In fact there is a method that claims to do just that. Square foot gardening is a simple way to
create easy to manage raised beds that need a minimum time spent maintaining
them.
So how does it work and what do you need to know before
planting a square foot garden?
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Square foot gardening was developed by retired engineer Mel
Bartholomew in the 1970’s. He used his analytical skills as an engineer to
eliminate the inefficiencies he saw in traditional gardening methods. In
particular he found the average gardener spent hours weeding the big gaps
between long rows of plants, creating unnecessary work for themselves.
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The building blocks of the square foot gardening method are
raised beds, typically 4ft x 4ft and 6-12in deep. Almost anyone will be able to
reach into the middle of the bed with these dimensions.
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The raised beds can be placed on any surface of the garden – eg. grass, soil or concrete. It doesn’t really matter what’s underneath because
each raised bed will be lined with plastic and then filled with a rich,
moisture retentive soil.
On top of this add a 1ft x 1ft grid. Making it
out of wood makes it easier working with later on.
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These beds mean there is no need to walk on your soil, which
risk compacting it and reducing drainage.
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Each 1ft square is planted with just one type of crop.
Across your raised bed it is recommended that you plant each square with
different crops (ideally companion plants), so in a 4ft x 4ft bed you can
plant 16 different crop types.
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To keep the planting simple there are no plant spacings to
remember. Instead each square has either one, two, four, nine or sixteen plants in
it, depending on the size of the plant.
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| Spacing guide |
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A plant support can be easily created, either at the back so
beans and peas can climb up them or across the top of the bed to provide
support to crops such as tomatoes or squashes.
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It is an almost fail-safe way to get
started with growing you own, but it’s not to everyone’s taste. The experienced
gardener can quickly outgrow the method, particularly if they want to grow
large quantities of crops such as potatoes, fruit bushes and perennial plants
such as rhubarb or artichoke.
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Square food gardening works brilliantly for
beginners, for those who only have a small amount of space and for creating
low-maintenance gardens close to the house to grow high value crops.
Happy planting!
xx C&R xx
2 comments
Brilliant .... and thank you CR for deciding to include it. L x
It's Been Great to See this I love to make my Garden Beautiful I have daily managed my time for my garden maintenance I investigate all of the plant and their stumps everything this will make me happy and it near me to the nature. I want to sit in your garden and play with the pup
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