I did not do well with broccoli. I use my Square Foot Gardening book heavily but a bit of trial and error is still part of the deal when you garden, especially if its your first garden. I found it helpful to keep a journal of what I did in the first year so I could remember what worked and what didn't work for when I plan this year's garden.

Anyway,I planted the broccoli as per the guidelines in the book...but it took sooo long to grow. I planted it in spring and only towards the end of fall did it look like anything that resembled a broccoli...and then some slugs ate it. I am trying again this year, but only as an experiment.

So long as what needs sun gets sun and every crop has enough space, I am not sure placement is that big of a deal in square foot gardening...but then again I have only one year of experience thus far. I follow a very general rule of short stuff along the sides and front of the bed. Taller things in the middle and stuff which needs the trellis at the back where the trellis is.

Welcome, Carrieann,
Last year was my first year with SFG. I think your plan along the trellis sounds good. I am planning something similar. You could plant some lettuce around the outside of the tomato sq. and by the time the tomatoes get big, the lettuce would be used up. Peppers are supposed to get a couple feet tall (the ones my son grows in his lab are at least 4' tall) and could go in front of the trellised veggies. You might want to plant beets for the greens instead of spinach. I found its flavor to be superior. It takes a good amount of spinach to make a meal. Swiss chard is another green leaf option. It does not stop producing leaves and sometimes will make it through the winter if protected. Unfortunately, I think deer got mine last year. If you could pick up some broccoli plants at the garden center, it would not be too late, but if not then wait until late June and start some then for fall harvest. About bugs - one of the gals on this site used Illusion tulle (wedding veil tulle) as an insect barrier. If you use a coupon at Joann Fabrics, you could get yards of it cheaply. It looked very nice, is light enough to float over the veggies, light and water get through easily. If I hadn't already ordered floating row cover, I would definitely gone the tulle route. I had fun doing potatoes and plan to do more this season. I did some in a large square plastic pot about 16" sq. and 14" deep. You just plant the seed pieces in the bottom and then keep adding soil as the plants grow. I didn't have any trouble with many bugs and if you haven't gardened before, they probably won't know your veggies are there. Marigolds are the flowers you want and you can get small varieties. They are very good for warding off pests. Nasturtiums are supposed to be good also and are edible. Another thing you might try is companion planting, just type that in and google it. You can get some ideas of what goes where and also what will enhance what you do grow. I made the mistake last year of planting all kinds of companion plants, like borage (huge), chamomile, catnip and they got huge in the garden and I eventually removed them to make room for veggies.
Have fun,
Keski

Your tomatoes will be too close together if you plant all six squares of the trellis, unless you plan to only allow one or two tomato "limbs" to climb the trellis. Also, your pole beans will end up really tall, possibly 10 feet or more, so make sure you have some support for when they outgrow the trellis itself.

Plant your tomatoes along the trellis and alternate with the cukes and beans, then I'd put the green peppers in front of the squares where the cukes and beans are. Carrots and radishes planted in ever other square on the green pepper row.

For flowers, I'd add nasturiums (edible) and marigolds (marigolds are great with tomatoes..they help deter nematodes). Radishes are awesome for kids to plant because they germinate and grow very quickly, usually within 3 weeks.

Broccoli is fairly easy to grow. Follow the planting guide for your region on that one. Also, potatoes grow best in some kind of separate container rather than in the garden itself, IME.

Good luck!

thanks lissa.

what kind of container would you suggest for potatoes? What size? Why do you like to grow them in containers instead? Thanks again :)

I'm finally trying potatoes this year. The approach I'm using is to plant them in slightly raised rows within a separate bed, which I will then build up through the season by using a hoop of remesh (horse fencing or welded wire with big spaces also works) that I will slowly add straw, hay, old leaves and other low-nitrogen compostables mulch-type stuff that I will keep moist as a place for additional potatoes to set and grow as the plants keep pushing up through it. I will leave about 6 inches of the plant sticking out as I add mulch around them.

carrie, I'm not sure which is best for taters. We're experimenting this year with two kinds of containers, both clear-sided rubbermaid tubs (excess left from moving two households into one) and a tall garbage can. So far, the clear-sided tubs are growing like weeds.

The reason I suggest containers is that potatoes like to spread out and they need "hilling" as the vines grow. In order to be able to cover the vines to the depth they need, containers seem to work better than doing it in a 4x4. The other advantage to planting them in a container is that you can more easily find all of the taters when it's time to harvest.

Are clear containers a good idea for potatoes? I thought the tubers needed to be kept out of sunlight - the reason for hilling them.

We're "experimenting" for a reason. If we get all green taters out of the clear containers, we won't use them, but we're trying to make sure the taters aren't up against the sides and they are in between two 4x4 boxes to help diffuse the sunlight. I worried about the clear containers as well, but they're what we had to use when we started.