It's Hip To Be Square!

I remember about fifteen or twenty years ago, there was a television program on the Public Broadcasting Network hosted by Mel Bartholomew called Square Foot Gardening. I was intrigued by this, since I lived in town on a long, narrow lot with the hardest clay imaginable. We had truckloaded yards of peat, top soil, etc., to no avail. There was so much hardpan to improve that there was just no way we were going to add enough compost and other amendments to that soil to make any real gardening attempts worthwhile in a short span of time. Couple that with a lawn that was more weed than grass and compaction from 80 years duration, we really inherited a mess from the previous owners. You can imagine my excitement: This program was the answer to my prayers!

Now, the concept itself is nothing new. The Chinese and other people with small spaces or difficult soils and terrains have been doing this for years. Look at the small but intensively spaced plants growing in an urban garden in any large European city. It just took those of us who live in the (relatively) wide open spaces a bit longer to catch on. Let's face it: We Yanks are not real fond of "new" ideas nor do we give up our old ways easily! Regardless, the square foot method is catching on.

The idea of square foot and intensive gardening is simple: Raise the beds, and plant closely. Put the best soil possible in those spaces, and the added drainage and the enriched soil can help the gardener to successfully grow various flowers and crops that might otherwise languish or fail in the open ground. These are huge containers, after all, and can be much more closely planted than in the traditional garden.

The first thing to realize is that this method may be about the easiest way to grow great plants in difficult soil conditions, but the initial setup takes a little work and effort. Once the prep work is done, however, the rest will be easy to maintain.

You will need to decide which location in your yard will be best suited for your needs. Drainage is one concern: While the raised beds will be high enough to facilitate good drainage on their own, if you have the beds placed in an area where water naturally pools, this will not help those squares to dry out after a soaking rain. Find a spot where water does not pool.

Another consideration is sun. If you are growing plants of any type that require full sun, you will need about six to eight hours of full sun a day. Likewise, if you are growing shade garden plants, you will need to locate those squares in a shaded area of your yard. Just locate the squares according to what plants you would like to grow.

Materials for building the squares themselves can be cedar or redwood boards, concrete blocks, interlocking pavers, etc. Pressure treated lumber would work for non-edibles. There are some questions about the suitability of pressure treated lumber when growing vegetables or edible herbs, so it would be wise to stay away from using this type of lumber in the edible garden.

You will not be walking on these squares, but you will need to be reaching in to work. After you have decided on the location, remove the grass layer and stack the pieces upside down and lay a tarp over them in an out of the way area so they can rot down. Then, build these squares so they will be accessible from at least three and ideally four sides. Build the boxes or stack the building blocks in four foot squares or four by six foot rectangles, about eighteen inches or so deep. Lay this out on your ground, and keep a couple of feet or so in between the squares for walking or mowing purposes, or remove the grass between as well and mulch between the rows.

When I set my system up, there was no compost pile in my yard. I ended up getting municipal compost from the city compost site and mixed in soilless potting mix, which has liberal amounts of sphagnum moss, perlite and vermiculite. I personally used about a 50:50 mixture of both of these materials. Fill in your squares. Let this settle for a few days after watering, and then topped them off where needed with more soil.

Next, devise a grid for your garden. You want sixteen squares per each 4x4 foot unit. There would be 24 if you had a 4x6 foot unit. Larger plants such as tomatoes, corn, broccoli, squash, cabbages, and bell peppers can be spaced in one foot grids. Smaller crops such as leaf lettuce, carrots, beets, bush beans and spinach can be planted closer, about four to nine plants or seeds to each individual foot square. If you are growing pole beans or other plants vertically, place the trellises on the north side of your squares, particularly the northernmost squares, to keep from overshading the other plants in the squares. This also holds true for taller crops such as corn.

When planting annual or perennial flowers, take the final size into consideration. Most flowers will do well on a one plant per square foot spacing. Larger plants might require two square foot spacing.

This is a method of gardening that I would recommend to anyone. It is a wonderful way to have many plants in a small space. This method is also ideal for those who have physical limitations as the squares themselves are easily accessible from all sides. The plants are grown intensively to prevent weeds from overtaking the spaces. Weeding, if needed, is a snap and not an overwhelming task.

So, if you want to garden, but don't want a lot of maintenance chores, consider the square foot gardening method. It will make gardening an enjoyable experience, and just might be the way to grow for you!