Guest Author - Debra R. Jensen

Square Foot Gardening was developed by Mel Bartholomew. He retired as a civil engineer and decided to take up gardening.

I got to meet Mel at the Salt Lake City Spring Home and Garden Show, which was held March 11-14 at the Sandy Exposition Center.

Mel says he got tired of throwing away all the “thinnings” when we would thin the seedlings from his garden. He felt there should be a better way of planting and having a garden produce.

Thus, began his second career. Finding a better and more productive way to garden.

In the typical way of gardening by rows, Mel says, you would need to figure out how big to make your garden. Here are some of the ways people he talked to have “planned” the size of their gardens. You might find your garden in this list: “As much room as I can spare from my small backyard.” “All of the side yard.” “A nice big area way out back.” “That spot we could never grow grass in.” “An area as large as we could rototill in the one hour we rented the machine.” “Just a little larger than my next-door neighbor’s.” In a recent survey, it showed the average “small” garden in America is approximately 20 feet by 20 feet, or 400 square feet, while most large gardens are 40 feet by 50 feet, or 2,000 square feet. This means that the time needed for maintenance and upkeep of the average garden is from 8 hours to almost 40 hours per week.

Most people don’t sit down to figure “We’ll eat about 3 cucumbers a week, so I’ll just plant 3 vines.” We usually plant 2-3 seeds per hole until the whole package is gone. Then when harvest time comes, we have way too much.

With the Square Foot Gardening method, I will help you learn how to plant less, and produce more.

Every garden book suggests you start small. Mel suggests starting with just a 4’ by 4’ block, per person. Most people scoff, until he shows them what they can grow in the 4’x4’ block. I have a family, of two. And I know I have run into this problem many times. I have suggestions for those of you who want to plant for canning and freezing too. So, hang on and let’s do some investigating into this method of planting.

Planting Problems Solved

One of the biggest problems in limiting our plant in early spring is that we tend to think in terms of tiny seeds rather than full size harvests. Picturing the harvest behind the planting is the secret to Mel’s method.

For example if you started early in March, by the time the weather is warm enough to plant tomatoes, peppers, and squash, you could have already grown and harvested the following:
4 heads Oak Leaf lettuce
16 standard-size carrots
9 bunches spinach
32 radishes
16 scallions
4 heads Salad Bowl lettuce
16 beets, plus 4 bunches beet greens
5 pounds sugar snap peas
4 heads Ruby lettuce
9 Japanese turnips
8 bunches Swiss chard
1 head cabbage
4 heads Romaine lettuce
1 head Cauliflower
1 head Broccoli
16 small, round carrots

Not bad for two months and 16 square feet, is it?

Maintenance is also reduced in the square foot garden. Stay tuned, I’ll show you how!