Have you heard of square foot gardening? It is where you plant vegtbles in a 4'x4' square instead of the conventional row. It is suppost to be a more managable way to garden and have a more productive harvest. I have always wanted to try it. Has anyone else tried it? Please respond.
Sure! First heard of it back in early 1980s when Mel Bartholomew published his book on the subject. Mel is still going strong. My garden is still laid out in this manner, and yes, I do think that it uses space more efficiently. Check out www.squarefootgardening.com
Yes, I have definitely heard of it. I actually built 2 - 4 x 4 foot gardens this year. They both did really well. Partly because they were raised beds and partly because they got a lot more sunshine than my regular vegetable garden. I am in the process of adding 3 - 4 x 10 raised beds and I will add more in the future. Eventually I plan to phase out my regular garden all together. It is no longer in a good spot as the trees have grown too high.
I have his origional book and the reason i was asking about it because i thought it was a local print and not well known
I tried it once. It is great for carrots, but irritating for other root crops. Now I plant my rows very close ( around 10 inches), since picking in a small backyard garden is not a big issue. The plant canopy basically shades the soil, and I get maximum growth by insuring the plant spacing is the rows is adequate. This method allows room for the feet for picking purposes, also the rows are easier to mulch. Most of those hair -brained schemes show pictures of the start by drawings, but not the misery of harvesting throughout the season. You only want to dig a few beets out from the center of a 4 by 4 bed a few times, before deciding there has to be a better way.
I remember seeing it on PBS years ago. I have his new book "The All New Square Foot Gardening" I think it is a great way to grow lots of things, but not for everything. In his new book he recommends making up your soil. It consists of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite. It makes a very nice friable soil, but is also an expensive proposition for anyone on a limited budget. Durgan you would have no problem, just reaching in a pulling out the beets in a soil like that. There is no digging required and you definitely don't ever walk on the soil. You also don't have to make the gardens 4 feet wide. You can make them 2 feet wide if you want. Here is his website: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
