Last year, I planted my first ever square root, raised bed vegetable garden with my girlfriend and had no idea what I was doing. This year, I’ll read up on it first. Brilliant, right?
The Big Idea: Square foot, raised bed gardening will give you more vegetables with much less work, money, and space. For the home gardener, smaller is better.
Why square foot gardens?
- Makes your work easier since there is less soil and less garden to take care of
- Makes water faster since there’s less garden to water
- Makes weeding easier since there’s less garden to weed
- Creates living mulch which helps create healthier soil and keep weeds away
- Is more pleasant to look at, which makes you more like to spend time caring for your garden
- Makes vegetable garden more practical for urbanites, since you can have a productive garden almost anywhere
- Makes protective plants from the weather or pests with a cage or box possible since the garden is smaller
- Gives the soil the right texture since you will never be walking on the soil.
How do you get started?
- Build or buy a box with sides about 12″ high.
- Place the box in an area with lots of sunshine.
- Fill the box with good soil and compost.
- Divide the box into 12″ x 12″ squares.
- Each 12″ x 12″ square should get one type of vegetable.
- Decide what you want to grow (look this up in a reference book or web site.)
- Some vegetables (peppers) require the entire 12″ x 12″ square. Other vegetables (carrots) can fit 16 to a 12″ x 12″ square.
- Keep tall-growing plants on the north side of your garden.
- Support your tall-growing, vining plants like tomatoes and cucumbers with stakes, cages, or trellises.
- Look up which month to plant which vegetables. (The average growing season is May to September.)
- Water with a bucket of warm water and a cup. Daily, when they are just starting, then weekly, or more, if you live in a hot climate.
- Weed your garden once a week.
- Remove pests by hand if you can, or use natural pest deterrents.
- Fertilize as needed.
- Harvest when ready (look this up in a reference book or web site.)