Method Gardens

Raised Beds

Cinderblock Garden – Square Foot Garden

Ruth Stout:

The very first time I built a garden bed like this I was NOT convinced that it lived up to all the hype. I was introduced to this method through multiple sources saying that it was the best way to build soil, weed-free (or largely reduced weed pressure). What I am learning is that permaculture-type solutions are not always “easier”. If you were to factor in that labor and material input, it can add up rather quickly. I am still trying to refine my skills at material collecting and re-use of materials. The truth is that it does get easier. The more work you put in, people tend to notice, and then pretty soon, they will bring you material, to help connect you with the sources.

I grew type types of potatoes, a Red Norland, and a Yellow Norkoda, from the local farm supply company that was buying seed stock from a farm in Northern Minnesota. For the amount of days in the ground they really did yield quite well. I had started building this garden and had the potatoes in the ground towards the middle of June. I still was not sold on the idea, other than I did not want to haul a pile of dirt to convert the sod. The time and heavy “lifting” of this project overall wasn’t too bad, considering I built a 12′ x 12′ area in a few hours.

Another worth note with this type of garden is the ease of watering, other than a spell of 5-7 days without rain, I did not supplement with watering. That’s right, no watering is necessary. You might think that is crazy or that I am stretching the truth, but really the longer it went on, the less I was inclined to water because I wanted to see if it could make it through the season with a decent yield.

Typically with potatoes, comes the potato beetle, to my surprise these plants grew with almost no pest issues. What is surprising about this, I planted plants very densely. Roughly 1 potato every foot. I am not really advocating for a monoculture, but this first year was really just a trial. With potatoes also comes the work of hilling them up, I did none of that. I just let them grow.

When the time came to harvest, I was absolutely beside myself in how easy it was to “dig” these potatoes. It was from that point forward, I became PRO-Ruth Stout!!! No tools were needed just pull the plants by the stems, and reveal the wonderful tubers underneath the spoiled hay. It should be noted that typically with potatoes there are smaller tuber that are closer to the surface that get some sun scald, and green potatoes that are not edible, although this did happen a little, there were fewer than the conventional methods I have trialed in the past.

Bed preparation for the next round of crops was also a breeze. I layered in another 8-10 inches of “fresh” spoiled hay, gave it a slight soak down, and let it rest for 2-3 days and then succession planted it with garlic. That was it. No-tillage, no excessive raking to get the bed nice and level, nothing more that.