Why Are Your Plants in Jail?
By Andrea Peck
Square foot gardening may seem a bit, well, square. I thought so. In fact, I've been holding off on this topic for a while. It's been sitting there brewing in my head for a long, long time.
I'll be honest, it just seemed boring.
I should have known not to judge a book by its cover.
Square foot gardening usually involves a raised bed and always includes a grid-type pattern that has sections that are approximately one foot square. In the beginning, the whole visual effect of tied-off squares and gridded trellising seemed prison-like to me. Maybe I've watched too many late night movies, but I got a little woozy looking at those butterhead lettuces all roped in with nowhere to go. But then I read about the method and it began to seem less penal and more orderly.
There is a mathematical beauty to it.
Square foot gardening was designed in the 1980's by a retired engineer (no surprise there) who quickly realized that ordinary row-type gardening was for the birds. Row gardening originated with the farm and leaves wide swaths between rows of crops for machinery to roll through during weeding and harvesting. In the home garden, the machine is replaced by man and Mel Bartholomew was one man who grew sweaty, sore and grumpy with what he saw as a waste of time, seed and space.
Why spend your time hoeing when you can plant in an organized manner? Mel probably wondered from his recliner. From there a new system was born. The system involved intensive planting which created less weeding, less wasted seed and less time.
Most square foot gardens are made from raised beds that are 4' x 4.' Beds are filled with a very specific soil mix of 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss (or coir and potting soil) and 1/3 compost. The mix makes for a nutrient-rich and well-draining soil.
The bed is then sectioned off in a grid that creates 16 one-foot squares. Each square is devoted to a crop or companion flower. Planting each crop is organized also. Honestly, this is where I was sold. It really is brilliant. Look to your seed packet for spacing requirements. Plants that require 12” of space will live alone in a square. Four plants requiring 6” spacing fit in one square. Nine plants requiring 4” will fit in one square and 16 plants requiring 2” of spacing fit in a square. I made this chart to demonstrate:
|
Plant Spacing |
Number of Plants Per Square |
Some Examples |
|
12” |
1 |
Tomato, broccoli, basil |
|
6” |
4 |
Lettuce, strawberry |
|
4” |
9 |
Spinach |
|
2” |
16 |
Radish, chives, carrots |
Vining plants, such as cucumbers and peas, have a place in the arrangement. Plant those on the north end of your box to maximize sun exposure and build a trellis to accommodate them. Growing vertically is part of the simple practicality of this method.
But, the benefits do not stop there.
Planting in this way allows larger plants to form a canopy over smaller plants which helps retain water and again saves space. Smaller plants act as a living mulch which conserves moisture and fends off weeds. Each square can be tended on an individual basis which makes life less daunting and soil is never compacted because the bed does not get stepped on. Also, the variety of plants creates a dynamic environment – one that does not pass along disease or pests quite so easily, yet attracts a variety of beneficial insects.
I guess it's good to recline once in a while and question our methods. It certainly paid off for Old Mel.