Re: Square Foot Gardening

family-crone -- we have the same problem as you growing broccoli, cauliflower and other cool season crops. Spring is just too short and unpredictable. We've had a little more success growing peas, but the plants usually wither as soon as it starts getting hot -- we can usually only grow them through June. Is there a particular variety of peas or are there particular growing techniques that you have had success with? It sounds like we live in similar climates (I'm in zone 6 -- close to zone 5). Warm season crops are no problem -- tomatoes, etc. do great.

If you're having trouble growing corn, you might try planting it together with pole beans. The cornstalks act as a trellis for the beans, allowing you to grow two plants in the same 1 ft. X 1 ft. space. The beans take nitrogen from the air, and symbiotic bacteria in the soil converts it to a form that can be absorbed by the corn plants. The corn, in turn, oozes special sugars from its roots that feeds these "nitrogen-fixing" bacteria. Native Americans in the southwest would traditionally plant corn, beans and squash together (the squash leaves cover the ground, keeping moisture in and weeds out). You can leave the sqaush out of the triad and still get good results in the square foot system.

Corn is wind pollinated, so you need to plant several plants close together for it grow properly. Like you, we have 4 ft. X 8 ft. beds. We've been able to grow corn by planting half of of one entire bed with corn and beans. We put three or four kernals of corn into a hole in the center of each square foot growing area. After the corn sprouts, we mound up some soil around the sprouts, being careful not to cover them. About two weeks after planting the corn, we plant two or three pole bean seeds in each corn mound. This method deviates a little from the principle of planting different things in adjacent squares, but it works well.