Square Foot
Gardening: Maximum Food in Minimum Space!
Developed by
Mel Bartholomew, Square Foot Gardening maximizes food yields in small gardens
by using successive planting techniques and intensive spacing. It’s perfect for
raised beds, but it works well in the ground too.
The garden is
divided into one-foot square blocks, and each square is planted with a
different crop. Instead of planting thickly and later thinning the seedlings,
gardeners plant based on the “mature” or “thinned” spacing recommended on the
seed packet. For example:
·
The
seed packet says to sow lettuce 1" apart, then thin to 6" apart.
·
Instead,
plant the lettuce seeds 6” apart.
·
In
a 1' x 1' square, you plant 4 lettuce seeds 6” apart.
Plants that
should be spaced 3” apart can be planted 16 to a square, while 1’ plants are
planted 1 per square. Bigger plants are either trained up trellises or planted
in an 18" x 18" square.
As soon as
plants are harvested from a square, more compost is added, then the square
planted with a different crop. A 4’ x 4’ square foot garden can provide enough
salad crops for two adults for the whole growing season.
Check in with
IWFM sponsor Spotts Garden Service at the Market this Saturday for a
demonstration of planting a raised bed, square-foot-gardening style. For more detailed information, visit their latest blog post here.
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