By Sally Hansley Odum
Now is the perfect time to plant a spring garden and Square Foot Gardens (SFG) are the easiest gardens of all! Did you ever think you didn’t have enough land for a garden? You were probably thinking about a traditional row garden. Square Foot Gardens can be put into a space as little as 3 X 3 (square meter garden) or 4 X 4. They can be located on decks, patios, in front yards, back yards and even on rooftops! SFG’s are particularly nice for city- and apartment-dwellers with limited yard space.
What you’ll need for a Square Foot Garden
- Trowel
- Mel’s Mix
- Transplants or seeds
- 4 X 4 raised garden bed
- 4 X 4 grid for the top of the bed
- Landscape fabric
About Square Foot Gardening
Mel Bartholomew is the Founder and President of Square Foot Gardening Foundation (SFGF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to teaching everyone in the world how to garden more simply and economically, thereby helping end world hunger. Mel is the author of the best-selling garden book of all time, ALL NEW Square Foot Gardening. Victoria Boudman is CEO of SFGF. Square Foot Gardening is an intensive gardening method that uses less water, seeds, work, tools and time, but grows four times the harvest of a traditional row garden in the same area!
The Famous “Mel’s Mix” or SFG Potting Mix Formula
The official SFG formula is one part coarse vermiculite, one part peat moss, and one part blended composts. Mel recommends using several different composts to increase and diversify nutrients available to your plants. Peat moss and vermiculite have a dry dust so don’t mix on a windy day. You may choose to buy Square Foot Garden Potting Mix from SFGF’s retail store in Columbia, South Carolina.
How to Build a 4 X 4 Raised Bed Garden
Make your own beds or purchase raised bed kits. Check the SFGF online store (www.squarefootgardening.com) for raised bed kits and grids. If you’d like to make your own, buy two 2X6 untreated boards (sold in 8-foot lengths). Untreated is important because the chemicals on treated wood may leach into your plants. Have the store staff cut them in half. Now you have four 4-foot boards. Rotate the corners so that each successive board overlaps the previous. Secure each corner with three screws. Locate a site close to your home that gets six to eight hours of daily sunlight. Place landscape fabric inside the bed. Fill with SFG potting mix and place the grid on top.
Spacing & Watering for the Square Foot Garden
“SFG uses plant spacing depending on the mature plant’s size: 1, 4, 9, or 16 holes per square. Smaller plants such as radishes and carrots – or any with a recommended spacing of 3 inches or less- will be planted a pinch (two or three seeds) to a square. Medium size plants, including spinach, turnips, and bush beans to name a few, will require nine plants per square. Large plants requiring 6-inch spacing, such as leaf lettuce and parsley, will be planted four to a square. Finally, extra large plants such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, tomatoes and bell peppers will be given one square each.”¹ Mel recommends watering plants with sun-warmed rain water.
Watch your Garden Grow & Enjoy the Harvest
If you’ve followed all these steps, all you need to do now is water and watch your garden grow. There is no need for fertilizer – all nutrients needed by the plants are in the blended composts. It does not matter what condition your soil is in – you don’t use it. There will be no weeds since you are not using soil that is filled with hidden weed seeds. Very little gardening knowledge is required, so a novice gardener or even children can grow successfully with SFG! When you harvest a plant, refill the square with a handful of compost, and replant something new. Gardening has never been easier.
