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)

Template 2

Template 2

• This one is truly a multi-use template
• Grid 4 rows and 4 columns (16 plants - holes circled in blue)
• Grid 2 rows and 2 columns (4 plants - holes circled in black)
• This can also be used for 1 plant per square foot (hole circled in black and then blue)

• I also created a template with just strips from the plastic sign.
•  I used gardening wire to attache the strips to each other. On the back picture I twisted the wires together and tucked the ends underneath.
• This template can be used the same way as template 2.

front

back

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