Square Foot Organic Gardening

Would you like to create an organic garden, but have such a small yard that you really don't think it's possible to have any sort of garden at all? Cheer up – you may just be able to create a square foot garden, and find yourself with a great vegetable harvest all through the growing season (and maybe even beyond).

If you've never heard of a "square foot garden", it may be because the original concept, and the PBS television series with Mel Bartholomew, started in the early 1980s. And while the idea is widely known in certain circles, this sort of garden is probably not the first thing mentioned in other gardening programs or advice columns. But it's a very feasible way to use limited space and produce great results.

Square foot garden bed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The idea is to create a new, raised bed on top of an existing space, with soil at least 12 inches deep, divided into squares of one foot each. The raised bed can be created inside a large cardboard box with the bottom taken out, or at least inside some kind of low enclosure, just so long as it enables you to have that 12-inch depth of soil. So if you have a space measuring four feet by four feet, for example, you'd divide it into 16 one-foot squares, separating each square with some sort of slat or raised length of twine so you can distinguish them as the plants grow and get bushy. And a different sort of plant would go into each square.

Using this method means that all the plants are quite reachable, so weeding, pruning, and even composting are easy to accomplish. You always construct the raised bed so that you are never leaning farther than a second row of plants, when watering or doing anything else. (So a four-foot square would need to be accessible from all sides.) The plant bed never becomes compacted from your walking on it, and therefore you don't need a lot of heavy tools that would normally be used for breaking up packed soil. Watering is easier, since it can be applied more carefully with a watering can, and not just sprayed indiscriminately with a hose. In addition, in the smaller space, water is retained better. And the plants will tend to help each other by "shading out" weeds before they can really take root. Any weeds that do take hold can be much more easily removed.

Diseases won't spread very easily, because the plant in the next bed over is likely to be resistant to something that might attack any particular plant. And often you can put "companion" plants side by side, so that one can protect the other from certain insects. (You may need to research which plants are good "companions" for which others.)

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But how will you know which plants work best in just one square foot? It's not that hard to figure out. For a large vegetable, such as cauliflower, you would plant just one, in the very center. You would put one tomato plant in the square, and set up some kind of trellis so it could grow upward (large tomato plants may require more than one square - see the Square Foot Gardening book for space requirements and spacing for different plant types). The same principle would operate for other trailing plants like beans or cucumber.

On the Square Foot Gardening Foundation website, originated by Mel Bartholomew, the recommendation is that you take your cue from the seed packet itself: "If the seed packet recommends plant spacing be 12 inches apart, plant one plant per square foot. If 6 inch spacing; 4 per square foot. If 4 inch spacing; 9 per square foot. If 3 inch spacing; 16 per square foot." Plant only two or three seeds in each spot, and save the rest of the seeds in your refrigerator.

In many ways, this sort of garden can produce even more than would a regular small garden planted right in the ground. If one sort of plant is harvested early, you can then remove that plant, toss on some compost, and put another vegetable in the same spot.

If you've got quite a small space, but still want an organic garden, the square foot garden just might be your solution. It's relatively easy, requires less maintenance than a regular garden, and produces great mini-crops for you to enjoy. Check out the resources below if you would like more information on this unique type of gardening.

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