Adam’s not only a great cook, and a pretty funny guy, but he’s got a green thumb in the garden.  I guess if I started gardening as a tolder, I’d be pretty good by now too. According to his lovely wife Tara, Adam ’s got a knack for gardening in one of the ‘geekiest ways.’  When Adam’s not enjoying the outdoors, he’s either in the kitchen or in the garden (or so I’m guessing).  Learning about Adam’s square foot gardening tactics was so intriguing that I’ve asked him to share some of his knowledge.  Take it over, Adam:

1.What was your first experience with gardening? The picture included really sums it up.  At an early age I loved playing in dirt and messing with my mother’s house plants.  I think my first memories of gardening come from growing beans in a paper cup at around age 3.

2. What kind of crops/plants do you grow? Fruits and vegetables that can handle the temperate and erratic climate of the foothills of the Rockies.  I always try to get at least two crops in per growing season: a cool weather crop and a warm weather crop.

The cool weather crops can generally withstand cool if not cold spring or fall conditions.  I’ve even had these varieties get snowed on and they still survive!  My favorite cool weather crops include: lettuces, radishes, beets, spinach, greens (collard, kale), cilantro, snap peas, snow peas, parsley, carrot, chives, shallots, and garlic.  Most of these can go into the ground well before the last frost.  I usually shoot for a warm day in March or early April, when the soil is at least temporarily thawed, to seed these varieties straight into the garden bed.

My favorite warm weather crops include:  Tomatoes!, eggplant, peppers, summer squash, winter squash, tomatillos, cucumbers, basil, and potatoes.  Many warm weather crops do poorly if seeded outdoors as they simply do not have enough time to grow before the autumn frost.  It is best to jump start those plants by either seeding indoors or by purchasing large healthy starters at the nursery.  Squash do well straight into the ground after the last frost.  Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant seem to work best if bought as starter plants.  Cucumbers and melons I prefer to start indoors in peat pots.

Warm weather crops are much more sensitive to cool weather.  Unless you have a brightly lit indoor area, a greenhouse, cold frame, or a Wall O Water you should hold off on planting warm weather varieties until after your region’s last frost.  Warm weather plants will quickly die if they get too cold.  Here’s a link to Victory Seed Company’s First and Last Frost by Region. For the Denver area it is around Mother’s Day.

3. What is square foot gardening? Does it make a difference? I loved watching PBS growing up.  There was a gardening show called the Square Foot Garden.  I particularly remember the host, Mel Barthalamew, a jolly Amish-looking gent.  Square Foot Gardening was Mel’s brainchild and is a method for high density gardening.  This approach is particularly useful for people with limited garden space or for those looking to spend less time weeding, watering, and maintaining a garden.  Mel even published his own book and has a website with more information.
SFG does make a difference and I encourage people to try it out.

4. What soil mix is best for raised bed gardens? Does soil differ depending on climate and location?  In Colorado we have a lot of clay which is particularly useless for growing healthy vegetables.  A few regions in the US have great soil and weather for vegetable gardening but most people will not be so lucky.

Your soil mix is one of the most important elements in preparing your growing beds.  So in Colorado I just recommend removing what nature put there and replacing it with your own mix.  Often times what your decide to put into your mix depends on budget, time, and availability.  I like the bulk of the material to be 1 part compost (homemade or purchased), 1 part peat (spagnum) moss, 1 part aged manure, and 1/2 part vermiculite or perlite.  Thoroughly mix these components together with a cup of bone meal, a cup of blood meal, and a cup of fireplace ash.

Vermiculite and perlite (both expanded rock) tend to be hard to find and can be pricey.  They both work great to improve drainage, loosen and aerate soil while holding in moisture and nutrients.  If you can’t find it just skip it or use some gardening sand (not nearly as good) instead.

related link:  http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07235.html

5. Do higher quality seeds really make a difference? Measuring quality of a seed pack is pretty difficult to do before you actually grow the seeds.  There are seed packets with high price tags and pretty hand drawn pictures but that really doesn’t have anything to do with quality.  My recommendation is to buy seed packets dated for the current growing season and to ensure that package looks undamaged.  What matters more is how the vendor stores those seeds.  If they are exposed to moisture or heat they may be of poor quality.

6.  How do you store seeds? Generally speaking do not get seeds wet or hot while in storage.  I prefer to keep them in a sealed bag or container in the refrigerator.  This will allow you to use the same seeds for multiple growing seasons.  Most seeds will store well this way for two to three years.  I have found that lettuce seeds do not store over the years well.  In other words, significantly less seeds will germinate in year two or three than the first year you planted from that seed pack.  You should probably just buy a fresh pack of lettuce seeds every year or at least plant more seed than you might normally.

