Anyone in the arid west do square foot gardening?

I asked a few questions in an earlier thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x9999

I think going this route could be super cool, but I'm worried that the soil is going to be too hot and too dry in a raised bed.

Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks! :hi:

It's fall. I put the beds in. I planted lettuce, cauliflower, spinach, onions, asparagus, and collards.

It wasn't hard to get the beds together, and it wasn't hard to get the mix together either. It's been about a week and a half, and the plants need watering about once every other day.

The plants are growing like a house on fire. :woohoo:

As you know our climates are pretty similar. Invest in a roll of floating row cover and you can keep the lettuce and spinach producing all winter here -- they need the frost protection. Cover at night, uncover during the day. For small areas we staple row covers to furring strips cut to fit the bed or area. That anchors the covers at night and makes it easy to roll them up in the morning.

This time of year we water the already sprouted stuff every four days... once your plants are a little bit more mature try to taper off on the watering schedule to every three days, then four if they seem to be doing okay.

Our lettuce is mature enough to pick leaves for salad --it really doesn't take long.
Now's a good time to start some radishes too if you're interested.

And I cannot help but think that the close plant spacing will work in your favor because the plants will shade each other during that screaming hot weather.

Not that it affects your garden plans, but I have a vague impression that September is the hottest month in the Central Valley of California. Is that true?

You will probably have good results growing short season crops after the hottest weather ends.

How about this book by my favorite gardening author? I have not read it. It should apply to your growing region: Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9781570615344

square foot gardening allows for less frequent watering.

We had a rainy summer in Ohio, so we did not water after July 4. Normally we water almost every day in July.

This year we went with zero mulch (except red plastic for the tomatoes). We had to do something about the slugs. We just hoed and cultivated and it worked.

A man at the Ohio State Agricultural Extension office told me that slugs may have been a function of overwatering. In previous years, we had mulched with paper, leaves, and grass in the planting beds and flattened cardboard boxes in the aisles. Had tons of slugs and they destroyed many crops!

Watering is tricky. We have probably been washing nutrients out of our sandy soil.

planting medium of compost, vermiculite and peat moss held water pretty well. I think I only watered every two or three days through the summer. Now it would have been much better if we would have mulched, which we are planning on being more diligent about next season.

and I found it was too thin. Things grew quickly, but then had no nourishment. I thonght I'd try again with greens this winter.