Subject: Re: Square Foot Gardening (Was: Advice needed on starting a

From: [email-masked] (Sharon E. McDonald)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 17:14:41 GMT

vegetable garden)
Reply-To: [email-masked] (Sharon E. McDonald)
References: <[email-masked]> <[email-masked]> <[email-masked]

In a previous article, mtiffany (Michael Tiffany) says:

>
>> Do you have any more information on "Square Foot Gardening"?  Any books?  I
>> say a PBS show on it years and years ago, and it really intrigued me.  I have
>> a tiny plot and only two mouths to feed, so it sounds perfect for me.  Also,
>> any advice, seeing as you've already done it?
>> 
>
>There is a book titled Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, the same
>man who did the PBS show. The book is published by Rodale Press, copyright
>1981. It is still in print, so it should be available in your local
>bookstore (or ask them to order a copy for you).
>It is an excellent book for beginners (like me). I planted my very first
>vegetable garden last year, and used this book as a guide.
>It was so exciting to get REAL FOOD out of my own yard!
>
I just bought this book the other day at Lowes and already have four 
squares of lettuce & arugula planted.

Could someone who has used this technique share their views on its pros & 
cons?  I have three raised beds, each 4' x 8', and am VERY excited as 
this method seems simple, efficient, and like it allows you to be very 
creative in how you design & plant a garden.  I'm looking forward to 
planting lots of veggies, herbs, and colorful annuals. 

Has anyone had success with the vertical frame made from water pipes, as 
described in the book?  

Also, any suggestions on what to use for the square foot grid to separate 
out each space?  The pictures in the book show some type of plastic-looking 
strips that seem connected by bent ends. Anyone know what these are and
where I can buy them?

Thanks in advance.

Sharon
--

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From: [email-masked] ()
Date: 27 Mar 1995 14:43:50 GMT

[email-masked] (Sharon E. McDonald) writes:

|>Could someone who has used this technique share their views on its pros & 
|>cons?  I have three raised beds, each 4' x 8', and am VERY excited as 
|>this method seems simple, efficient, and like it allows you to be very 
|>creative in how you design & plant a garden.  I'm looking forward to 
|>planting lots of veggies, herbs, and colorful annuals. 

Well, actually, the book does go into that a little.  The biggest difference
for me was understanding the difference between yield per plant versus yield
per square foot.  I found that in some cases, I wasn't getting as much of a 
yield from any one plant - broccoli was one example for me - but then again
I had the plants closer, so I was getting more broccoli from that patch
than I would have from an equivalently sized row.  Does that make sense?  

|>Has anyone had success with the vertical frame made from water pipes, as 
|>described in the book?  

It works just fine.  In fact, you don't have to go with the water pipes, you
can use electrical conduit instead, if you mean what I think you mean.  My
understanding of water pipe is that heavy black pipe that looks like its made
from steel.  The stuff I am using is light silver colored, very light, and made
from aluminum.  Its called EMT in some stores, and comes in 10' lengths.  With
a pipe bender, its easy to work with, makes great trellises, and its really
inexpensive too.

|>Also, any suggestions on what to use for the square foot grid to separate 
|>out each space?  The pictures in the book show some type of plastic-looking 
|>strips that seem connected by bent ends. Anyone know what these are and
|>where I can buy them?

I didn't work with raised beds - I just layed out the plots in my garden 
instead of the traditional rows that I had been using.  I used some sort of
stick (either an old tomato stake cut down, or some tent stakes I have) with
string to mark out the 4'x8' plots.  Then I used salt marsh hay in between
plots for ground cover on the paths.  I eye-balled it for the rest of the 
layouts within the 4x8 plots.  

Good luck, it can be lots of fun....

- Tom

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From: [email-masked] (Anne Judge)
Date: 27 Mar 1995 16:20:15 GMT

Sharon E. McDonald writes
> >> Do you have any more information on "Square Foot Gardening"?  
> 

Rather than make frames as he describes from water pipes, I got some 7'  
heavy-duty steel fence posts (U-shaped cross-section).  These have holes  
every so often, and for cross-pieces I either screw on boards (with deck  
screws) or bolt on pipes (appropriate holes drilled in the pipe, of  
course)--I use what I had around the house the first time, so it's a mix.   
I think these were less involved than the water-pipe ones to make the  
first time and plenty sturdy, and straightforward to modify.  I take them  
down in the fall & put them up in the spring--this is their third year.

> Also, any suggestions on what to use for the square foot grid to 
> separate out each space?  

I stretch any kind of string from walk to walk (I have a 8'x20' raised bed  
with wooden walks laid across it) and staple it to the wood at the ends.   
Where I can't staple (along the cinder block edge of the bed) I made a  
bunch of ~6" long stakes from clothes hangers hooked at both ends--I tie  
the string to the stake & push it in.  Seems to work fine.

Anne Judge
Danbury, CT

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From: [email-masked] (mark stephens)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 14:01:06 -0500

Don't get caught up being mathematically exact!  I would spend hours
trying to figure out exact spacing for each type of plant within a bed.  I
even went so far as to build a 1x2' dribble board for beans and peas to
get exact 2" diagonal spacing.  Now I just poke 'em in by hand.  

While experience will help in planting, one technique is to use a "buffer"
planting of say beans in the middle of the bed.  Start from either end and
move into the middle and the beans get whats left.  Experience comes in so
that the beans are more than a two inch strip!

mark

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Sharon
E. McDonald) wrote:

> References: <[email-masked]>
<[email-masked]> <[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Martin Zimmerman)
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 1995 11:28:23 -0600

> > planting lots of veggies, herbs, and colorful annuals. 

I have 1 4'x4' block and I use many of the techniques in a 1'x50' boundary
bed. People are amazed by how many different plants I grow in such a small
space. The only catch is that you have to be really strict about keeping
your tomatoes in check. Some plants that are low and broad don't really
fit in well (e.g. ground cherry).

> > Has anyone had success with the vertical frame made from water pipes, as 

I think I actually used thick-walled metal conduit, not water pipes. My
frame is 2 years old and its holding up fine (I yank it out every autumn
and put it back in the summer when the tomatos and beans go in).
Thick-walled conduit is strong enough for tomatos and much lighter than
water pipe, also the connectors are easier to use.
 
> > strips that seem connected by bent ends. Anyone know what these are and

As Mark Stephens mentioned, its no big deal whether the spacing is exact.
However, I do like to at least define the 1'x1' squares. I use twine on
twigs to divide the 4'x4' square into 2'x2' squares. I also had some spare
2' bamboo stakes lying around and I lay these out to divide up the 2'x'2
square. Once the 4 subsquares of a 2'x2' are planted, I can pick up the
stakes. Usually I use them later in the summer for supporting pepper
plants and they are also great for poking holes in the soil for planting
big seeds.

Marty
Cleveland, OH USDA Zone 5/6

-- 
Marty Zimmerman                           [email-masked]
Analex Corp - NASA Lewis Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio USA

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From: [email-masked] (mark stephens)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 14:01:06 -0500

mark

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From: [email-masked] (Martin Zimmerman)
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 1995 11:28:23 -0600

Marty

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From: [email-masked] (Martin Zimmerman)
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 1995 11:28:23 -0600

Marty