Montana Green Bean

Purchased from: Fisher's Garden Store for $3.60
Type: Green Bean
Growth: Bush

This, unlike the past few posts, was one of my great successes from last year, and I've talked about it previously.  Seriously.  This green bean is going to be a yearly addition to my garden because it is amazing- and it's really well-suited to Montana, though I imagine, of course, it will do well elsewhere, too.  Homegrown green beans are amazing anyway, but I really enjoy this variety and it was easy to grow and surprisingly productive even after I had determined the plants must be 'on their way out.'  The darned things produced all season!  And I only planted two blocks- I think I could have been happy with an entire bed full of these wonderful beans.  This year I'm definitely planting more.

Beans do pretty well in square foot gardening, but I will say that the bush type do have a bit of an issue with crowding.  This did not seem to affect my harvest at all, but it did make me think that the plants were on their way out when they were still quite productive- which is why I'm glad I did not just rip them up like I initially planned.  If this is something you worry about, you could do only 4 plants per square foot instead of 9- but if you don't care how it looks and you are willing to maul the plants a bit to get to the good stuff, don't sweat it.

These were a perfect example of why Square Foot Gardening is really only suited for small levels of production, though.  It was way harder to get in there and pick the beans than it ever was when I picked beans from my grandfather's rows.

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Lemon Cucumber

Purchased from:  Fisher's Garden Store for $2.25
Type: Cucumber
Growth: Vining

This is another leftover from last year that I didn't have much luck with, mostly because I think my cucumbers ended up being shaded out and were never able to get going.  I'm going to plant some at the house this year as well as at the garden, so hopefully between those two places I will have at least one area that gets enough sun to produce.  There were some of these cucumbers planted in one of the public beds, so it wasn't a complete disaster- that was a pleasant surprise!

"Lemon" cucumbers are called such not because they taste like lemon, but because of their shape and color, which is small, round, and yellow.  They taste just like a regular, mild cucumber- but the shape makes them more fun because the slices are bigger, so if you wanted to do sandwiches or something they could be larger, etc.

I love cucumbers just raw and sliced with a little bit of italian salad dressing.  Sadly, my stomach doesn't love me as much for eating them this way, but if I moderate that, it should be OK.  I'm looking forward to having some of my own homegrown cucumbers this summer to eat raw and possibly make fridge pickles with.

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Jackpot Hybrid Zucchini

Purchased from: Fisher's Garden Store for $2.95
Type: Summer Squash
Growth: Bush

All jokes about locking your doors during zucchini season aside, I love this stuff.  I still have some shredded and frozen from last season, and I didn't even grow my own!  As such, I'm only going to be growing a single bush, but that's going to take up a good chunk of one of my beds, so one is more than enough.

Zucchini (and summer squash in general) is one of those things that I do enjoy eating, but I grow mostly because it is satisfying.  There's not really a way to screw up here- except maybe planting too late, like I did last year.  But in general, summer squash will take off on its own and before you know it, you're having to dive in every day to harvest the fruits before they get too big to eat, and even then you're going to miss one and the next thing you know you have a giant 3-foot zucchini and after you pick that sucker you do like 5 loaves of zucchini bread because despite the name, the main ingredient isn't zucchini, so you always have leftover.

Not that I'm speaking from experience, or anything.  *shifty eyes*

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Green Goliath Broccoli

Purchased From: Fisher's Garden Store for $2.65
Type: Broccoli

Broccoli is my favorite vegetable, and it's also one that I've had no success whatsoever actually getting to grow.  I think I have a block from childhood, because my mother declared that we wouldn't grow it in our garden because it was "difficult."  I've had to overcome a few of those types of things, mostly related to crafts rather than gardening, but I'm determined to someday get broccoli to actually grow.  Maybe this year will be the one?

There's always lots of talk on the broccoli packet about getting a second crop, but I don't really know if we have the kind of weather to allow for that- brassicas in general (broccoli being no exception) enjoy it a bit cooler, and the hot hot summer weather that we get here can be a bit of a downer.  Since our spring and fall aren't really mild and long, that puts another damper on things.  We're one of those climates that people describe as "Almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction."

I have these started in my seed flat, though they're not germinating very quickly.  Hopefully they'll be ready to go by time I get the early plantings in, though!

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Fisher's Earliest Sweet Corn

Purchased From: Fisher's Garden Store for $6.50
Type: Sweet Corn

Yet another leftover from last year.  The thing about Square Foot Gardening?  You don't use nearly the entire package of seeds, and if you don't have a ton of people to share with, you are definitely going to have overlap.  The good news there is that you can usually get 2-3 years out of a packet of seeds.  Each year will have a lower germination rate, as the seeds become less viable, but you generally get a good rate for a couple years in my experience.  The only important thing to do is to keep the seeds someplace dry, cool, and dark.  I've even seen people keep seeds in their own freezer!  Definitely make sure that the packets and seeds themselves are completely dry if you do this though- and put them in an airtight container that won't let any moisture in.  Your mileage may vary with that method, but it can extend viability for some things.

I did not have a lot of luck with this one last year- I think it got a bit of a late start, and it started to form ears when the corn plants were kind of stunted.  I think this may have been due to my attempt at three sisters- this year I won't be doing that.  Just corn.  And I'm going to see if starting earlier under a row cover helps at all.

In general, Corn isn't terribly well-suited to square foot gardening, but I know it's possible to do, since there were a couple people last year who had a decent fruiting.  Since corn is wind-pollinated, it can also be a bit of a hassle when you have so much growing close together to get full pollination.  A vigorous shaking of each plant when the tassles at the top of the plant have formed and silks are starting to peek out of the immature ears can be really helpful for that.

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Dwarf Gray Sugar Snow Peas

Purchased From: Fisher's Garden Store for $2.60
Type: Snow Pea
Growth: Dwarf Vining

So, these are the peas I tried to grow last year.  They did not really work out.  I think I planted them a bit late, and that the bunnies at the community garden decided that the shoots tasted quite nummy.  Because they were getting chewed down to the nibs.  I'm going to plant these midway through April, hopefully an earlier planting will result in a much better result this year.

These are the type of pea that supposedly can self-support, but I'm going to use a small trellis anyway, because I hate the point when the peas start falling over.  Plus I think a trellis will make the pea plants less of a mess, so picking peas will be easier.  I really hope this year works better, because I adore fresh peas.  And it's always so satisfying when something works out rather than not.  I'd hate to have another empty area in my garden this year.  I want the spot to be completely overgrown!

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Dwarf Blue Curled Kale

Purchased From:  Fisher's Garden Store (Catalog) $2.55
Type: Curly Kale

I grew this last year, and while I wish that Kale took up a bit less space, it was easy to grow, and of course tasty.  Well, the way I use kale- I make chips.  I'm not really a fan of bitter greens raw, and I didn't get a chance to let the kale sit through a hard frost to see if it sweetened up like I've been told- I will be growing some at the house this year for those purposes.  Yum!

Kale isn't terribly suited to square foot gardening, as you can only grow one bunch per square, but this one is a bit smaller so I may be able to squeeze 2 into the block this year- especially since my blocks are slightly bigger than they were last year, as I believe I mentioned in my first planning post.

It should be noted that I bought these from Fisher's Garden Store, which doesn't have its own website, but you can go to this post to find out how to get a catalog.  Once you make an order, you are on the mailing list for the following year as well, so if you buy from them every year (this year I've ordered seed potatoes), you'll not have to pay for the catalog again.  They really do have great customer service, since we're talking about that.

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own.