Square Foot Gardening

I just finished a book called All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. This is my summary of the book and principles of square foot gardening. Some of this material is quoted from the book.

This is in order of chronological set-up not necessarily "seven structure" order:

1 Box size and Placement
2 Build up
3 Nutrient Rich Soil Mix
4 Grid structure
5 Plant
6 Water
7 Harvest

1 - Standard square foot gardening is done in squares of up to four feet in one dimension. A square foot garden would typically consist of several 4X4 foot squares. The idea behind the size is to optimize the amount of food grown in a small area. It does not take any tilling and is not organized in the standard single row style. You could think of it like putting four rows together, thus optimizing your garden space. A typical person's arm reach is comfortably two feet long, and therefore to reach in more than that would get difficult. The four foot maximum dimention is so you can reach in two feet on each side.

2 - These 4X4 foot squares are actually in boxes above ground. Normally these boxes are six inches tall. Some people may think that this is too shallow but it is appropriate most of the time. For the few plants that actually need more depth a box could be made to accommodate these plants. These boxes can be made out of normal wood, not treated wood to prevent toxic chemicals from leaching into the soil. You would also want to add a weed cloth on the bottom to prevent weeds from being introduced into your garden and mixing with existing soil.

3 - The soil is the most important part of the whole garden. The soil mix should consist of only three parts: One third blended compost, one third peat moss and one third coarse vermiculite. Please refer to my compost blog for details on what is required to make a proper blended compost mix. Peat moss is a naturally occurring material that makes soil lighter, more friable and water retentive. Vermiculite is a mica rock mined out of the ground. It is heated up till it explodes and then ground to the desired degree of coarseness. The natural texture allows it to hold a tremendous amount of water and yet can breath, making soil friable and loose. This mix allows the soil to be extremely nutritious and sponge like - to hold water but drains well if it has too much.

4 - The grid structure is what makes the garden a square foot garden. Place a grid system on the top of the garden to define each square foot. The grid allows your garden to be organized and easily maintained. It sets the boundaries for the plants. It allows the plants to be properly spaced to optimize the growing area. The purpose of square foot gardening is to maximise the produce in the minimum area. Without this structure, disorder easily sets in and the optimization does not remain. The grid also assists in plant spacing so you can put 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants per square foot depending on the plant spacing listed on the seed packet.

5 - You can plant the plants in the season that they are made for. You can start in the early spring and continue to the late fall. You should stagger your planting times to optimize your harvest. If you plant four heads of lettus at the same time they will all be ready at the same time and that is too much for one person to eat before the lettus goes bad. If you want plants of the same type to harvest at different times, plant them at different times. This increases the amount of fresh vegetables that you can eat. When one square is harvested you can replant it right away with another plant that is appropriate for that season.

6 - Watering is fairly easy. With such a condensed garden you don't need to use as much water because you are not watering the unplanted isles. The soil is able to contain the water better than the pre-existing soil (not used here). And you don't need to worry as much about flooding because the soil is like a sponge, draining the excess water. It is recomended to use sun warmed water for your plants. The reason - do you like cold showers? Well, plants don't either. Sun warmed water is not to hot and not too cold.

7 - Harvest is what brings the joy after all the labor. You get to see the fruits of your labor and garden care. Little needs to be said about this, except make sure that other animals don't find your harvest as tasty as you do. Once you're harvest is complete, add a little compost to replace what was used by the plant and start over from step five. Also, unless the plant is deseased add it to your compost pile as well as anything that is not eaten.