If you want to have a vegetable garden but think that you don’t have enough space in your yard, think again. While traditional vegetable gardens are laid out with rows for each type of vegetable there is a more intensive planting plan called “Square Foot” gardening. This concept, developed by Mel Bartholomew in 1976, allows you to grow a broad variety of vegetables in a very compact space. The scale of this garden works well for small households that mainly want to eat fresh picked vegetables and have lots of variety in their menus.
How to get started
Your garden can take several forms. You can dig it directly into the ground, create a raised bed with 6” sides or create a deeper box and elevate the bed to be accessible for anyone with physical limitations. Because there are no paths through your garden, the width is important. You need to be able to reach into the garden to easily harvest your crop and to pluck out any weeds. If the bed is against a fence, make it 24” deep. If accessible on both sides, it can be 48”. The beds can be any length. Leave enough space between the beds for a wheelbarrow.
All vegetable gardens should be in full sun. Lightly incorporate organic compost and composted manure at the start of each season to ensure that you have rich fertile soil. Once the beds are ready, it is time to create the grid. These are traditionally 12” squares but I find 16” squares give the plants a bit more room and air flow. You can create the grid by placing bamboo stakes in 12” or 16” increments around the perimeter and run string between them to mark out the squares. (These are all removed once the garden is planted.) For raised beds, a permanent mark on the edge and thumb tacks can be used to run the string.
What to plant?
So now the question becomes what to plant. I have created a model garden with three raised beds, each 3’ x 3’. The total cost of seeds plus tomato bedding plants came to $85.00 and will produce many times that value in lovely, fresh produce. You may prefer to plant other vegetables, but the costs should be about the same. The only caveat is that large or spreading plants like zucchini, squash, cucumbers, Brussel sprouts, watermelon or pumpkins need more than one square foot per plant and are not suitable for this plan. A handy guide for how many plants can be accommodated in each square is available at “My Square Foot Garden”
Plant placement
The vegetables in my plan have been grouped with consideration for plant family and good companion plants. For instance, basil deters aphids and tomato hornworms and is thought to improve the flavour of tomatoes that are growing nearby. It is also important to plant tall plants on the north side of beds so that they don’t shade out the short ones. You can add vertical supports to your beds with tomato cages, obelisks, and trellises.
While not scientifically proven for small home gardens, rotating the vegetables to a new bed each year will help kill off any soil borne diseases such as Verticillium or Fusarium Wilt. The plants in Box A in the first year are moved to Box B in year two and Box C in year three.
Once everything is planted, mulch the beds in coarse cut straw (available from agricultural supply stores) to minimize weeding. The straw will break down into the soil. Between growing seasons, augment the soil with compost and manure.
Enjoy the bounty of your harvest!