What is Square Foot Gardening?

When you're tight for space and still want to have a garden, that's when Square foot gardening comes into play.

Wikipedia explains it this way:

Square foot gardening is the practice of planning and creating small but intensively planted gardens. The practice combines concepts from other organic gardening methods, including a strong focus on compost, densely planted raised beds and biointensive attention to a small, clearly defined area. This method is particularly well-suited for areas with poor soil, beginner gardeners or as adaptive recreation for those with disabilities (Bartholomew, 2005).

The phrase "square foot gardening" was popularized by Mel Bartholomew in a 1981 Rodale Press book and subsequent PBS television series.

This is a chart that shows the basics - how many plants to plant in one square foot.

20161130 Update
I just came across a fantastic free online resource about square foot gardening that I just had to share ►Square Foot Gardening: The Ultimate “How To” Guide

Let me know if you found this information helpful and write a comment. ▼

Comments

Unknown said…

Thankyou for this! I am a beginner gardener but intend to run square foot gardening techniques in the 'conservatory area of the house we will be building soon (hopefully!) It is a fuel less house and can be seen on our website www.theearthcoveredgreenhouse.moonfruit.com
All the best and God bless, Karen

January 31, 2014 at 9:42 AM

Colorful Canary said…

Very nice easy to understand chart! I featured it on my blog today :)
http://www.colorfulcanary.com/2016/03/5-printable-gardening-graphics-for.html

March 23, 2016 at 6:54 PM

Sleep Tip from the Mentalist TV Show

I like watching the Mentalist TV show and yesterday I got finally around to watch my latest recorded show. To my delight and surprise Patrick Jane's character gave this tip to help you fall asleep: If you have falling asleep you can count sheep or on your in-breath say or think 1 and then when you breath out say or think 2. On your next in-breath say or think 1 and when you breath out say or think 2. Keep on repeating this and you will be surprised that when you wake up it is morning. Give it a try and then connect with me on Facebook and let me know what happened . . . counting sheep

How to Make Simple Square Foot Gardening Templates

backside of template with holes drilled I am just about ready to start planting my square foot garden . Until now I have used string and sticks to mark things, but then I got an idea of how I could easily make some templates from old plastic election signs. The material was easy to cut with a knife and a permanent marker would help with the design. At first I thought that I would need a whole bunch of templates, but as I got going I realized that I could actually get away with only 2 templates. First cut 2 12x12 inch pieces from the plastic signs Draw a grid: template 1: 3 rows and 3 columns template 2: 4 rows and 4 columns Mark the center of each square of the grid by drawing diagonal lines Use the electric drill and a ½" drill bit and drill a hole at each center point. Template 1 Template 1 Grid of 3 row and 3 columns (9 plants - holes circled in blue) This can also be used for 1 plant per square foot (hole circled in black and then blue)

Companion Planting Chart

Have you ever heard of companion planting ? Wikipedia explains it very nicely: Companion planting is the planting of different crops in proximity (in gardening and agriculture), on the theory that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to increasing crop productivity. Companion planting is a form of polyculture. Companion planting is used by farmers and gardeners in both industrialized and developing countries for many reasons. Many of the modern principles of companion planting were present many centuries ago in cottage gardens in England and home gardens in Asia. Check out this helpful chart to find the benefits of companion planting: Let me know if you found this information helpful and write a comment.

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