Read at :
Google Alert for Gardening
Enjoy Gardening
http://www.enjoygardening.com/?p=569
Square-foot gardening
Posted by Jim Hole
first published May 10, 2007
…………………….
Square-foot gardening is a technique that organizes gardens into space-saving, 1-foot by 1-foot squares. And although that might seem like a fairly new concept, it’s not. In actuality, row gardens could be considered the rebellious newcomers on the gardening scene. Conventional row spacing, oddly enough, isn’t based on what’s best for plants as much as it’s based on tractor tires. Back in my market-garden days, we planted most of our vegetable crops 26 inches apart because that was the approximate width of our tractor’s tires. Anything narrower and we wouldn’t have been able to use the equipment to sow, weed or harvest. The reason crop space was “wasted” was due entirely to tread width. Square-foot gardens, on the other hand, are never walked in (let alone driven through) so the spacing of them can be designed exclusively for the needs of plants. With space becoming more and more a luxury these days, the idea of maximizing the harvest while minimizing the space has caught on faster than… well… metric, for starters.
The basic square-foot-gardening plan involves building 4-foot by 4-foot raised beds and then subdividing those beds into 16 equal squares, each measuring 1 foot by 1 foot. The beds are designed to be 16 square feet because the size allows gardeners easy access to the entire bed without having to set foot in it. Every square inch of space can then be dedicated to plants.
The number of plants allowed for each square is very specific and determined by each variety’s growth habit. The idea is to intensively farm each square—the right number of vegetables or flowers should fill each space perfectly and choke out potential weeds. Sixteen, for example, is purported to be the ideal number of carrots to plant in a square, no more no less. The next square might hold four head-lettuce transplants, and so on. Clever? — absolutely! Flawless and perfect for everyone?—probably not.
As impressive as the stats are (square-foot gardening purportedly requires 80% less space than a conventional garden), I’m not quite sold on the math. True, there’s no space wasted on rows, but I suspect when you factor in elements beyond crop density, such as the room needed to move comfortably around the frame of each bed, that number shrinks. One claim, however, that could never be questioned is that square-foot gardening is water smart. Because few spots are left for weeds, and bare soil is hard to find, most of the water applied is absorbed by the plants, and little is lost to evaporation.
Of course, there’s also the issue of aesthetics. Many would argue that a square-foot garden is a place where engineering collides with art and only one gets up. Plots divided into a formal grid patterns create a visual train wreck for some gardeners. Add to that the feeling of having to stifle creativity, and square-foot gardening starts feeling a little…square. Fortunately, there’s nothing that says you have to follow every rule. If you like the concept but hate the rigidity, tweak the plan as you see fit. Experiment with the size of the squares (start by changing them to metric!), try different planting densities and make it your own. The important thing is to get outdoors and find a method that works for you. For some people, that means approaching gardening in a conventional way; for others, it means taking things one foot at a time.
Enjoy Gardening!
