Bartholomew - All new square foot gardening II: the revolutionary way to grow more in less space

The improvements to the Square Foot Gardening method that Ive outlined in this book are going to save you time and effort, and ensure the success of anything you grow in your SFG box!

Mel Bartholomew

W hy revise one of the best selling gardening books of all time? The old saying goes, If it aint broke, dont fix it. Well, Square Foot Gardening isnt broken, but I felt that we could improve many aspects of the method, explain the processes better with more detailed photography and illustrations, make the book more readable with a clean, updated design, and address issues that gardeners constantly ask me about such proper (and safe) pest control methods and getting children involved in SFG.

In this updated book on Square Foot Gardening, you can learn, as millions of others already have, how to become a successful gardener the simple and painless way. This easy-to-understand method will revolutionize the way you think about gardening; and the refinements Ive included in this revised edition will inspire to get even more out of SFG.

A reporter once asked me if I thought I had invented gardening for dummies, referring, of course, to the popular Square Foot Gardening method I developed in 1976. No, I answered.

Actually, when I invented the Square Foot Gardening (SFG) method, I thought it would be for expert gardeners. My method was very precise and detailed, yet very simple and easy to understand, and it provided all the conditions necessary for successfully growing a broad variety of plants in a very different way. It also eliminated all of the wasteful, inefficient practices of traditional single-row gardening. I thought the experts would shout Eureka! and immediately bless all of the new ideas and advantages of this new home gardening method.

As it turned out, the experts never understood this unique method. Apparently it was too simple and easy. But the beginning gardener, and those discouraged by previous failed attempts, understood it completely. They immediately saw the simplicity of SFG. The beginners instant response was I can do this! while the experts continued to question every aspect of this revolutionary gardening method. They just couldnt admit that home gardening could be that easy.

In my lectures, I like to reassure audiences that if they are new at gardening, or perhaps afraid or overwhelmed by the idea of starting a garden, they will be able to learn this simple method of gardening in just an hour or two. However, if they are already expert gardeners, it will probably take them about two weeks! After the laughter dies down, I remind my audience that beginners readily accept the minimal amount of technical information needed to become successful gardeners because they want to know how to successfully garden.

The experts, on the other hand, are so entrenched with the idea of single-row gardening as used in farming, with all of its wasteful methods, that they just cant see it any other way. You might say, They are stuck in a rut. As a result, Ive learned to leave the experts alone and concentrate on the beginner, or the tried-but-failed, gardener, and even the afraid-to-start person.

SFG appeals to other large groups of would-be gardeners. Years ago, I read some very interesting statistics (and Im sure the percentages are similar today) about these gardeners.