So I'm planning a garden, my first ever, with the help of this:All New Square Foot Gardening Grow More in Less Space!.

I don't want to go overboard and plant a bunch of stuff I'll kill, so I want to start easy.

It's still early now, so I can't get too overeager. I'm thinking spinach, carrots, and radishes for now. Then come summer I'll move to a "salsa garden" with tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic and cilantro.

Cilantro, blech. It's a foul weed.

Dudes! I was thinking of two or three different types of cilantro! Does it grow tall?



Cilantro haters. You know you carry that on a gene, right?

Sally wrote: "So I'm planning a garden, my first ever, with the help of this:All New Square Foot Gardening Grow More in Less Space!.

I don't want to go overboard and plant a bunch of stuff I'll..."

Those will all be fairly easy Sally, that is usually what we have in our garden, except the radishes. This year we are also going to have broccoli and cauliflower.

On a side note You usually don't plant garlic till late fall, and then harvest it the next summer.

Is Cilantro one of those spreading things, too?

When do you switch to a summer garden, Sally? How long is the growing season in CO?

It's super short. Just about 3 1/2 months (late May to Sept).

I'll switch when it starts getting hot, late June.

Cilantro doesn't spread, it just doesnt' taste good to some people.

Good to know about the garlic, Jim. I'll probably be all out of garden gusto by then, too.

I have tried to like cilantro, but it's not happening. I prefer green onion in my burritos. I think you should grow those, Sally!

Can you grow Cumin in Colorado? It would make a nice addition to the salsa garden.

Oooo - I've never had fresh cumin before. I love to cook with it, though.

Jackie, I WILL try some green onion. I can do that!

We put no effort into our rosemary bush, but yield great rewards. I don't know how easy it is to start though, since it came with the house.

Onions do seem easy - we get them whether we plant them or not.

The rainbow chard that I planted last year survived the viney weeds that killed the spinach and peppers.

Have you seen those commercials for the hanging baskets that grow tomato plants upside down? To me it seems like one of those silly commercials that is actually a wicked cool idea.

I was thinking about chard, Sarah 352, I'll see if I can find the rainbow kind.

Matt, I'd like to try to hang the whole garden upside down and set up hydroponic tubing. Maybe the neighbors would mind.

Chard is easy/fast to grow.

I have gardened in Colorado. Grow short season tomatoes - cherry, plum, don't try to grow the big beefsteaks unless you put them in pots and bring them in at night. Otherwise you will be very very frustrated because the first snow always arrives just as the first tomatoes are showing streaks of red.

Herbs do superb in CO because they most of them like sandy mineral rich fast draining soil. Which is what you've got in abundance.

That's a lot of adjectives for dirt.

In square foot gardening don't you make your own dirt out of peat and vermiculite?

Yes, and lots of manure.

Composted, I hope.

No, we just go sit out there every morning with coffee in hand.

Lovely. :) Very Asian.

Sally wrote: "No, we just go sit out there every morning with coffee in hand."

I'm sure I could have went the whole year without that visual.

Make sure your wok is very hot when you cook your veggies.

Gardening is all about dirt.

The woman who wrote lasagne gardening lived two valleys west of me when she wrote it.

And the dirt has to be alive.

Yeah man, live dirt!! You should see my compost heap. I'm just turning it right now. Ooh I should go take a pic.

I'm trying to talk Sweeter into a compost heap. does it take years to build enough to use, Bun?

If you do it right, it won't take long at all. You have to turn it frequently to get air in there. Aerobic bacteria are your friends.

Larry wrote: "If you do it right, it won't take long at all. You have to turn it frequently to get air in there. Aerobic bacteria are your friends."

Could you sink pipes down into the heap's interior instead of turning it?

Dan wrote: "Could you sink pipes down into the heap's interior instead of turning it? "

Well, if you're lazy.

No, I'm kidding. That might work. I don't know. Compost bins with holes all around them help.

Nah it doesn't take that long. Depends on how often you turn it. If you turn it often you can get good compost in a few months.

Me I don't want to fuss with it so I just make an enclosure with chicken wire fence, build it up in layers and after about a year I start a new heap and start using the compost from the old one. When the old one is gone, the new one is about ready, set up a heap on the site of the new one, and round we go again.

If Sweeter is fussy look into a tumbler. Fast, clean, nobody has to see compost.

Such as chicken wire. :)

Sweet. That sounds do-able. Where's this picture of your pile?

(tee hee)

I have a few mint plants (orange mint, spearmint, chocolate mint! Several hybrid varieties smell heavenly in addition to the more traditional mint plants.

Here you go Sally,

The Heap.

Pile.

Stack.

We had chocolate mint and spearmint. We were warned they would take over, but thus far they haven't.

In this area you need sealed compost or you get rats...
someday...

Hillock.

Also I completely agree with those who say that cilantro tastes like soap. I guess I got the gene.

Sarah, I once grew mint in my garden. Never again! Nor oregano. Took me years to finally clear out what turned out to be quite invasive and choking. I was so fed up it took me a few years to even want them again. Now they are in pots. Phew!

Bun - guess what I found taking over my compost? Yep. My personal nemesis. Bindweed. Kill! Kill! Kill! It defies all notion of death.

Sally, have fun with your garden!

Woot!

Looks great!

Wonderful, Sally! I love the square design.

Lotsa work went into that!

Very nice looking garden, Sally. I am envious! I miss gardening so much.

Woot woot!

Sally, wow, you sure accomplished alot!

We finished the rock ground cover about 2 hours later. phew!

Good job, Sally! It looks great!