So now I have to start all over methinks

[Horse with no Name]

I had an extended stay in the hospital...I got home and my tomato seedlings that were big and strong and healthy are now drooping and spindly.
I don't think they are salvageable...so I guess I will pluck them and restart them.:(
The peppers however...seemed to weather my absence just fine.:)
My problem however is...that I feel that I have aged 10 years in the last 2 weeks and my plans for my big glorious garden are pretty much gone to pot...I think I may try some square foot gardening in my courtyard off of my dining room...that is probably going to be the only thing I can muster in the next few weeks.
My question is that for square foot gardening...do you have to get rid of the grass under your boxes? Or do you use a tarp to cover?
What will be the easiest way to do this?

[K8-EEE]

1. Oh dear!!!

Oh I hope you are feeling better!

Well I did loosen/amend about 6 inches under the box for the best drainage but honestly that was pretty hard physical work and if I was just home from the hospital I don't think I'd be up for THAT!

Maybe the best thing is just skip that part & plant things that with shallow roots and just worry about keeping the top couple of inches from drying out, I'm sure you can grow lots of herbs and seasonal things without too much stress.

I've seen where people set up SFG on roofs, on pool decks, patios so I'm sure it's pretty situational.

Good luck!

[Horse with no Name]

7. Thank you!

Right now I am not so much rooting for feeling better as I am for not feeling worse,lol.
Had a talk with my doc today and he asked me to just try to work through it...the only alternative is to take me off the medicine that makes me feel so lousy and then we are talking worse things...so...here is to not feeling worse!

[chelaque liberal]

2. Why don't you try smothering it with something like newspaper?

That would eventually biodegrade and water would drain. Lasagna gardening - check this out: http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm

[Horse with no Name]

8. Thanks for this!

Definitely something that might work.

[knitter4democracy]

3. The book says to just put weed cover down.

That's it. Much easier, too. That's what I'm planning to do.

I'm so sorry you're not feeling well. Health crap is really hard to deal with. I had surgery a year and a half ago, and I'm still dealing with the fallout. :hug: Just do what you can, and maybe you can get someone to help out?

[hippywife]

4. The book does say

to remove grass and weeds. I just had this discussion with the DH yesterday and looked it up in the book because he didn't do that and there was grass starting to grow through the cheap weed barrier he laid down. My remedy has been to lay cedar mulch over the rest of the area around the boxes and I laid cardboard and paper grocery sacks inside the boxes. I'm hoping for the best.

[Horse with no Name]

9. Thanks!

I remember when you had surgery...I am sorry you still aren't 100%.
:hug: backatcha.

[knitter4democracy]

14. Stupid surgery.

You know, I wish the surgeon had told me a bit more before going in. He didn't tell me until afterwards, when I asked why it was taking me so long to recover, that the kind of kidney surgery I ended up having is one of the biggest you can get. Um, yeah, I wish I'd known that going in. Grr.

Health crap sucks, ya know? :hug: I hope you get better soon, too.

Oh, hey, you could call the local middle school's guidance office and see if you could get a couple of kids to help with putting everything together and getting the ground ready for the box. My mom used to do that when she needed help around the house.

[hippywife]

5. It's really hard to find the energy

even under the best of circumstances. Maybe since you are just going to do a little bit, you can put a plywood bottom on the box just for this year. :hi:

[Horse with no Name]

10. ooo will that work?

I went out today and kind of scoped out my new area...I had a couple of really prime areas picked out for the fabulous garden area I had planned...however, I am thinking we are in a flood plain with all the rain we have had, so luckily I really hadn't put that much effort out into the preparation.
The other areas are quite a ways from the house, so the little courtyard area outside of my dining room will be absolutely perfect until I can get around better. It is a pretty little area...I think the previous owners used it for an outdoor breakfast table. I had actually envisioned putting some stone out there and a birdbath so I could sit and look out.
I do have some old plywood pieces...they are untreated so they should work handily.
On the dividers on the boxes, do they have to go all the way down or can they just be like scraps to mark it off?
Thanks for the info.

[hippywife]

13. They just go across the top

to mark off each square foot. We just used twine this time and will get the wood later. Check out the website. Most all the info is there.

Yes, you can put a bottom on the box but drill drain holes at intervals.

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

[Richard Steele]

6. DO NOT abandon those "droopy & spindly" tomato seedlings.

If they ain't dead, then they ain't dead- and tomatos THRIVE on adversity.

Transplant them into bigger containers, and cover them in fresh soil
up to their EARS.
If they are currently in the ground (as opposed to containers), hump some rich soil
up around their skinny stalks, right up to their top pair of leaves, and water them down.

What has happened in your garden is a GOOD thing: tomatoes NEED a setback like
this in their juvenile phase.

Hump soil around them, up to their ears...and those that survive will be
better, stronger and bushier tomato plants for the experience.

[Horse with no Name]

11. Hey there friend

I wish I had checked back here before I pulled those seedlings.
I went ahead and replanted them since I had extra seeds.
However, I will surely remember this next time.:hug:

[Richard Steele]

12. I blame myself for your loss...

The fault could be equally mine: If I had checked this forum more often,
I might have responded before you yanked those seedlings, right? :hug:



But that's all in the past, and you've got plenty of time
to start a new batch for this season. Heck, my tomatos are currently
a bunch of inch-high sprouts in my kitchen window.

Here's the thing to remember about tomatos: they are NOT a domesticated species.
They need us to ride them HARD before they'll do what we want them to do.

The heartiest tomato seeds, in the wild, will grow into a long arching stem
that leans over to touch the ground six feet away before it starts producing
fruit the size of strawberries.

It's only our efforts as GARDENERS that force that same seed to turn into a BUSH
which produces fruit the size of....well, the size of "tomatos", hopefully.

Tomatos are living things, but they are not sentient beings like us.
Their mind and body are not "one".

You take a tall young tomato plant, bury it up to its ears in good rich soil,
and its "biological clock" resets to ZERO. It will begin to flower the same day
as a seedling that poked up the same day you buried it.

BUT: the stem of the plant you BURIED will be following its own agenda;
it will go into overtime producing ROOTS instead of leaves, because it
has more soil than sunlight, and it will do what it can with what it has.

So, it will start "growing" again with more roots than leaves, and will
tend more toward being a thick bush than a thin vine, and will eventually
produce dozens of large heavy fruits instead of a hundred tiny grape-sized ones.


Long story short: (too late, I know I've been rambling)
You've got PLENTY of time to plant & harvest some fine, firm tomatos,
so don't waste time mourning those lost seedlings!

Get some new seeds started RIGHT NOW,
PM me in late December and I'll be happy to get depressed
with you about "what might have been".

[knitter4democracy]

15. At least you've saved my seedlings.

They haven't been doing well since transplanting them to bigger pots (we're a ways from planting yet here in Michigan), but I'm going to try burying them up to their first leaves and see how that works for them.

I have Amish Paste, Roma, San Marzano, and Opalka (which seem to be the hardiest so far) and an early tomato for eating. They shoot up great, but then they spindle and wither away, so I'm going to try this mounding thing.