Gardening is a great activity for the entire family to get involved in. Kids love to plant seed and watch them grow. They also love to eat what they raise.
Square foot gardening - no weeding, no digging, no tilling , NO kidding. Square foot gardening is a great way to garden to get the most harvest for your small space garden. It is vey simpe, versatile and unique. This system of gardening adapts to all levels of experience, physical ability and geographical location. So as you can see, if you have a small lot of land, this is a great way to garden for you. Grow all you want and need in only about 20% of the space of a conventional row garden. It saves water, work, money and even time.
Now are you interested in learning more??
There are 10 basics of square foot gardening
1. LAYOUT - Arrange your garden in squares, NOT rows. Lay it out in 4' by 4' areas.
2. BOXES - Build boxes to hold a new soil mix above ground - at least 6 inches deep.
3. AISLES - Space boxes 3' apart to form walking aisles.
4. SOIL - Fill boxes with special soil mix: 1/3 compost (made from many different ingredients), 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 coarse vermiculite. Existing soil doesn't matter.
5. GRID - Make a square foot grid for the top of each box to organize the garden for planting.
6. CARE - Never walk on the growing soil. Tend your garden from the aisles. Few, if any, weeds sprout and are easily pulled with fingers. Soil stays loose and friable. Easy to protect from weather.
7. SELECT - Plant a different flower, vegetable, or herb crop in each square foot, using spacing of 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants per square foot. Crop rotation happens naturally.
8. PLANT - Conserve seeds. Plant only a pinch (2 or 3 seeds) per hole. Place transplants in a slight saucer-shaped depression. Plant only what you will use during each season. No waste.
9. WATER - Ideally water by hand from a bucket of sun-warmed water (hose or drip system okay).
10. HARVEST - When you finish harvesting a square foot, add compost to replenish nutrients and replant with a new and different crop.
Now does that sound easy or what???
The location needs to be in an area that gets at least 6- 9 hours of sunshine daily
Stay away from trees and shrubs that may interfere with the sun and where roots may grow into your box
Make sure it is close to the house so it is easy to access and you can protect your food
Do not put it in an area that tends to puddle after a rain. Drainage is important.
Now are you ready to plant that square foot garden?
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Comments: 20
When we one day get a place of our own (hopefully sooner than later), I think I will need to implement this kind of gardening. What really sold me was the sentence of less weeds. After having been gardening with my parents for years, I have really begun resenting weeds:) Now that I am gardening in pots, there is few weeds, so I can definitely see the advantages of the boxes.
You can make the boxes deeper if you are unable to bend over or just about 6 inches if you are able. That is another benefit of this kind of gardening.
I will totally endorse SQUARE FOOT GARDENING! Everyone can have a garden by using this wonderful technique!
I gave you a BIG TEN for bringing this to attention ~ but I'll give you TWENTY MORE!
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U U
workable. I would love to put in those boxes but the
housing would balk at that. Thanks for that info.
Thanks for the very good article
we were on just about solid clay and I HAD to garden this way or not bother at all....
and...
I can make it even easier!!!!
I did what I called a "lazy man's garden."
Put a square of black plastic down atop the soil in the 4x4 squares, held down with stones.
Cut circles out of the plastic, only where you want your plants to go, and then a circle on the side, into which you put a metal can (like veggies come in) with both sides cut out, pushed down into the soil, so you have your plants and then you have the can into which you insert your hose to water instead of watering directly on the plants (this also helps protect the plants from powdery mildew.)