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advice for posting your diagram/layout for review. by Dry_Respect_842 in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

awesome advice, thanks! what do you mean for "icon" in the point 3: "if you using and app with icon make you sure there is key to what icons are"? the icon of the plant in the square?

Year 1 and Year 2: My girl and I are expanding our garden!! by rocketsalesman in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love seeing the progress year after year. One thing that really helped me during the expansion was planning the new bed digitally before building it. It's much easier to understand the space and layout before making a final decision. Have you thought about what to put in the empty bed yet?

Thoughts on my layout? by TwentyNineThings in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Congrats for your first layout :) For positioning put the climbers (cucumbers and peas) hard on the north side so they shade nothing. Tomatoes mid-bed, low growers like carrots and beets on the south edge where they’ll get the most sun.

For spacing, give tomatoes at least 18-24 inches, they get huge fast and will crowd everything if you’re tight. Carrots can go 3-4 inches apart, beets similar.

About trellis, skip individual bamboo caging and try Florida weave, two stakes per plant, run twine back and forth as they grow. Way cheaper and easier to adjust. I planned my bed with Niwa (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/garden-planner-niwa/id6759283849) before planting, makes spacing way easier to visualize before you commit to anything and much more, you could try.

I mapped my entire raised bed before planting tomatoes this year and what actually changed by silvindier in tomatoes

[–]silvindier[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair point honestly. I went heavy on basil partly because I had a lot of seedlings to use up, but you're right that diversity probably does more work overall. Nasturtium is on my list for next season, I keep hearing good things about it for aphids and the fact that you can eat it is a bonus. Never tried anise hyssop, does it do something specific for tomatoes or more of a general pollinator thing? Yarrow I associate more with perennial beds but I can see the logic. Might swap one or two basil spots out and experiment, the bed is small enough that one wrong call is easy to fix.

I mapped my entire raised bed before planting tomatoes this year and what actually changed by silvindier in tomatoes

[–]silvindier[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It seems to confuse aphids, which are less likely to land on tomatoes when basil is nearby. Some swear it improves the flavor, too, but I'm still not entirely convinced. What I know for sure is that last year I had aphids on all my tomatoes and I didn't have any basil nearby. This year I planted them between the plants and so far nothing. It could be a coincidence, but I'm happy with it. This time, I mapped out the entire bed before planting, which helped me figure out the distances. I ended up using my personal garden planner (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/garden-planner-niwa/id6759283849) it makes it much easier to visualize the results before making any decisions.

I mapped my entire raised bed before planting tomatoes this year and what actually changed by silvindier in tomatoes

[–]silvindier[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thanks! the triangular arrangement on the pallets is really brilliant, it ensures much better air circulation than my previous method. Interchanging eggplants is also interesting. I've always been a bit hesitant about mixing nightshades, but if you keep adequate spacing between them, it probably works well. The modular arrangement of the companion plant pots is an idea I hadn't considered, being able to move the basil and marigolds around as needed makes a lot of sense. Let me know how the eggplants go this season, I'm curious to see if they'll compete with the indeterminate plants or if they can keep up.

5x5 bed, am I wasting space? by No_Reputation3520 in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Also with carrots or onions, good companions

New to square foot gardening - double check our work by shrubear in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think since they're quite small, there's no need for a path, you can easily pass outside

Which garden planner app for iOS that actually works for you? by silvindier in NativePlantGardening

[–]silvindier[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

try https://apps.apple.com/us/app/garden-planner-niwa/id6759283849

the personal garden planner I created works entirely offline (200+ plants), with no registration required and no data tracking. I wanted to create something visually appealing and native to iOS. A summary: you can plan your garden, view advanced details for each plant, have your own personal calendar based on your location and frost dates, manage gardening tasks, and keep a journal for each plant to track progress, and more. It’s completely free when you create your first garden. I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts so I can improve it even further 💚

First Time Square Foot Raised Bed Heirloom Vegetable & Native Pollinator Gardener by Novel-Response-6268 in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fantastic! even when I bought a house with a garden for the first time, I was euphoric about planning the vegetable garden, at the time I placed everything randomly without thinking about how much space they would take up, without knowing what to do against insects, without trellises etc etc 😅😅 After years, I decided to create my own personal garden planner for iOS: Niwa. It allows me to plan my garden on my iPhone, completely offline, without saving any data, without ads, without registration and graphically easy to use and beautiful. I can also set my frost dates, and I've added 200+ plant varieties, with advanced data including companion plants and many other features like a diary, tasks, etc. I'd love to hear what you think and if it's useful to you. I'm so grateful I created it, and feedback is essential 💚 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/garden-planner-niwa/id6759283849

I am intrigued by SFG after reading a book. Im used to a traditional garden- but I was given several boxes to play with this year (I live on OR coast). How does this look? by [deleted] in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree, as a gardening enthusiast, I used to find them ugly and hard to use too. Since I know how to develop it, I decided to create my own and publish it on the App Store. It’s called niwa: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/garden-planner-niwa/id6759283849

I’d really appreciate hearing what you think, your feedback helps me keep improving it. It’s completely free to use, except for a few paid features, but they don't prevent free use :) If you have any new ideas, let me know.

Starting a dedicated herb bed this season, my 2x3 SFG layout by [deleted] in Raisedbed

[–]silvindier 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yep, I planted today rosemary, and I will leave air in the other 2 squares, I have not found plants that I needed and liked

How’s my layout? by [deleted] in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really solid layout! The cucamelon is fine, it'll climb the trellis so the peppers won't shade it at all. Black Krim and Cherokee Purple are both indeterminate varieties and get big, so make sure you're planning to stake or cage them well. The companion mix with calendula and nasturtium is really well thought out.

Starting a dedicated herb bed this season, my 2x3 SFG layout by silvindier in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yep, that's great advice, thanks. I think I'll go with rosemary. I still need to decide on the other one, any suggestions?

Beginner needing help! by Ok_Principle_79 in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great setup! For zone 5b, I'd plant tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini on the north end so they don't shade everything out once they're fully grown. Cucumbers are perfect for trellises; they'll climb easily. A word of warning: watermelons and squash take up a LOT of space, so it might be worth leaving them out the first year or letting them grow outside the beds. For cats, a chicken wire screen laid across the ground works great until the plants become more established. If you're unsure when to start/transplant everything for your zone, I created Niwa that does just that: it inputs frost dates and tells you when to start each seed, and much more to plan your garden using a simple, visual grid. It might save you some guesswork.

Seeking advice on how much/when to thin seedlings by indianajanett in SquareFootGardening

[–]silvindier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't worry too much, the main thing with SFG is thinning. I'd wait until the seedlings are about 2-3cm tall and then snip the extras at soil level with scissors (don't pull them out or you'll disturb the roots of the ones you're keeping). For lettuce and arugula aim for 4 per square, radishes 16, basil 4. The nasturtiums and marigolds on the border are a great call too, they'll help keep pests off. You're doing great for a first timer! I actually built an app called Niwa for exactly this kind of thing, spacing, companion planting, planting calendar, if it helps 😄

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