Backyard Gardening: The Beginner's Guide To Square Foot Gardening And Urban Gardening (2024)

FAQs

Does square foot gardening work? ›

The Bottom Line. Square foot gardening is a solid gardening method for any home gardener, especially beginners and people who are short on space. The drawbacks (while real) all have fairly simple solutions. Of course, it's all about your individual needs and preferences, but if it interests you, we say give it a whirl!

Some of these detriments, according to Bartholomew, are the amount of space single-row production requires, the large amount of soil amendments needed, and the amount of seed used to plant the rows.

Plant Your Favorite Veggies

If you're building more than one raised square-foot garden bed, leave enough space between them to roll a wheelbarrow. The formula for planting is simple: one extra-large plant per 1x1-foot square; four large plants per square; nine medium plants per square; and 16 small plants per square.

Garden Manager is a web app that allows you to visually create your beds, then say what you want to plant per square foot. Based on your information that you give it about the amount of sunlight the bed gets, and how deep your soil is, and your planting zone, it will help you choose the best vegetables to plant.

If the Seed Packet Recommends Plant Spacing Of: 3 inches, you can fit 16 plants in each square foot. 4 inches, you can fit 9 plants in each square foot.

For square foot gardening, you will need to build a raised garden bed or reallocate one that you already have. Typically, for best ease of use and accessibility to the garden bed, it is recommended to start with raised beds that measure approximately 4 ft x 4 ft with depths of 6-12 inches.

As a general rule, put tall veggies toward the back of the bed, mid-sized ones in the middle, and smaller plants in the front or as a border. Consider adding pollinator plants to attract beneficial insects that can not only help you get a better harvest, but will also prey on garden pests.

It is a well known fact that you should never grow the same crop in the same botanical family in the same soil year after year. This is especially true of cole crops(cabbage, broccoli and others) and the nightshade family (tomatoes, potatoes etc.). For best results, you should always rotate all your plants.

Mel's Mix is a carefully chosen, balanced growing medium consisting of 1/3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 blended compost. It is ph neutral, nutrient rich, friable, and well draining without drying out. All three ingredients play their part in creating this winning combination.

You start with a mix of soil made up of compost, vermiculite and peat moss. Then you divide your garden space into square feet, planting each foot according to the number of plants you can plant per square foot.

How do I arrange my square foot garden? ›

To keep the planting simple, there are no plant spacings to remember. Instead, each square has either 1, 4, 9, or 16 plants in it, depending on the size of the plant—easy to position in each square by making a smaller grid in the soil with your fingers.

4″ plant spacing = plant 9 in each square. 6″ plant spacing = plant 4 in each square. 12″ plant spacing = plant 1 in each square. Some plants (such as melons, large squash, and tomatoes) require more than one square.

Developed by Mel Bartholomew, Square Foot Gardening maximizes food yields in small gardens by using successive planting techniques and intensive spacing. While originally developed strictly for use with raised beds, we've found these techniques work well when gardening directly in the ground, too.

With good soil and close planting, you might estimate a conservative yield of about 1 pound per square foot. So in a 400-square-foot garden — just 20 by 20 feet — you can grow enough veggies for yourself.

Square foot gardening is the practice of dividing the growing area into small square sections. The aim is to assist the planning and creating of a small but intensively planted vegetable garden. It results in a simple and orderly gardening system, from which it draws much of its appeal.

Generally speaking, 200 square feet of garden space per person will allow for a harvest that feeds everyone year-round. For an average family of four, plan for an 800 square-foot garden—a plot that's 20 feet by 40 feet in size should do the trick.

Typically, SFG beds are at least 4 feet by 4 feet, with a square foot lattice placed on top to visually separate the crops. That said, the beds can be 2x 2 feet or 4x12 feet, but the most common is 4x4 feet. This allows plants to be situated more closely together.