Small space vegetable gardening

I love discovering new techniques and approaches to my Make and Mend pursuits and this one looks a cracker, says Clare Flynn.

Square Foot Gardening (SFG) is a way to use a small amount of ground to grow a large number of different vegetables.

It doesn’t need a lot of space and you can grow up to 16 different crops in just a four foot square plot. So what exactly is it? The Square Foot Gardening method was created by an American TV presenter, Mel Bartholomew. The aim was to get as much yield from as small a space as possible, with minimum effort and no weeding.

Mel was inspired by the fact that the average gardener wasted lots of time having to weed between the traditionally long rows of plants.

By getting shot of the rows and replacing them with intensive deep beds, divided into one-foot squares in a grid pattern, he was able to reduce the amount of maintenance needed significantly and make crop rotation and spacing much easier to manage. Sounds bloody marvellous to me!

The SFG method has really taken off in the States and is growing in popularity in the UK and elsewhere. It’s particularly good for school plots as it enables kids to try their hands at growing a wide range of vegetables in a small space and doesn’t involve a lot of onerous teacher maintenance.

“It takes only 50% of the costs, 20% of the space, 10% of the water, 5% of the seeds and 2% of the work of a normal vegetable garden” says Mel

How to build and maintain your own SFG plot

• Make a 4 feet by 4 feet raised bed, between 6 inches and a foot deep. Place a lattice on top consisting of one foot squares to separate the different vegs you’re going to plant.
• Mel uses a soil mixture of equal thirds of compost, peat moss and vermiculite. This mixture retains water well, is full of nutrients and gives you a completely weed-free start. BUT it’s not a sustainable soil as peat and vermiculite are non-renewable resources. Use your own compost instead or get advice from a good nursery on a more sustainable soil choice
• No digging! The beds are weeded and watered from the pathways, so the garden soil is never stepped on or compacted. If you don’t tread on it you won’t need to dig it – yay!
• Plant inside the squares: Each square has either 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants in it depending on the size of the plant. For example a single tomato plant would need a full square, strawberry plants or lettuces can be four per square, and up to sixteen onions, carrots or radishes per square. As an exception to this, there are a few larger plants that span two squares. Climbing peas, maize and beans can be planted in 2-square rows and supported by poles or lattices in the usual way.
• Thin with Scissors: Instead of pulling up excess plants which can disturb the root systems of the plants you want to grow you snip them off with scissors.

» Mel’s also written a new book about the method that you can buy on Amazon

A video with Mel explaining the method and how it could be used to help fight world hunger

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