Square Foot Gardening — Week 8

A couple of things have been slowing me in the garden this week.

The first was the insanely hot weather that killed some of the leafy crops (despite being watered every day). I think it reached either 100 or very close to it, and for some of the crops this was damaging.

The other nuisance are the squirrels. They run around our power lines and fence lines carrying nuts all day long. It’s not enough for them to eat these nuts, they actually come into my boxes and dig them up to store their nuts inside. This has damaged some of my soil and has bothered me greatly. I have since put in some fox urine packets on the fence posts. This did a bit in the way of dissuading them from getting in, but not completely. Today I bought ground-pepper-smelling natural pellets to put around the perimeters of the boxes (can’t sacrifice the quality of the food inside) and hope those will keep the bastards out. If this doesn’t work, I think the next step will be bb guns… I’ve had it and I’m really frustrated!

I also finally took the time to weed some of the dead leaves and stems to free up space in some of the messy boxes. Lots had wilted.

As for watering, we got a nice head for the hose that distributes water very gently (finally found a good one) and it not only makes water quicker now, but also easier as it can reach into places none of my other tools can.

Maybe it’s time to build some more boxes…

Box 1

Tomatoes

Box 2

Eggplants and bell peppers

Box 3

Green beans and beets

Box 4

Swiss chard, lettuce and mesculun

Box 5

Chives, basil, onions, cucumber, artichoke, bell peppers and cowpeas