Square Foot Gardening
Here in the East Valley of Phoenix we have a lot of new homes. And almost all the new homes have regular city sized lots. Meaning, the space in the backyard is precious to us.
The East Valley also has lots of farm land. Now, most of us don’t have the space to have a farm, but we enjoy the zen-like qualities of having a garden and planting that garden with vegetables and herbs.
Square Foot Gardening to the Rescue
Square Foot Gardening solves this problem. You can grow vegetables, herbs, and still have room for your pool, BBQ area, lawn, and the other things you enjoy in your landscape retreat.
What is Square Foot Gardening?
The square-foot gardening concept is simple: Build a raised bed, divide the space into sections of one square-foot each, and then plant vegetables (and/or flowers) in just the amount of space they need. The advantages of this system include reduced workload, less watering, easy weeding (and not much of it), and easy access to your crops. All within a tiny space. A great total area size would be a 4×4 section. Then just give enough space between each of these to walk around.
There are 10 basics steps or rules for square foot gardening:
- Layout. Arrange your garden in squares, not rows. Lay it out in 4′x4′ planting areas.
- Boxes. Build boxes to hold a new soil mix above ground.
- Aisles. Space boxes 3′ apart to form walking aisles.
- Soil. Fill boxes with this soil mix: 1/3 blended compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 coarse vermiculite.
- Grid. Make a permanent square foot grid for the top of each box. A MUST.
- Care. NEVER WALK ON YOUR GROWING SOIL. Tend your garden from the aisles.
- Select. Plant a different flower, vegetable, or herb crop in each square foot, using 1, 4, 9, or 16 plants per square foot.
- Plant. Conserve seeds. Plant only a pinch (2 or 3 seeds) per hole. Place transplants in a slight saucer-shaped depression.
- Water. Water by hand from a bucket of sun-warmed water.
- Harvest. When you finish harvesting a square foot, add compost and replant it with a new and different crop.
