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Oklahoma Gardening

Square Foot Gardening

15 years ago

I just finished reading the Square Food Gardening book at Dawn's suggestion & it sounds awesome. Does anyone do this, especially the "soil" part? If I was moving to a new place I would definately do it from scratch, but the only gardening spots available to me I have been "lasagna-ing" for a couple of years. Sounds like it would even eliminate the drought depression we are all having.

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Comments (6)

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
15 years ago
Patty,

I've done square foot gardening in the past, and still garden biointensively with plants packed in tightly in beds, although I don't follow Mel's spacing recommendations exactly. Actually, what I do is more like cubed-foot gardening because I grow as many plants as possible (including pumpkins) vertically on trellises, teepees and cages, so I can cram more stuff into the space I have.

For what it is worth, the drought issues don't go away with SFG, but if you enrich the soil really well and mulch your plants with a couple of inches of mulch, the close spacing helps them shade one another's roots and keep the soil cooler. SFG is very efficient because you are watering and maintaining smaller beds.

I think the best garden I've ever had was the one I planted the first year after I read Mel's original book in .....oh, it was either the 70's or 80's. I double dug the whole garden and then built raised beds using a whole dump truck load of a topsoil/compost blend from Silver Creek Materials in Fort Worth. I planted using Mel's spacing recommendations and I was lucky because it was a really wet, cool year. I don't recall having any disease issues (not unusual in "fresh" soil) or insect issues either. Production was heavy and it was just a wonderful experience.

That was in Fort Worth, though, and the summers are cooler there. Here in southern OK, with hotter temps in general, more prolonged drought and less rainfall, I have to plant everything a bit farther apart so the roots can spread out a little more to collect more water.

I love Square Foot Gardening. Of course, it is not the only way to grow things, but it is a very efficient method if you want to get maximum quanity from the space you have.

Dawn
gamebird
15 years ago
Something to remember about all "method" books is that they relentlessly promote their own method and promise great results if you follow it. Like exercise methods, diet methods and other gardening methods - if there was one way that worked better than all the others, then there wouldn't be a need for endless books promoting one way or another because everyone would adopt the promoted method.

That said, I've got and read the SFG book and it looks like a very good method for the small-space, backyard gardener.
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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
15 years ago
Gamebird,

I agree with you that all method books push their own method. I've read many books and use parts of them in my own way. For example, I companion plant which I don't even think Mel addressed in his SFG book. And my corn, pumpkins and pole beans are not planted SFG style.

And, I forget to mention to Patty that SFG only works if you have a LOT of rainfall or regular irrigation. If you are dryland gardening with plants spaced that close to one another, they won't produce much. For dryland gardening, you need to space both your plants and rows much more widely apart.

Dawn
electricshaman
15 years ago
Patty,

I live in OKC and started my very first garden in April. I live in a duplex so I chose to go with a square foot garden in our small back yard area. Being this is my first garden, I didn't want to deviate too much from his advice, so I followed the method almost exactly, particularly from the newer edition though I have read them both.

I've been very pleased with the results so far. I had my first bad experience with it today, when I returned from vacation to find my pole beans being completely ravaged by spider mites. Though I'm sure this isn't anything specific to SFG!

I water about every other day right now. Before summer really set in, I was watering about twice a week.

I'm attaching a link to a collection of photos on Flickr. You can see the evolution of the garden from scratch.

Best,

Jeff

Here is a link that might be useful: SFG Pictures on Flickr
pattyokie
Original Author
15 years ago
Jeff, your pictures look great. I got the newer edition at the library but I'm going to order it from Amazon to keep for reference. If I was starting from scratch I think I would give it a try to the letter, but I've already filled up all my space with lasagna beds. I am going to try the spacing thing for fall. It looks like your garden is textbook perfect. I don't think any way you garden would prevent pests from coming in. Patty
ilene_in_neok
15 years ago
Ewwwwww, Jeff, looks like you've got quite an infestation there! Where's your ladybugs?

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