Square Foot Gardening

photo from squarefootgardening.com

What luck! just as Brad finished building the garden boxes and filling them with high quality potting mix, I discovered that the originator of Square Foot Gardening, Mel Bartholomew, would be giving a lecture at our local nursery. Almost 30 years ago as a civil engineer and efficiency expert, he realized that gardening can be quick and simple--no digging, no weeding, little watering, cost effective--amazing!

I knew vaguely about intensive gardening, but wanted to know exactly what to plant, how much, where & when. It was so easy once he explained the process. Basically, build a 4x4 box that holds 16 square feet of high quality potting mix with compost, vermiculite, and peat moss, 6 inches deep. No local dirt means no weed seeds. No fertilizers needed. No pesticides. All 16 squares are filled with seeds, depending on the mature size of the plant. Water only by hand with a cup of sun-warmed water.

This is pure genius--check out the website. Buy the book. Start a garden.