday lunch at the boy's school and he brought home a canvas bag they gave him with my 16 hole square foot garden planting guide. Radishes and carrots, here I come!!

It's just as fantastic as the 9 hole one (that can serve a 4 inch plan for lettuce as well) that he made me last week. I'm going to paint them to protect them, and I'm thinking about some sort of top coat as well, but I can't believe he made them both so quickly. I honestly wasn't expecting them for quite some time, and now I feel like a kid in a candy store. I'm just so stinkin' irritated that it's just turned December and spring planting is so far off.

Just imagine the straight wonderful planting rows that will soon be mine. No more sprinkle seed and hope to God some sprout for me. Now I'll know exactly where I planted seed and how much germination I got. Yes, I could eye-ball the spacing, but I always think..eh, I could tuck another seed in there...just in case, and then I never know what I did or the germination percentage I'm averaging.

I want to be so organized. I plan and replan that garden to no end and have even erased holes in the paper from where I've changed it so much, but for some reason, I tend to rebel against my organizational needs when it comes to the actual planting of the vegetables. Now I'm going to swell with pride at my straight rows and even spacings.

I'm super-crazy happy.

Now if I'll just plant the stupid vegetables where my map says I'll plant them, it will be a good year.

The morning comes early. Sweet, evenly spaced gardening dreams.

15 comments:

  1. They look great! Your Dad sure is nice to make those for ya.

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  2. Those things are cool!! That would've helped me so much this summer with my carrots. Where can I get some of those?

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  3. I agree, EG.

    Hi KM! GOod to see you around. I don't know if you could purchase them anywhere. I had looked before and only found where people had made them, and I was lucky enough Dad was able to make them for me.

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  4. These are so neat! You should definitely keep dad on the payroll, lol!

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  5. How cool are those??? Love that idea! I think carrots are so incredibly painful to plant - if you drop a seed you can't find it and you always drop too many in the wrong spot. I think these would be perfect for those tiny seeds!

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  6. Nice templates. Keeping track of what I plant where is a constant challenge too.

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  7. Kalena Michelle, or anyone else who comes by here....The father figure said he'd consider making the templates for whomever wanted them. My email is in the right column of the blog.

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  8. I can't tell you have jealous I am right now. I obsess over neat rows. I can't wait to read about how you use them!

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  9. Hi Ribbit. Nice templates. I just started square foot gardening (in southern California)and thought how nice it would be to have some plastic grids to help mark the holes.

    I'm surprised that you don't grow veggies year round in Georgia. Or do you? --Lou

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  10. I do the same thing, lay everything out on paper and then never fallow it. My problem is I am always inflating my space in my head, come planting time half the stuff doesn't fit! Love those planting templates.

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  11. Thomas, I'm itching to give them a go.

    Lou, no, I can't grow year round, or rather I might if I had poly tunnels. We can get pretty cold here. It's also a little nice to have that down time to plan next year's garden and peruse seed magazines and dream.

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  12. Ok so I have never seen anything like that...are they to replace your grid? How does it work differntly? They look pretty cool!

    Oh and I am so ready for planting time too...though I am afraid right now I would have NO time with a new baby in the house! Good thing I have time to adjust!

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  13. I saw your adorable baby on your blog, Shawn Ann!!! That's what your garden will be good for. You don't have to change its diaper and it can't call you 'Mooooommmmmyyyyyyyyyyy'

    You know, I'm sure it could either replace the grid or you could use it for spacing within the grid. I'm probably going to use it within the grid.

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  14. Oh, Shawn Ann, if you (or anyone else for that matter)would like a set, email me at the address on the right sidebar. He's making a few sets for others now.

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  15. I keep wishing someone would make something like this out of a nice compostable material, inexpensively enough that you could lay it on the soil, plant through the holes, and then leave it there as mulch to help control weeds and moisture, and then just turn it into the soil when you pull the crop out and lay another one on top for the new crop.

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