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!

If you build your beds on top of your existing soil, with landscape fabric covering the ground, the weeds should be less of an issue. Then build your mix on top of that. That's what I did, but added 3 inches of gravel over the fabric for better drainage and weed control. I'm lucky here that we've got a regional composter that uses no less than 5 types of plants for compost and thousands of different source plants, so it's as diverse as you can get. And I can get it in bulk from several sources and if I need more than 5 yards, they'll deliver. So I agree, it's much easier in the long run to replace or build over your existing soil. Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden in progress...

My Suggestions ... What can I build my grids out of? (an idea) I used weed fabric on top of my bed and spray painted the grid lines with white paint, then used scissors to cut slits where each plant was planted (not the black plastic which is impermeable, but the fabric/cloth) What is Square Foot Gardening? (adding part about trellis/3 feet) 1. 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) How do I trellis veggies? (an idea) Other intensive-method gardeners have used other methods as well: Nylon Trellis Netting - is soft like yarn, not hard like plastic or fishing line. It is made of high-quality nylon and will maintain 60% of its original strength after 20 years in the sun. This heavy-duty nylon netting has a 60 lb. breaking strength that will support extremely heavy crop loads. What do I use to fill my garden beds? (a little additional info and slight re-wording) "Mel's Mix" is the most common fill substance and consists of a mixture of approximately equal parts of compost materials, durable "brown" organics for bulk & drainage, and a water retention substance. Mel's Mix, now being recommended by Mel Bartholomew via his website, is equal parts by volume of compost, peat moss, and coarse vermiculite. Mel recommends using compost from 5 different sources to ensure getting a wide variety of nutrients for the plants. (I bought the wrong vermiculite originally, so adding 'coarse' to that sentence would have helped me. Also, starting the first sentence in bold Mel's Mix makes it more obvious that this paragraph is further described by the following 3 paragraphs) Perlite (perlized mica) is a a mined product that is "popped" to make a water-retaining matrix. It retains the least water and has a tendancy to rise to the top of the bed. Expanded shale is also ... How do I build the sides of a raised bed? (more ideas) In untreated wood section: Check the damaged wood section at lumber yards for big discounts. Fiber cement house siding boards (like Hardi-plank) or exterior fascia trim boards Rubber lumber made from old tires - instructions at Noble.org http://www.noble.org/ag/horticulture/raisedbedgardening/RecycledTireBeds.html Plastic Mesh - instructions at Noble.org http://www.noble.org/ag/horticulture/raisedbedgardening/mesh%5Fbeds.html Corrugated tin - see Southern Living http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/gardens/easy-affordable-raised-bed-00400000009521/ and also see Noble.org http://www.noble.org/ag/horticulture/raisedbedgardening/corrugated_beds.html) What are recommended plant spacings? (add some and explain more on a few) Beans: pole (Runner) - on trellis Brussel Sprouts - 1/sqft ? Cucumber - on trellis Peas - some varieties on trellis, some varieties are bush Squash - note: yellow summer squash and zucchini typically do NOT vine and should be staked (see related FAQ) Asparagus ? Strawberries ? (about the summer squash thing - I have seen a lot of posts of people not realizing to stake these squash and try to grow on trellis - I made the same mistake myself and gave up valuable trellis real estate, lol)

I never thought of them as modernist. Now looking at them again I guess so. We just put them like that to conserve the most space and because the placement looked pleasing. Thanks, Mazzy