Watch My Food Grow ~ A South Florida Raised Vegetable Garden

My father-in-law, Devon, was kind enough to send me a copy of All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.

I have heard of this book before but didn’t realize it was so darn popular. Everyone seems to have heard about Square Foot Gardening. In fact if everyone who bought or read his book had a garden, we’d all be self-sufficient.

Mini Book Review for Square Foot Gardening

The book is easy to read and even easier to scan. I really like his methods because they are completely mechanical. Follow his instructions exactly and plants will pop out of the ground like gangbusters, I’m sure.

If you have never grow vegetables before, this might be a nice way to get started. There is no lack of specific instruction in the book. In many ways, I wish I had started with his system. Then again, I have more than 40 square feet of garden and am finding it not enough.

One warning: no one can seem to find his secret sauce, vermiculite, locally. (Check the Amazon reviews for details and alternatives.) If you are serious about following his book, make sure you can find vermiculite.

New Palm Beach County Gardeners Wanted

I’m too far along this season to try the Mel’s square foot gardening methods but I’d like to find someone locally who would like to embrace his book. So, anyone want to be my test subject?

I’d prefer someone in the Palm Beach Gardens area so I could easily take pictures of your backyard square foot vegetable garden on a regular basis. Still, I’ll take just about anyone or a bunch of anyones. Comment below, if you are interested.

—Farmer Matt

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Don’t be frontin’. You know you like the Pussycat Dolls and strawberries.

—Farmer Matt

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Look at that cucumber grow!

While attending the South Florida Fair last month, I stopped by the Broward County Farm Bureau booth. They were giving away free packages of cucumber seeds.

When starting my garden, I got actual plants, not seeds. So, the cucumbers are the first thing I have ever planted and grown from seed.

Vegetable Seeds Like Little Bits of Magic

I planted the seeds last Sunday and by Friday — just five days later — there were sprouts. Can you believe it?

Who knew seeds would actually turn into plants? I mean, I guess I always sorta thought they might but to see it happening is pretty darn cool.

Other Vegetables Growing from Seed

In addition to the cucumbers, I have snap beans (courtesy of my best buddy Tim at Art by Nature Garden Center) and watermelon growing from seeds. The snap beans are just beginning to pop their heads above the dirt. Of the six watermelon clusters I planted, only one has broken ground but I imagine that is to be expected.

If this works out, I may consider adding more. My father is remodeling his backyard shed and it looks as though he is going to have a fair amount of plywood leftover. If that is the case, my garden will grow even larger.

—Farmer Matt

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