Square foot gardening

Adrienne · 27 July 2005 at 11:13PM

Anyone know anything about this. Apparently it's a great way to grow a variety of fruit and veg in a relatively small space.

I am thinking about growing some veggies next year (ideally onions, tomatoes, salad leaves and maybe some peas)

Any info and tips gratefully received

Adrienne

anguk · 28 July 2005 at 12:26AM

I've never heard of it before but a quick google threw up these:
http://www.squarefootgardening.org.uk/resources.htm
http://www.hdra.org.uk/schools_organic_network/lz_sqfoot.htm

Amazon also sell a book about it:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0878573410/026-8821437-5365257

aromaannie · 28 July 2005 at 12:57AM

Don't know wbout square foor gardening but I grow all my vegies in containers. As long as the conatiners are big enough you can grow anything (although crops may be a bit smaller). I grow salad, baby carrots, spring onions, corn on the cob and potatoes.

apprentice_tycoon · 28 July 2005 at 7:36AM

I agree about the containers, I use builders buckets (B&Q) and other deeper ones that I gleaned from a fudge making shop shop. I grow leeks, mange tout, new potaotes, french beans, strawberries, courgettes and carrots in mine - I only thin the carrots very lightly so they are almost touching shoulders when they are around 4" long so you get lots out of one bucket and because it's off the ground you get less chance of carrot root fly attack

born_blonde · 28 July 2005 at 8:31AM

I've had a go at this. I found the book Square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew to be very good. Basically it's sequential planting in reduced space. Decide what you want to eat and how much a week say and then work out what to sow when. The book has neat diagrammes showing suggested planting and spacing. I built some planters 4' x4' and found they were to large, 3' x 4' would have been better. The best thing is that you don't get so many gluts but staggered harvesting. If I could afford it I would build raised planters.
Hope this helps.

Loadsabob · 28 July 2005 at 11:11AM

born_blonde wrote:

I've had a go at this. I found the book Square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew to be very good.

I'd second this. My three veg beds are divided into square feet - I have 29 of them...or is it 27, I can't be sure! But I have managed garlic in quite a few squares over the Winter, leaving those squares free for other things this time of year. I have three big lettuces to a square, eight leeks, one potato plant, four cabbages, one chard, 9 beetroot, etc etc...you can choose the smaller varieties of veg to enable you to fit the most possible in. It's nice that when a crop is finished in a square, you can either pop something else in, or plant a green manure, or dig in manure, whatever you like, without waiting until a whole section of the garden is finished with.

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Square foot gardening

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