The New Square Foot Garden
Posted by Ellen · April 16th, 2008I participated in a gardening workshop recently at East Side Cafe in Austin, TX. East Side Cafe sits on an acre of beautiful land surrounded by dozens of pecan trees. A third of the acre is designated as a wonderful organic garden where organic herbs, vegetables, and flowers have been harvested for 15 years for use in the restaurant’s kitchen. Not only is the food wonderful, but the garden is a beautiful sight.
The subject of the workshop was based on a book by Mel Barthomew called The New Square Foot Garden. The premise of the book is that anyone can grow a garden with little effort in a 4 x 4 frame that will yield more harvest than an 8 x 10 garden bed. After testing this concept for more than 30 years, Mel continues to perfect this concept of gardening. My interest was peaked when I learned that in this 4 x 4 square, vegetables, herbs, and flowers all are mixed together. The idea is that the plants provide and share nutrients with one another, attract bees for pollination and repel insects.
Here are the steps that I learned in this workshop for easy, organic gardening:
1. Pick a spot in your garden that receives 6 to 8 hours of sunlight each day and in an area that does not puddle when it rains.
2. Make 4 x 4 squares built out of untreated wood. We used 1 x 6 untreated pine. It is best to use untreated wood so that chemicals do not leech out of the wood, into the soil and into your plants.
2. If you plan to have more than one 4 x 4 square, make sure that you space the boxes 3 feet apart for walkways.
3. Do not dig out the ground underneath. You will be making your own soil mixture by mixing 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat, and 1/3 coarse vermiculite. Fill the box so that it is evenly, six inches deep. The best way to do this is to water the soil mixture down as you are filling the box to make sure that it is a true six inches deep. No fertilizers are needed. If you plan to put the box in an area where grass is growing, be sure to either dig out grass or put down cardboard or weedcloth first so the grass/weeds do not become a nuisance to your garden.
4. The next step is to build a grid with either wood, string, plastic (really any material) over the top of the box so that there are 16 squares inside the 4 x 4 box. Use screws or rivets to secure cross points.
This step is very important because the grid is the unique feature that makes the system work so well. There will be sixteen different plants, one in each grid section. Leave the grid in place all season as it helps to keep each plant neat and separate and it provides support for the plants in the beginning when they need it the most. We nailed the grid to the outside the frame as opposed to having it lay inside the frame on top of the soil. Either way works.
5. Plant one or two seeds in each hole you make with your finger and cover the seeds without packing the soil. You can plant a healthy mixture of herbs, vegetables, and flowers. It is my understanding that it works best if you include only one tomato plant per box. Also I was told that in “The New Square Foot Gardening” book, Mel will tell you exactly what to plant in each grid space. In the workshop, we experimented with both seeds as well as starter plants to see which turned out best.
6. Water the plants each day being careful not to water the leafs as it can contribute to fungus, rot, or burning in a hot climate. Mel suggests that you leave a bucket of water out in the sun and scoop the warmed water out with a cup to water the plants at their base. The warm water helps warm the soil early and late in the harvest.
7. Harvest continually and when a crop in one square is gone, add some new compost and plant a new crop in the square.
I am so excited about this concept and can’t wait to get started. I will definitely share my learnings as this project progresses and I plan to purchase the book to use as a guide.
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Tags: Gardening, New Square Foot Garden | Posted in Life and Learning |
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August 24th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I’m always into discussions on anything organic, so this read made me feel at home.
I’ll bookmark the site and subscribe to the feed!
September 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am
[...] is follow up to my Square Foot Garden post. Living in Austin, TX brings a lot of unusual weather behavior during the summer months. We [...]