Square foot gardening...has anyone used this method??

[Nifty]

Hey Pat, it is your words of advice and coaching that give me the strength to go out and pull up some plants that are growing faster than anything else out there. I'd like to tell the corn "This will hurt me more than it will hurt you." but we know that's just not true.

Now, to go and find something to put in its place....

 

[patandchickens]

I'd like to tell the corn "This will hurt me more than it will hurt you." but we know that's just not true.

Give it to the chickens to nibble and play with, that way at least it will have fulfilled its destiny as a Useful Plant

Now, to go and find something to put in its place....

See, there's a silver linig


Pat

 

[Tutter]

I just read the posts in this thread, and promptly forgot who posted what, and when, but I did retain some bits and thought I'd just generally answer. I hope it's still relevent.

Firstly, I basically use this method up by the house, but our actual garden is done in beds, 4' X 20', which are planted biointensively, on centers, using companion planting, and open pollinate-heirloom varieties.

Someone mentioned corn and beans. Absolutely. Put the beans in and let them climb up the corn, and put some small pumpkins in, for good measure.

For years I wouldn't grow corn. Too greedy of a feeder, too space consuming etc. Then, 2 years ago I came across, Painted Mountain.

It gets to be 4-5' tall, but still has 7" ears, and does not drain the soil like other types. It tolerates poor soil, is cold and drought tolerant, and is early. It looks like Indian corn, which makes it rich in anti-oxidants, and it's uses include: Fresh eating, flour, hominy.

The first year I tried it, it went in late, then my water failed to a section of the garden, the corn section, so the corn got nearly no water. I pretty much wrote it off, but gave it a bit of water now and then.

By the 4th of July, we had 2' corn! We had nice ears off 3' plants that year, and I took them back for seed.

So, just a thought, for those who want to play with just a small block of corn, just because. Or maybe just set it off in a corner where you don't have planting areas. It's pretty darned hardy, and doesn't take much work.

 

[897tgigvib]

It looks like this square foot garden method is popular, but that some problems are encountered when it comes to Corn, Zucchini, and companion planting.

 

[retiredwith4acres]

I use it for things close to the house. I have cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower in a bed now. I also do lettuce, onions, and radishes in one. Works for some things really good. Bartholomew has a New Square Foot Gardening Book out now. He changes some of the things he put in the first book by putting what he has learned himself over the years since writing the first one.

 

[ninnymary]

I don't understand how you can grow tomatoes in one square foot. My tomatoes were planted 18" a part. I wanted to get 8 plants in the only space I have for them. They grew 7' tall and very wide. They were just too close. Next year I will TRY to plant only 7 plants in that space. But I know it's going to be very hard to just choose 7 different varieties!

Mary

 

[retiredwith4acres]

Some plants take more space that one square foot. In Bartholomew's book he suggest the number or amount of space needed for plants. For example, 16 onions, 1 cabbage. He grows tomatoes with a trellis and does lots of pruning to train it.

 

[jhook1997]

How funny! During an internet search I stumbled upon "Square Foot Gardening" and ended up doing a bit of reading on Mel's site: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ Well, I thought I'd search the forum before starting a new thread and saw a bunch of posts on the method and a whole forum thread titled after the same.

This Summer we're going to take it easy We're going to be planting mostly bushy type plants (tomatoes & bell peppers) and each say they require quite a bit more plant spacing that 12 inches x 12 inches! I haven't been able to quickly get info about how Mel solves the problem of having these plants so close together and if it is even a good idea to have a bunch of busy plants so tight up against one another.

We're also going to plant the obligatory queen of the garden, zucchini. Mel says you can work to train these vertically to grow in a sq. ft. garden, but that sounds like a LOT of work and hassle.

So, any thoughts / suggestions / experience in growing these types of plants in such a tight space?

I would also check on companion planting as I know right off the bat that you cant plant tomatoes too close to peppers.

I found that zucchini does require the 3'x3' space that Mel recommends in his book as I never managed to find a type of zuc. that will be viney. I grew bush type beans all together in a 4'x4' bed planted about 3" apart and that worked great. Mostly "Mel" suggests using only viney type plants where possible.

Making things grow vertically is not a hard job. Each time I walk through the garden, I take a moment to arrange any new vines that are not going upward. "Verticle Gardening" by Derek Fell has great ideas that work really well with the s.f. method.

Also, I've found that tomatoes and peppers have no problem growing together. The majority of my beds have them side by side and I had tremendous yeilds from both.