7. What are good crops to grow for Colorado’s climate? Colorado has cool, wet springs and hot, dry summers which is pretty annoying to the vegetable gardener.  Cool weather crops like lettuce and radish will do great if you get them going early enough but by the time late June’s heat and lack of humidity come along they will require intensive watering and may even stop producing edible leaves.  I found that Collards and Kale are cool weather crops that also do very well during the summer months.  Other excellent crops are raspberries, onions, garlic, chives, shallots, tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, and squash.

8.What was the most difficult thing for you to grow? I have had particular problems growing peppers, eggplant, and okra.  These plants require steady warm temperatures or they will drop their flowers and/or fruit or not grow.  Depending on your Colorado micro-climate these plants may work great for you or may never get enough heat to be productive.

Another tough one in Colorado can be squash.   They like moisture and heat but what also makes them tricky is that they require bees for cross-pollination from the male flowers over to the female flowers.  I noticed this happening year after year.  What happens is that lots of flowers appear and the female flower even produces a small unpollinated squash.  If it never gets cross-pollinated the baby squash shrivels up and dies.  I have even gone so far as to use a small paint brush to collect pollen and then brush into the female flower.  This forced pollination is pretty much not worth it as the female flower is only receptive in the morning hours for just a day or two.

The best way to increase your chances of a productive squash harvest is to plant lots of ornamental flowers near your squash plants.  These flowers will hopefully attract a regular attendance of bees to your garden and you will get more squash than you can eat!  If you are not getting any bees or have too much squash you can also eat the flowers raw, stuffed, battered and fried.

9.Can you share any composting tips for beginners? Composting is a must for many reasons.  It is a great way to reduce your burden on the garbage collection system and it provides you with a source of trustworthy compost.  You can compost any plant matter that comes from your kitchen or yard.  This mostly includes fruit and vegetable scraps and some paper, like coffee filters or the occasional paper towel.  Egg shells are also good.  I do not recommend disposing of cooking oils, dairy, or meat scraps into your compost as they will adversely affect the composition of the compost and attract animals.  Other materials that will compost well include leaves, grass clippings, and some fireplace ash.  In general, it is good to keep your compost wet; spraying with a hose works well.  Mechanical action is good for mixing and physically breaking down the material; turning it with a pitch fork or shovel once or twice a year at minimum is recommended.

As a matter of logistics you will want to set up your primary composting area near your garden and away from your home if possible. This can be a simple heap, a specially made composting bin, or some chicken wire and stakes making a breathable “pen.”  A secondary bin is also nice to have which I keep under my kitchen sink.  This is a small container that is good for holding a couple days worth of kitchen scraps before emptying on the heap outside.  These small composting containers are easy to get at most garden and kitchen supply stores.  They often times have a sealable top or even a breathable activated carbon filter top to prevent pungent aromas.  Just make sure you empty and wash these in-house containers often as fruit flies will make it their home!

10. Do different plants take different watering amounts?  Do you use fertilizer? Different plants do require different amounts of water.  The best way to tell is by feeling the soil around the plant and to look at the leaves of the plant.  The leaves will look limp if under-watered.  If you live in a dry place like Colorado you are probably in a situation where you can’t keep up with the watering.  Over-watering is probably the least of your worries.  A layer of mulch applied to the area around each plant will help to keep in moisture while providing a natural slow acting fertilizer.  Grass clippings work especially well.

I am not a fan of artificial fertilizers as they release too quickly and have several detriments.  They can improve yield but often times the food tastes like fertilizer or even watered down.  It is also easy to over-fertilize with these products which can actually damage or kill your plants.  There are organic/natural fertilizers that are more mild (slow releasing) and very good.  Compost is the best high volume fertilizer you can use.  Manure, whether steer, goat, sheep, or horse is great too.  I also like using bone meal (for Phosphorus and Calcium) and blood meal ( for Nitrogen) which are commercially available, relatively natural, and slowly release their nutrients to the plant.  Fireplace ash is a great source of potassium and will also buffer acidic soils making them more alkaline.  A mulch of grass clippings is another great source of slow-releasing nitrogen and also has the added benefit of preventing weeda growth and keeping moisture in the soil.

11.   What do you hope to master this gardening season? I have goals to successfully grow Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, and Cauliflower.  All are new ones to my list and I think they should do well here in Colorado.  I am most excited about growing Luffa, a type of gourd that can be eaten young like a summer squash. At maturity it grows fibrous and inedible but can then be used as a natural sponge.  Most people have probably seen or used one of these sponges before and thought they came from the ocean.

To half avoid, half answer the question, I don’t think I’ll master anything in the garden this year.  I consider gardening to be a magnificent and chaotic process in a poorly controlled multivariate experiment.  Every year has different weather, pests, weeds, seeds and different amounts of time that I can devote to gardening.

Thanks for sharing, Adam.  Now I’m off to the garden to see if I have a green thumb.