Square foot gardening is an intensive gardening technique that utilizes a grid of one-foot squares. Square foot gardening is especially suitable for small spaces.
Square Foot Gardening is an intensive gardening technique that utilizes a grid of one-foot squares. You can use square foot gardening technique for organic or conventional vegetable gardening. Square foot gardening is a very old concept, but it has been recently popularized by Mel Bartholomew of Square Foot Gardening fame (the book) and the website.
Mel's ideas center on the use of a mini raised garden bed. You do not have to use the square foot gardening technique with a raised garden bed; you may simply lay out your garden plot into one foot squares. Intensive gardening technique simply means planting to harvest the most within the least space possible.
First, sketch a garden plan.
Remember that fruiting crops do best in full sun (snap peas, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers...) and that lettuces, radishes and onions may do better in an area that has partial shade. (See Growing Vegetables, Growing Vegetables, How to Plant Tomato, and Growing Vegetables for specifics on planting vegetable plants).
Second, prepare your garden bed.
(See Preparing the Garden Plot).
Third, stake out your planting squares.
Place one-foot tall stakes at one-foot intervals along the perimeter of your plot. Lay one end of your ruler on a stake and then, place other stakes one foot apart between the stakes around the perimeter. This outlines your squares.
You may also simply lay out a grid using twine tied to the stakes around the perimeter, or by crossing plastic or wood strips, or by crossing boards.
The mini-raised garden bed concept
You can use wood, cinder blocks, bricks, pieces of concrete, or whatever you have handy. Lay them out in squares adjoining each other (like a tic-tac-toe box or the grid described above). You can make your bed as large as you want, but remember you have to be able to reach inside to water and harvest the vegetables.
Fill your squares with optimized soil (that means, soil that is enriched with all the necessary nutrients and organic matter).
Plant your transplants or seeds using the article recommendations given above, or go by the directions in your planting guide. (Don't have a planting guide? Get one here courtesy of Victory Seeds.com - sellers of fine heirloom seeds.)
Gardening Advice:
• When planting a square foot (or square meter) garden, take into consideration the needs of your mature plants. For example, bell pepper transplants have a recommended spacing of 14-18 inches apart; so each plant will need two squares.
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Copyright 2006 by Sally Morton
