Square Foot Gardening
I’m a huge proponent of square foot gardening. If someone asks me for advice about getting started on gardening, I always recommend they start with the square foot method. That’s not true. I actually recommend that they start with a pot or two of something they like to eat, see how that goes, and then, if the pots are a success, graduate to the square foot method.
My parents bought me our square foot box a few years ago for my birthday, and it has been a much-loved birthday gift. I try to plant my spring plants in the square foot, harvest them all by the beginning of June, and then transplant peppers and winter squash into the bed after the spring plants are finished. This year, that plan looks like it is very likely to fail. Things just aren’t growing as well as usual in the square foot, except for the snap peas (back row), but even those should be about double in size by now. I need to thin out the radishes and kale (front two rows), but there’s so few of them to begin with that I’m having a hard time messing with it. I’ll keep you posted on how things end up.
Just because I’m having some problems this year in the wettest, coolest spring in Indiana in years doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give square footing a try. Check out these sites for more information on the square foot method:
- Why square foot gardens?
- Step-by-step instructions to start your own square foot garden
- Just go straight to the source and buy the book
- Great blog from a long-time square footer
- The official SFG website
