Square foot gardening
Jessdines
Posts: 30
I keep hearing the term square foot gardening. Has anyone out there tried it?
does it work?
0
Jessdines
Posts: 30
Jessdines
Posts: 30
Jessdines
Posts: 30
Jessdines
Posts: 30
I keep hearing the term square foot gardening. Has anyone out there tried it?
does it work?
Posts
I sort of use a 'close bed' system, the theory is you plant closer than normal with the veg; you get less yield than usual per plant, but more yield per sq. m.
It works ok for me as I only have about 23 sq. m. for veg.
Our new house has a raised bed which is 1 meter wide by about 4 meters long with a fence at the back
it gets sun morning to midd afternoon and is well drained. There is already rhubarb, mint and asparagus with 2 overgrown roses which will be moved. I can't decide whether to plant in rows or blocks. Juso hoping for some suggestions
Oooh get rid of the mint and put a clump into a pot ASAP, as it is v. invasive. Plants like sweet corn do better in blocks for pollination reasons. I have read that if you are planting in rows have them going North to South, not sure if this is important. Rows are easier to hoe/weed between. Good luck with it all, it is a good size for close planting. Try to get 'The Vegetable and herb expert' book, by Dr. D G. Hessayon
that will give you planting distances it has a chart showing closer distances for the 'bed' system.
Hi there i run a garden project and we are using the square foot garden method for an area of our garden. Mel bartholomew's book on the subject is a very good read. In a 4 foot by 3 foot section divided into 12 blocks we have mixed fruit (strawberries) with veg (lettuce, radish, beetroot, cabbage) and herbs (rosemary, lavender) alongside flowers (sunflower, lupins, calendula). As a trial we have planted 1 cabbage to a block and about 8 lettuce or radish in their respective blocks. The mix of plants seems to work well and the added colour of the flowers should be very appealing to the eyes!
thank you for th advice. Re the mint, its already been potted and the remaining roots are out.
The rhubarb is a big plane which I aim to move in the aurumn, I have a nice area by the shed for that, lots of old manure waiting to go into the planting hole.
Not sure what to do with the asparagus lol. Ill have to think on that.
I'll look up the books too.
Thank you again
i tried this at my other garden with some success. In this one I have 3 raised beds 4ft x 8ft and have divided them up into 2ft squares, using same principle of planting in blocks, so closer together, tried lines last year and found it not as successful in a small space, perhaps it's dowm to what i am used to. So far so good with blocks.
Square foot gardening is the practice of planning and creating small but intensively planted gardens. The practice combines concepts from other organic gardening methods, including a strong focus on compost, densely planted raised beds and biointensive attention to a small, clearly defined area.