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Gardening in
Small Areas
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Gardening In A Square Foot
Shaan Randow
If you haven’t heard of square foot gardening, you’re about to
learn one of the most useful and versatile gardening techniques
ever created. Conceived by Mel Bartholomew, author of Square
Foot Gardening, the techniques have been enthusiastically
adopted by gardeners all over the world. Square foot gardening
is eminently suited for container gardening, patio and roof
gardening, backyard gardening, organic gardening, herb gardens,
vegetable gardens, flower gardens and more.
The basic concept is to start small – the unit of measure is
the square foot. Although Bartholomew’s original square foot
garden was four feet square, many schools, community gardens
and home gardeners start even smaller – a couple of one square
foot containers is plenty to get you started. According to
Bartholomew though, a four square foot garden provides just
enough harvest for one person.
How to Create A Square Foot Garden
Creating your own square foot garden is as easy as building (or
buying) a box in which to garden. My own first square foot
garden was a two square foot garden on the cement apron outside
my back door in a city apartment. I used four square wicker
plastic lined wicker wastebaskets bought for a dollar apiece at
the All-for-a-Buck store. Any container that can hold 6-8” of
dirt, and has drainage holes in the bottom will work. The
biggest requirement for location is sun – choose a nice, sunny
spot to place your garden.
Did I say dirt? Amend that. Bartholomew recommends what he
calls ‘Mel’s mix’ instead of soil. Mix 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3
peat moss and 1/3 compost to fill the squares of your box or
container. A 10 pound bag of each was plenty to fill my little
2 square foot garden.
Choosing and Laying Out the Plants for Your Square Foot Garden
The most important factor in laying out your garden is the
one-square-foot grid. You’ll be planting one type of plant in
each square – how many of them depends on the recommended
spacing between plants – which you’ll find on the back of the
seed packets. Depending on the needs of the specific seedlings,
you can plant 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants in each square. To break it
down – if the recommendation on the seed packet is 1 foot
apart, you can plant 1 in a square. If they need six inches
between plants, you can plant 4. Two inches gives you room for
9 plants, and one inch spacing means you can fit 16 plants into
one square foot.
My own first square foot garden was a spaghetti garden with
this layout:
1 Basil Plant 4 Tomato plants
1 Oregano Plant 16 Onion plants
After You Harvest Your Square Foot Garden
Harvest the crop in each square foot when it’s ready, and
continue harvesting until it’s no longer producing
fruit/vegetables. At that point, uproot the plants in that
square (use them for compost!), and plant another, different
crop. By refilling and rotating the crops, you avoid depleting
the natural nutrients of the soil, and keep every bit of space
productive throughout an entire growing season.
About The Author: This article courtesy of
http://www.floral-world.org
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