Square Foot Gardening (Merged Thread)

malamala

I am a complete novice and just happened to learn about https://www.squarefootgardening.com from another thread. I am really fascinated, because it means we can start on a small plot first instead of doing a big patch of land.

Has anyone tried that and will you recommend?

What kind of wood did you use to build the raise bed? Did you use 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost and 1/3 coarse vermiculite as recommended?

Thanks for your advice.

Biddyrolo

Hi, we built our raised beds using the wood from a blown down fence, so whatever wood it is that's used for that. Sorry, that couldn't be less helpful could it.
The beds are 4' wide by 10 or 15' long (depending what bit of the lottie they are on). For planting I just use a square foot measure,start in one corner and then flip it over iyswim.
I had excellent results last year with purple sprouting broccoli, 16 plants in 16 square feet, I was giving it away by the bag full. We use well rotted horse manure, and organic fertilisers (diluted wee on the brassicas, works a treat). I tend to just use the spacings part of the method but I would say it's certainly worth a go. I've also had good results with cabbage,caulis,sweet corn, root veg, pretty much everything apart from brussell sprouts, although the soil in raised beds tends to be not firm enough for them from what I've read in gardening mags.

RAS

Hi

There is a really good basic intro to this on https://www.hdra.org in their schools section, pupil and teacher leaflets.

Mel Bartholomew was a engineer so a lot of his ideas are about construction.

Having said that one of my young colleagues used his website and the HDRA to grow food for the first time last year and loved it. She is doing it again this year.

Do not worry too much about the soil. As long as you have got lots og humas in it, it will grow thing. Humas=garden compost, rotted leaves, manure, etc

stefejb

malamala wrote: »

Did you use 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost and 1/3 coarse vermiculite as recommended?

Thanks for your advice.

I did use the Mel's mix as reccomended and had great success with what was planted. I think each box took about 100 litres of each but I can't really remember. We started ours in september last year so it was mostly leaf salad, radishes, herbs and lettuces which all did really well. Previously I had grown nothing more exotic than mould so we were well pleased. I am going to be a bit more ambitious this year and have some seedlings to go in. I did find it very easy as a novice

kethry

i think a lot depends on how long you actually expect your beds to last for, and how tall you want to build them. If you want them at waist height and you want them to last 20 years, then you really will have to buy good pressure treated timber - any good timber merchant will be able to advise you on the right kind - but if you only expect them to last a couple of years and be a few inches off the ground (like me - i'm in housing association accommodation and when/if we have children, we'd need to move) then you can get away with untreated cheap wood.

I'm doing mine at the moment (see here for various photos and blow-by-blow of what i'm doing!) and i'm using old shelving from a magazine that was moving offices and who let us go there to rip out their old shelving (and the price was right: nothing!). As long as you don't use the type of wood that will fall apart as soon as its exposed to water (i.e. chipboard), then it should last for a couple of years at least, untreated. the worst that will happen is that the wood will warp and be a bit unsightly.

because money is very tight for me, i really could not afford to build on grass and replace the whole topsoil layer, so what i did was to find a local composting firm (happily about 5 minutes walk away) who dropped off a cubic meter for £12.50. I then dug the grass up, dug a spade's depth down to remove the topsoil, put the grass back upside down, put compost on top of that, then replaced the top soil and mixed the two up a little. The weeds should die through lack of light, and the compost will give your plants some oomph. If you're building higher than i am though, you may be able to just build straight onto grass - after all, weeds need light like any other plant and if you bury em under enough soil they'll die and decompose like any other plant.

In addition, Mel's method uses peat moss, there are environmental problems with using peat that you may want to avoid, especially if you are looking to do this for environmental/green reasons.

HTH

keth
xx

malamala

From your experience, this method of planting seems quite good and suited to our needs, as it is easier for us to get a start. And thanks Keth for your website!

We are looking at a temporary structure because we need to sort our our garden eventually. Hubby wants to use the leftover wood we have and I really don't know whether they are treated or not.

