What is square foot gardening?

Answer 1

Square Foot Gardening is a method popularized by Mel Bartholomew in the 1980's. Still active in the field, he has revised the original book (just found it; will buy it soon).

His basis is that garden beds should be divided in 3-foot squares by walkways. Walking on the actual beds compacts the soil, resulting in the need to till or plow the whole bed each growing season. The decision to go with 3-foot size is so the gardener can reach across the bed from any point on the edge, so you never have to step in the bed to reach.

For more detail. please read Square Foot Gardening, or the revised edition, All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!

Here's the short version of my own experience with the method:

I made up two beds measuring 4 ft x 10 ft., with a walk space between the two. When preparing the soil, I tilled a purchased garden mix, compost, and sand into the clay soil, then enclosed the beds in 12" high edging.

In the 5 years I worked that garden, I never used a tiller again. Instead, I used a garden fork with 12" tines to dig up the area and turn it, forcing the fork as far below the 12" as possible. I also continued to add compost , sand, and some garden mix into the soil to add nutrients and organic material to the clay soil. Sounds like work, but not nearly as much as using that tiller was!

The square-foot gardening concept is simple: Build a raised bed, divide the space into sections of one square-foot each, and then plant vegetables (and/or flowers) in just the amount of space they need. The advantages of this system include reduced workload, less watering, easy weeding (and not much of it), and easy access to your crops. This is a great way to learn to grow some of your own food.