I did container planting for the first time this year. Used the 3 gallon buckets from Dollar Tree for a dollar each. After two months, i am really disappointed. The growth of all the plants is stunted, fruit inadequate in spite of adequate water food and sun. I was searching for reasons and found few articles on "root development of vegetable plants" I was surprised that most of them grow as much as 3-4 feet deep. There is no space in the buckets for that kind of growth. That is perhaps the reason my plants are not producing well. So, I am going to make real areas in the ground and transfer my plants into those. Any suggestions are welcome. here is a link to detailed study of root development: www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137toc.html

Goodness, I can't imagine not having plants indoors to overwinter. Here is what I do: Mix a strong solution of detergent soap and water. Strong enough that it would harm the plant if left on too long. Spray the dickens out of the plants and soak the top layer of soil mix too. After 5 min or so thoroughly rinse plant with just plain water. Bring inside. In December buy a couple thousand lady bugs and turn a few hundred loose among the plants. Store remainder of bugs in fridge and reapply in a week. Do it again. Perfect solution? No. You will still bring bugs indoors, but they will be pretty much under control. And when you put the plants outdoors in the spring the ladybugs will already be established. I think it was JohnF that turned me on to the ladybugs. The best $15 - $20 one can spend on a hobby.

Hello again Villian189! I am glad that you are rethinking the size of your beds. There are many knowledgeable people on this forum and I am sure you will receive some great advice. I am happy to share what works for me. I have six 4x4 SFGs with paths wide enough to allow me to run a mower in between the gardens and kneel down at the edges of the garden and reach in to every square. I have a trellis at the north edge of most of these beds made out of 2x3s with nylon trellising for vertical plants. I have found that planting 3 vining tomatoes along the 4-foot wide trellis works best. As gblack mentioned, you will get more production from each plant if they are given the room to thrive. I do prune the tomatoes a little and weave them into the nylon trellis as they grow and also wrap them with twine to the trellis supports. The tomatoes do crowd the row of squares immediately in front of them by mid-growing season. So I plant spring greens in these squares (lettuces, arugula, spinach, etc.) before the tomatoes are planted out. If you keep the lower branches of the tomato plants trimmed, they will provide a nice shade canopy for the greens as the summer heats up. Ok, according to Mel BartholomewâÂÂs The All-new Square Foot Gardening book, suggested plant spacing for the varieties you wish to grow are as follows: Tomato plants, vine type = 1/square along a trellis Summer squash, bush type= 1 in a 9 squares (3x3 area) Winter squash, vining type = 1 in a 2 squares (1x2 area) Basil = 4/square Oregano = 1/square Cilantro = 1/square Parsley = 1/square Peppers = 1/square Eggplant = 1/square Pole beans = 8/square along a trellis Lettuce = 4/square So, if I understood your latest post correctly, you plan on building two 3x4 SFG. This will give you 24 squares to work with. In this following suggestion, I have assumed you will have a trellis along the north side of each garden along the 4-foot side. SFG 1: Back squares: 3 vining tomato plants can be planted along the north side along a trellis. Middle squares: 3 squares of greens and/or lettuces. 1 square herb. Front squares: Peppers and eggplant, they will shade out your lettuce, but it may help keep the lettuce from bolting when the weather gets warm. SFG2: Back squares: Pole beans - plant these towards the back of the bed right along the trellis and they will only take up inches of your garden space and grow vertically. Middle and Front two squares, plus extra room from the partial bean squares: 1 bush type squash (such as zucchini or yellow summer squash) Remaining squares: herbs or a pepper. This should get you started. Let me know what you think. Rachel GrafixMuse's Garden Spot Blog

Dave, I can only speak for myself. I had no troubles from my 'jungle'. They were easy to harvest. Were caged and had no appreciative broken branches (as many as would have broke from distant spacing.) I did not 'aggressively' prune (just kept each plant to 2 - 3 main branches until they were 5' tall, then they were allowed to do what they wanted.) I used no fungicides and did not have any appreciative difference in disease than anyone else posting their experiences on this site, and... I used no pesticides at all and had the same problems with stink bugs as everyone else in my area, including those who used chemicals. I didn't even fertilize as heavy as others and did fine. As I said, there are many ways to garden, and those of us with a lot less space than others will continue to just ignore the recommendations given by well meaning gardeners with acreage to spare. Should Etta crowd her plants? That will be entirely up to her. Instead of pressuring her one way or another, I will just continue to phrase it as I have... there are many different ways to garden, and each gardener is going to work under their conditions in the way which seems appropriate to them. I've seen 100's of plants squeezed into small spaces with no soil, nor sun whatsoever. I've seen many of the so-called 'rules' broken with incredibly positive results. Every place I've gardened I've had neighbors absolutely fawn over gardens that out-produced everyone following the many 'rules'. This isn't to say I'm a better gardener than someone else, in fact, I'm quite mediocre. However, what it means is that I have been able to push the limits of what so many have learned, and have been successful in my efforts. Why? Because I listen, I learn, and I do it the way I want to... When giving advice, I have no desire to make mini-me's. Rather, it seems appropriate to encourage others to learn to be themselves. For example... in saying that there aren't ways to preserve watermelons... Just make juice from the entire fruit and freeze it. Mix some simple syrup into the juice, pour it into ice cube trays, and voila, watermelon freeze pops. Google watermelon rind and you'll find lots of uses. I wasn't kidding about the wine either. There might be things no one has thought of yet, and if everyone follows the so-called 'rules', there never will be. Should Etta listen to me? That will be up to her. Hopefully, she'll read the differing responses, realize that there are many ways to proceed, want to do what's best, and then... do it her own way!