Hopefully we will be able to start working on the garden tomorrow morning. We have a big heap of cut down bush in the garden, so we might get rid of them (or are they any good as mulch?). Then we will build a frame and grid and then get some mix from the garden centre. I can't wait!

kethry

malamala wrote: »

From your experience, this method of planting seems quite good and suited to our needs, as it is easier for us to get a start. And thanks Keth for your website!

We are looking at a temporary structure because we need to sort our our garden eventually. Hubby wants to use the leftover wood we have and I really don't know whether they are treated or not.

Hopefully we will be able to start working on the garden tomorrow morning. We have a big heap of cut down bush in the garden, so we might get rid of them (or are they any good as mulch?). Then we will build a frame and grid and then get some mix from the garden centre. I can't wait!

You're very welcome, malamala - although, do remember that's just my experiences, and i'm by no means an expert (quite the opposite, this is my first year of proper gardening...!). Do please look around in books (library books) and the rest of the net!

if its only a temporary structure then i would use the wood you have. The big worry you have with it is whether its been treated with chemicals - i know this is a problem with certain kinds of railway sleepers, that were so fashionable a few years ago, the chemicals and oil can leach out into the soil. If its ex-fencing wood or even shelves from the house or something like that, unless its had lots of leaky paint/oil cans stored on them, then they should be fine.

The bush would be good as mulch if you chip down the twigs/stems. You need a machine for that, if you have a lot to do, it can be worth hiring one from one of those hire places, no idea bout price though i'm afraid. alternatively you could chip it and use it in a composting bin. failing that, some councils are now providing bins for garden waste, the idea being that it all goes off to a composting facility (and yes, i know that happens cos i got my compost from there!). i think most councils now do reduced price composting bins, or you could look into getting a wormery to help with making compost. Its something i'll be looking into getting as well, as soon as i can afford it.

the other tip: if you've built a sturdy frame (i.e. sturdier than mine!) then you could, in theory, knock nails into the top so that they stick out from the wood a bit, then run string between the nails. You can get garden twine from Wilkos quite cheaply. Do make sure to put something ontop of the nails though so that if you put your hand on it (e.g. in a fall) you don't get stabbed. Either that or use a good old fashioned drawing pin.

good luck with the beds - do post a pic when you're done!

keth
xx

nodwah

you can buy new sleepers from B&Q if that's any help.
We have some smashing big bits of wood from the loft that used to hold up the tank but are no longer needed so I'm trying to persuade him to let me make raised beds.
One thing I'd say about the SFG is that peat is not enviromentally friendly as has been said and neither is vermiculite, it's produced from a mineral and takes a great deal of energy to make. I presume it's prpose is for drainage and to give a bit of weight and bulk to the soil so maybe sand or grit would be better. Yes I know they'll have been mined and transported etc too but every things a compromise in the end really.

malamala

We have digged and raked a plot of about 6 square feet and a friend who happened to visit us this morning commented how good our soil is.

Following the advice here, perhaps we won't use vermiculite and peat since they are not very environmental friendly. I might get some compost and sand or grit, but what ratio shall that be?

And besides brussell sprouts, what other veg. is not suitable using square foot gardening?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

ceridwen

Can anyone recommend suitable sources for the "boxes" I need for purposes of beds to put my plants in - cant just put them straight into the earth, as there aint none(!) - I have a paved back yard.

I need something that will last - would prefer wood obviously - but that isnt a realistic option as anything wooden I have ever got for my garden has disintegrated and "died" on me pretty rapidly (a wooden mini-greenhouse for instance warped and "died" in less than a year).

I guess that leaves plastic :eek: - so I'm wondering if there is any around that are not too bad (ie made of recycled materials or something). They also have to be REALLY easy to assemble - as I'm not a DIY person - and reasonably-priced (as I'm on a low income).

lightisfading

I can't recommend them as I've never used them, but these are advertised all the time in grow your own mag:

http://linkabord.co.uk/default.asp