March 30
Square Foot Gardening

If you are looking for a way to garden without taking up a lot of space, Square Foot Gardening is a great way to go. Invented by Mel Bartholomew, Square Foot Gardening is a simplified and unique way of gardening. Herbs, flowers and vegetables all grow very well. With this style of gardening, you will have far less weeds to pick, which means it is easier than a traditional garden.

Square Foot Gardening allows you to plant your garden in squares versus rows. There are many ways to grow in a Square Foot Garden, including creating a 4’ by 4’ box. The box can be made our of lumber or plastic boards 8-12" deep. After you make a box, you will divide up sections to make a grid to go over the box. The individual boxes will measure one square foot each. One of the many advantages is you will not have to amend your current soil. The boxes will be filled with a mixture of compost, peat moss and vermiculite, which are all available at Sargent’s. If you choose to use topsoil in place of one, the plants will grow great, but you may have a few more weeds to pull.  The grid can be created easily by putting a string line, bamboo or wood lathe across the box every foot, which should make 16 spaces for plants. In each grid, you can plant anything from one tomato or pepper to several radish or lettuce seeds. With square foot gardening, you will need to keep mature size in mind, when determining how many seeds/plants to put in each grid. Basil, thyme and other herbs also grow well in this style of gardening. Plant the garden near the house to make it a bit easier to reach from the kitchen. When installing your garden, you can create several of them in one area. However, you will want to space them at 3 feet apart to allow a walkway in between the boxes. A vegetable garden will need at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight.

My girlfriend, Amber, planted a square foot garden last year, actually four of them. She loved it! The garden looked great throughout the summer, and it produced a bountiful harvest for her family. This season, she plans to plant even more crops that will grow on a trellis, in order to grow more plants and also see cucumbers and melons grow in the sky and not the ground!

Enjoy your new way of gardening and share some of those tomatoes with the neighbors. It’s the neighborly thing to do.

Let me know if you have any questions or have an interest in something you'd like to read about. I can be reached at wajasper@sargentsgardens.com.

Have a Happy Day in the Garden!
Wendy Jasper
MNLA Certified Professional

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