Glenn Howell - How to Grow a Square Foot Garden

Mastering the Art of Cultivating Vegetables in a Small Space

Glenn Howell

How to Grow A Square Foot Garden

Copyright 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN:

This edition of How to Grow A Square Foot Garden by Glenn Howell is published by an arrangement with Draft2Digital.

About the author

Square foot gardening? This word has been buzzing in the gardening world for decades. Call it a small space gardening revolution , and you wont be wrong.

It takes very little imagination to figure out the basic concept of square foot gardening.

Square foot gardening involves very careful measurement of gardening plots. With careful planning, you can improve on the amount of food that you grow, and the amount of waste you can avoid.

I understand that local gardeners and acolytes of other styles will be happier with a formal introduction.

What exactly is square foot gardening? What is its origin? Is there anything unique about it? What makes square foot gardening so popular?

In square foot gardening, you have to use foot measurements in a clever way. The goal is to maximally utilize your limited growing space. But nowadays, with a rise in the number of people passionate about home growing, and with a burgeoning local food movement, understanding the basics of this form of gardening means a lot!

Without further ado, lets flip through the pages and learn more about this!

WHAT IS SQUARE FOOT GARDENING?

Photo by LOUIS LO on Unsplash

O rigin

What really, is square foot gardening, and what is its origin?

You see, square foot gardening is food growing method that involves companion planting, maximal spacing, and cultivating the most food out of a limited space.

The whole idea was birthed in 1981 by Mel Bartholomew, a civil engineer, and the author of Square Foot Gardening. Bartholomew had worked as an urban planner, and from his experiences, he came to the realization that there were several less efficient and productive methods of single-row gardening. Mel takes gardening as a hobby and combining this hobby with his urban planning and design skills, he came up with this practical gardening method the square foot gardening.

In no time, Mels book had become the rave of the town as many people sought to know more about how to grow plenty of food in small spaces. Of course, it promised a lot of advantages, such as improved ergonomics, health, space use, and food security among the worlds vulnerable populations.

The first edition of Mels book is one of the bestselling gardening books in America. At least, a million copies have been sold.

Many years later, this guide continues to top the bestselling gardening guides of all time, enjoying continuous purchase and use. It was therefore not surprising when an updated edition was released in 2013.

The book is regularly updated with new concepts, information, and techniques related to modern gardening information that would be of great benefit to present day gardeners.

The point is that square foot gardening is timeless and a classic that retains its relevance at a time when most households are bothered about food issues.

I agree that square foot gardening was birthed decades ago, but has retained its relevance in space-saving, and easy-to-adopt DIY food production techniques.

Understanding the concept

Basically, square foot gardening involves planting flowers and vegetables close together in raised cedar beds. You can frame these beds with cedar, or other natural woods that dont rot. The bed dimensions can be anywhere from 2ft 4ft by 12ft. However, the most popular dimension is 4ft by 4ft.

In many cases, the gardener designs the soil himself to have optimal drainage. The soil is usually a mixture of sandy loam and a huge amount of well-matured compost or sphagnum peat moss.

For uniform particle size distribution and texture, it has become common knowledge that you can mix the designed soil with a portable concrete mixer. To mix the sandy loam for your square foot garden, what you do is to mix four parts of sandy loam with a part of compost or sphagnum peat moss. Alternatively, you can just walk into the market and select one of the high-quality soil products.

What make this gardening method unique? Well, for the backyard gardener, or even the newbie to urban homesteading, youll see that this perennial method is most likely going to be your best food-growing options for reasons including but not limited to:

Growing as much food as you can in a small space, just as you would with gardens planted in rows.

Easy access created by the compact 4 x 4 foot raised bed garden.

You dont have to stress yourself over having a big yard. You can grow your food on a small plot, your balcony, or even on the patio.

Absolutely no need for weeding. With careful planning, you can succeed with weed-free soil mix.

Less strain and less work on the body.

Zero chances of damaging your yard.

Very easy to practice ideal for new gardeners

You can save money by providing your own food.

Yes! With this smart approach, you can grow and source your food from very small spaces and save more money without putting much work into it.

And truth be told, you wont need a huge tiller or backyard that you assumed you might need to get started.

Square foot gardening involves a tight and very compact spacing that is still favorable for plant growth. As such, you can grow as much food as you would grow in a large space that was cultivated with less-space efficient row crop techniques.

It is a fact that conventional row-cropping guarantees healthy crops with optimal spacing between the rows. However, with square foot gardening, you would consider adding more plants to those spaces.

Also, a 4x4 foot raised bed garden wouldnt require as much work as cultivating a larger plot.

With the construction or purchase of a suitable bed plus the addition of a bottom lining, your bed can remain weed free. This will save you the stress of a large amount of gardening work.

This is very true especially if you add a seed-free soil mix instead of planting in your own backyard soil one of the key aspects of Bartholomews technique.

The 4x4 foot raised bed garden is also suitable for reaching across to get to any spot in the bed, whether for amending, planting, or weeding. An ergonomic option, isnt it?

Also, the set up and planting techniques are very

easy to learn. In fact, it serves as the perfect medium for a newbie gardener.

Everyone knows that great stuff usually draws some heat! Critics of square foot gardening claim that in spite of its many benefits, such as the work and space saving techniques, starting up the square foot garden can be pretty expensive. Constructing or outright purchase of a raised bed may be expensive, as can obtaining enriched weed-free compost or potting soil.