Sq. Foot Garden Part II

[Schuetzenman]

Given the image saturation of the original post I thought I would start a second post on the topic to put progress photos in. I now have images of the mature green Poona Kheera Cuccumber. New images of the Chinese Long Mossaic Beans vs. normal Green Beans.

As it first looked.

As it was harvested.

Sliced open and ready to gather seeds.

Scoop out the seeds for fermentation.

Now I wait about 4 days for the mature seeds to break free from the jelly and sink to the bottom. The immature seeds will float to the top. Eventually you skim off the floating goo and pour off the water then dry the seeds on paper towel. Store seeds in paper envelop until ready to plant.

[Schuetzenman]

Chinese Long Mossaic Bean Flowers

A new bean immerges on the right.

A pair that are about 3 days old. Notice the Burgundy colored stripe down the spine of the beans.

The Leafs of the Chinese Long Bean variety, compare to the broader leaf shape of a more conventional Green Bean.

More conventional Green Bean we are all familiar with here in the US.

[Partisan1983]

Very nice. Thank you for sharing.

[American Rage]

Wow, what a green thumb. I'm not ready to garden yet, but I've been watching to see how my small backyard shadows at different times of the day. Just in case I should want to start my own garden.

[Schuetzenman]

Wow, what a green thumb. I'm not ready to garden yet, but I've been watching to see how my small backyard shadows at different times of the day. Just in case I should want to start my own garden.

Most crops like direct sunlight, meaning as many hours a day as they can get it. I do have some tree and house shade issues.


This bed being a rectangle the sun rises at the left back corner visible here and sets off the right front corner. So the sun's path is a diagonal slicing corner to corner. The Tomatoes on the back side catch morning sun and some afternoon sun but each side of the bed gets direct sun only about half of each day.

[O.S.O.K.]

Cool! I like the seed prep description. I'mlooking forward to getting our garden set-up here in MS.

[Partisan1983]

Very cool you guys!

[Schuetzenman]

A little boasting on this one. Just picked my 3rd batch of Green Pole Beans. Total harvest off of 16 plants so far is right at 3.5 LBS. collected over the last 2 weeks. This being my first time doing Pole Beans I'm not sure but I think this is pretty good output per plant. New flowers are appearing every day and as long as that happens, more beans to follow.

[slamfire51]

Very nice sq ft garden.
When did you plant? You have some yummy veggies there.

I went with bush beans so I wouldn't have to mess with making poles for pole beans.
I may plant poles next year.

Great gardening Don!!

[Schuetzenman]

Very nice sq ft garden.
When did you plant? You have some yummy veggies there.

I went with bush beans so I wouldn't have to mess with making poles for pole beans.
I may plant poles next year.

Great gardening Don!!

Thanks for the compliment on the garden patches!

I planted the 3rd weekend in March. I had intended to do the planting 2 weeks earlier but that's the week my wife decided to go and break her leg. (Horse riding incident). On Bush vs. Pole beans, tried bush type last year before I built these beds. They did not do well and I also got a feel for bending over to search for the beans. The thing that's nice about the pole beans is you get to pick 98% of them standing up vs. being stooped over. In a Square foot garden ground level is limited, but poles get to go up on the Trelises I built, essentially expanding the garden capacity greatly. The Trelis is 4' x 8' or 32 sq. feet. The 4' x 8' be is 32 sq. feet, so each trelis gives me the surface area equal to the entire bed for plants to grow and spread out on. At ground level they use 4 sq. feet to hold 16 plants, 4 per each sq. foot space.

Oh and tonight I picked another 1/4 lb. of beans off the vines. I put these small harvests in a 1 gal. zip lock freezer bag and in the deep freezer, its nearly full!

[slamfire51]

Thanks for the compliment on the garden patches!

I planted the 3rd weekend in March. I had intended to do the planting 2 weeks earlier but that's the week my wife decided to go and break her leg. (Horse riding incident). On Bush vs. Pole beans, tried bush type last year before I built these beds. They did not do well and I also got a feel for bending over to search for the beans. The thing that's nice about the pole beans is you get to pick 98% of them standing up vs. being stooped over. In a Square foot garden ground level is limited, but poles get to go up on the Trelises I built, essentially expanding the garden capacity greatly. The Trelis is 4' x 8' or 32 sq. feet. The 4' x 8' be is 32 sq. feet, so each trelis gives me the surface area equal to the entire bed for plants to grow and spread out on. At ground level they use 4 sq. feet to hold 16 plants, 4 per each sq. foot space.

Oh and tonight I picked another 1/4 lb. of beans off the vines. I put these small harvests in a 1 gal. zip lock freezer bag and in the deep freezer, its nearly full!

Are you blanching the beans before freezing?

[Schuetzenman]

Are you blanching the beans before freezing?

No, I hadn't been. What's that do for them?

[slamfire51]

No, I hadn't been. What's that do for them?

Prevents damage to the structure of the veggie from the freezing.
Do some research on freezing fresh foods for more info.

[Schuetzenman]

Prevents damage to the structure of the veggie from the freezing.
Do some research on freezing fresh foods for more info.

Hummm ... I will have to go research that. I wonder how lightly boiling prevents damage? UPDATE: E-How says this. "Blanch the vegetables. This process helps to keep the vegetables' natural flavors in while stopping enzymes from acting on them.

Read more: How to Freeze Fresh Vegetables" | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2302765_free...#ixzz1wslM5BjT

[Schuetzenman]

First really big pair of Chinese Mossaic Long Beans. Notice the subtle green striping, almost makes it look like fur in a way. These are at 13.75" of length, I'm trying to see just how long they will get. It is said they can reach 18" in length.


Probing around I found this Carrot, it is bigger than a quarter in diameter. Going to watch this one and see how big it can get.


This is 2 of the square foot cells filled with young Romain Lettuce. I am going to have to thin them this weekend to let the remaining heads develop to full size.

[slamfire51]

Don, you're garden is looking fantastic!!

[Schuetzenman]

Don, you're garden is looking fantastic!!

Thanks! As soon as the tassels come out I'm going to post the corn photos. Stalks are nearly 7 feet and leaves put the plants at well over 8 feet for some of them.