Don't worry. If you run out of room, just pull out the under-performing plants and forge ahead. One zuke is more than enough for a family of four for fresh eating and it'll start producing long before it gets huge. You can always succession plant -- so when the one zuke gets bigger and production starts to taper off, the replacement is getting big enough to flower. There's also a climbing zuke that likes growing in containers, but I haven't tried it. When I lived in California and had a small patio, I gardened square foot style. Most everything grew with precision and exactly as the books and web sites say. In Alabama? I think there's steroids in the dirt. I get monsters here. I experimented with small melon plants last year, and Minnesota Midget really does live up to the description but all the melons ripened at once and then the plant died. I got 5 4-5" melons off a tiny little plant with a couple of 4' vines, though. This year I am trying a reportedly smaller zuke plant (cocozelle) and smaller winter squash varieties. I have lots of room but the BF doesn't eat many veggies and I need smaller portions!

Sounds like you've already decided to skip the weed blocker fabric & use layers of wet cardboard instead to smother the thyme. Cardboard is free and decomposes, so if at some point you want to dig down a bit more than the SFG book recommends you can without ripping through the fabric. Clip it short 1st w/ scissors, shears, or even a mower so you can see which to remove or be able to plant between if you're going to plant directly in the ground. If you're going to build wooden boxes you could pot some of the herbs up for friends & family. Thyme won't damage other edible plants, but will make a living mulch to keep your soil moist & prevent weeds if you were to leave it & plant between or just over the top. Both the thyme & oregano have upright growth as well as spreading later in the season, so if you don't want them to spread just snip more often or keep in pots & water them more often. Someone in your area can help you with what to plant now for a fall harvest.

Hi all I am planning on buying an Alphonso Mango tree. I wanted to know if it is better to keep the tree in a pot or plant it in the ground? I live in Katy. I know the trees planted in the ground are going to need winter protection. I know most of you have had past experiences with growing mangoes in Houston so just wanted to get your advice.

Square Foot Gardening is a specific gardening system developed by an engineer named Mel Bartholemew after his early retirement. His method was popularized by a PBS TV series and his book (which, according to his website, is now the all-time best-selling gardening book), Square Foot Gardening. Today, he has "un-retired" and uses his time and resources to share Square Foot methods around the world-- particularly in third-world and other needy communities, churches and missionary schools, community gardens, and anywhere else people request him! We like the guy. Square foot gardeners plant in blocks rather than rows, usually in raised beds, and reach in to tend the plants (often using raised beds with prepared soil) rather than walking on the soil they're trying to plant. We plant each seed individually, rather than scattering seeds in long rows, and give them exactly the space they need (and no more) to make every inch of space in our gardens productive. As soon as one crop is harvested, we pull out the plants, add a trowelful of compost to replenish the soil, and replant with something new (appropriate to our climate and time of year). In this way, our gardens use less space, water, and time than many more traditional gardens. We like that. Many of us on the Square Foot Forum follow Mel's methods to the letter, or did when we began gardening; others have learned and share ideas from other intensive gardening methods (and our own experience!). Mel's website shares his ten basic concepts of sqft gardening (any material in parentheses is ours): Layout: Arrange your garden in squares, not rows (2 feet wide if you can only reach in from one side; up to four feet wide if you can reach in from both sides); 3 feet wide works better if your bed is 5 feet or longer and has a trellis along the long side i.e. 10x3 - also, leave room to walk behind the trellis side) Boxes: Build boxes to hold a new soil mix above ground. (6 inches deep minimum; aka raised beds) Aisles: Space boxes 3' apart to form walking aisles Soil: Fill boxes with Mel's special soil mix (forum members have contributed their variations below) Grid: Make a square foot grid for the top of each box (to mark your planting areas) Care: Never walk on your growing soil. Tend your garden from the aisles. Select: Plant a different flower, vegetable, or herb crop in each square foot (according to the plant's spacing needs - see below) Plant: Plant only 2 or 3 seeds per hole. Place transplants in a slight saucer-shaped depression. Water: Water by hand from a bucket of sun-warmed water (again, forum members have contributed their variations below) Harvest: When you finish harvesting a square foot, add compost and replant it with a new and different crop. That's the brief version!