Easiest Way to Garden: Square Foot Gardening

I have been gardening for over twenty years now. I began gardening in the suburbs of Denver and we started with six square foot boxes. We used the Square Foot Gardening method and I still stand by this method today.

This is why:

It’s easy.  The process is so manageable. As Mel Bartholomew, the inventor of this method states, gardening should be fun. I concur. It shouldn’t break your back and leave you dreading garden season.

You can grow a lot in a little space. The concept is one square foot of garden space; how you utilize that space is dependent on the plant you choose to plant.

It doesn’t have to break the bank.  As with any endeavor, gardening can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Square foot gardening can be done quite cheaply.

The Mel Mix recipe for gardening soil is a GAME CHANGER and it is the one thing – the ABSOLUTE ONE THING – I would not change, not mess with, not tweak.

Easy Peasy:

I’ll start with the mathematical concept behind square foot gardening. Each square foot can accommodate a certain amount of plants dependent on the amount of space needed for a plant to grow. For example, carrots are smaller, so I can plant 16 carrots in one square foot. A bell pepper takes an entire square foot per plant. If you want it to be extra easy, you can purchase a Seeding Square which is color coated to tell you where to place your seeds following the Square Foot Gardening method.

Space:

It’s called square foot gardening for a reason. One square foot is such an easy concept to grasp and once you know what you want to plant, you simply look at the guidelines and plant accordingly. Mel’s book has a quick reference guide for this – no need to read all of it, it’s fast and to the point.  He explains exactly how many seeds to plant per plant per square foot. Location is important when you choose a space. You want a good amount of sun and you don’t want it so far away that it’s a hike to get there.

Money:

A square foot garden can be done quite cheaply.  We have used pine wood and we have used cedar – both degraded at the same rate.  You’ll read that cedar should last longer but it did not for us. You could line your garden with bricks, rocks, cinder blocks, logs, branches, hay bales, or nothing. You could plant in large pots. If you decide to go with wood, don’t pick your poison, in other words, AVOID treated wood. Mel discusses pallets – I wouldn’t do this. There’s no telling how the pallet wood was treated and any chemicals in the wood become chemicals in your garden. One suggestion that we have found helpful to make your wood last longer is to simply char your untreated wood on the inside before pouring the dirt. Final suggestion I would add that costs more money, but saves money in the long run, is in regard to containers. We are huge fans of Vego boxes.  We have purchased brand name Vego and knock-off versions. The knock-offs are pretty awful and I wouldn’t recommend them so be careful if you consider doing that.

Mel Mix/Soil Recipe:

I want to state this as emphatically as I can – DO THIS. Do not skip this step. I have never, ever, had such great soil as I had using this particular soil mix method created by Mel. It required no fertilizing, no testing, no wondering…why oh why aren’t my seeds growing, or why are my plants not robust? We made our own soil in Denver and we never, ever, had an issue growing anything. When we moved to our house in the country we decided to splurge and have a local company drop off a truck load of soil. Big mistake. We also bought soil pre-made at various stores in town. Another big mistake. Our garden has never been quite right due to our soil in our boxes. Not only was this soil expensive, we then had to test it, fix it, and still continually try to refurbish it. It’s been an exhausting process! I wish we had put in the time to make the Mel Mix and not waste our money and time on something that I thought would be fast and worth the investment. We’ve been trying to fix our soil for easily five years. This coming spring, we’re simply starting over and doing the Mel Mix like we did back in Denver.

What else?

The square foot gardening method can be elaborate or basic. You pick. The pictures I’ve shared here are from our square foot garden in Denver. We had 4 x 4 boxes. We now have 4 x 8 boxes. You can do it based on what works for your space – maybe you have a long narrow space so 1 x 10 works for you? Make them tall….make them low to the ground, you decide! You can have trellises….aka vertical gardening….or not!

How do you water your square foot garden?

This is based on personal preference. Mel prefers watering by hand and so do I. My husband loves a good drip system but I find it to be more trouble than it’s worth. I personally love being outside and enjoying the garden and my quiet time. Mel has an entire section devoted to watering options and I will leave it to him to tell you more. There is a new edition of Square Foot Gardening available since I purchased my twenty years ago.

Final thoughts:

If you have never gardened before this is a great method for any new gardener. If you already garden and your process is working for you, drop a comment below sharing your process. Happy gardening everyone and many thanks to Mel Bartholomew for his impact on our homesteading lives.