Square Foot Gardening

Hola, esta muy bien detallado todo el proceso para realizar el cultivo felicitaciones.-

I'm SO pleased to see this feature, as I've been devouring Mel's book since late last summer. I'm presently preparing eight 4'x4' framed beds with 1"x6" lumber. I'd intended to mark off the squares with 1"x1" strips, but when I saw these pictures with the layer's tape I called my hardware store ASAP. Yes, they had it and it's very reasonably priced. We've had an abundance of rain in Howard County. My original garden spot's still calf deep in mud and water. I've excellent soil on my three acres, so finding another (smaller) spot wasn't hard. I have a lot of soil maintenance to do, but hope to plant all my seeds next week. My tomato and pepper plants'll have to wait until I get my social security check in May. I've set up and planted a kitchen garden, off my mobile home back porch. I read somewhere that if you put four feet of chicken wire on the ground around your garden, NO critters will touch it. So far so good and I've an abundance of deer in general and rabbits in particular, so I pray this will work. I must mention that a couple older than me - I'm 66 years young - told me about a recent show where you talked about Square Foot Gardening and they're giving it a lot of thought for the future. He has three huge gardens and sells most of his vegetables. I've offered to loan them my book this fall. What a small world. Anyway, I love your newletter and I'm proud that you're from Arkansas. Too many people poke fun at us! So, take care and keep those ideas coming! PS: I've lived most of my adult life practicing the thought that "digging in the soil's good for the soul! I'm not always successful with my gardening, but I try.

I have just been gifted with asparagus crowns and have very little sun. Can I plant them in my perrenial bed? and how do I do that? Sondra

My husband and I are going to put a 8 by 8 garden in our back yard, what else can we use for the garden sides ??? Can we use say concrete blocks?? Or what else ?? Thank You, Mary Ann So Bend, Indiana

Allen, you need to read Mels book. An 8x8 garden is not the way it is done. You have to be able to reach each foot of a SFG and 8x8 is way too big. Mels way is 4x4, because you can reach in and tend each sq without walking in your bed. Children can do it with a 3x3, and it can be done tabletop 2x4 for the wheelchair bound. I love your site.

Spinach planted last fall didn't grow, but come March - bonanza! Just picked my biggest bowl full of fresh spinach. Best crop ever!

Love to read about the gardening you do.

I love Square Foot Gardening! I was excited to see that you were featuring it on your program. I am so excited to get your professional oppinion on the results of the method. The only problem I notced right off was the bed you designed is too big. 8'X8 ' makes it difficult to reach across 4 feet to plant, weed, water and harvest the vegetables and herbs, especially for children or elderly. I hope that you do not get discouraged by it for that reason. That is the beauty of the Square Foot Gardening system, it is easy to reach when the beds are designed with the "2' maximum reach is incorporated into the initial design of the bed. The beds , by SFG standards, should be no larger than 4 feet at any given width, so that you can access the bed's plants from any side at an arms length. It is one of the specific designs of SFG method. Mel Bartholomew specifys this in his books. I did love your idea of the tape . It may not last very long as the growing season goes on but it is a good and economical way to set up the grid for planting and spacing purposes. Thanks for inspiring me to get out and get my SFG boxes going this spring! My children won 2nd place in a summer 4H contest the first season we tried SFG, and we were competing with two other families in the neighborhood where the parents were Master Gardeners! I was stunned by how little maintainance that garden was the. I think getting the soil mix correct by using Mel's soil mix recipe was absolutely key to the success of almost non-existent weeding and healthy robust plants. The best part was it helped the kids realize how FUN and SIMPLE gardening can be!