The gist of it is to build raised beds - 6" high - and NOT use your own dirt (which is full of weed seeds, or, if your dirt is like mine, consists entirely of weed seeds), but his special formula of peat moss, vermiculite and compost. The beds should be 4' x 4' (or longer, but no wider than 4'), and gridded off into individual 12" squares with lath or something. Into each 'square foot' you plant. One plant/seed for things like cabbage, 4 for smaller things like lettuce, 9 spinach or equivalent, and 16 radishes, carrots, etc. I've yet to get to the chapter where he explains how 6" depth will grow a 12" carrot (or perhaps you build a deeper box). I'm reading about how to build the just-right trellis for vining crops like tomatoes, even squash or melons (he claims to have grown a 35 lb pumpkin 8 feet in the air).
The obvious advantages: Easier. He says 80% of a typical row-garden isn't used for actual food-raising, but for paths and spacing, etc. You till up that 80%, but then you mash it back down, and grow weeds there instead. There should be "no weeds" in your SFG, and what does blow in and sprout are easily spotted and removed. You can grow more, because it's 'easy' to replant a square when you harvest it's contents.
Not so sure about: He writes for the family who wants to supplement their table for a few months. Not so much for someone who likes to fill the freezer with tomatoes. He recommends removing weeds/grass and laying down weed mat (not plastic) on which you build your box, but he has obviously never met my Evil Morning Glory. I'm toying with an idea he recommends to deal with gophers; give the 'box' a plywood floor, and set it up on cinder blocks or whatever. Hehe, that oughta stave off the Evil Weed... And make for an interesting view. I'm eager to read about how to plant carrots or potatoes or other typically 'deep' growing crops.
All in all, while I might not typically risk it, I might just do so this year. Our tax return is expected within a week or two, and if the other looming expenses can be ironed out, I might try to find room for appropriate materials to build a couple-few of these.
Also, the method has a website, if you'd like to see some examples...
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I also thought it would be too good to be true - and laying down a bed on untilled lawn was too good to be true :).
For a book which goes into detailed plans for intensive square-foot style planting, but with total subsistence in mind, have a look at John Jeavons' How to Grow More Vegetables...
http://www.amazon.com/How-Grow-More-Vegetables-Possible/dp/1580082335
He does double-dig all his beds, but intensively plants them like the square-foot guy. I'm hoping that if I double dig for the first few years, that square-foot layer-mulching (with my chickens cooperating) will do away with digging after that.
Handymum, oh dear! Yeah, I think he mentions 'removing weeds or sod' before laying down the weed mat, but he hasn't met my weeds - or your lawn, perhaps... So, maybe the 'elevated' garden idea is the way to go?
I'll check out that book. I've read about double-dig methods (biointensive comes to mind), but I'm not going to even aspire to that, at least not this year.
Let me know how yours grows (grew? what season is it, anyway..? :))!
We're just heading toward the end of summer. So far we're doing well. But I'm an erratic gardener at best, and dealing with morning sickness so I'm delaying any expectation of 'proper gardening' until about the time the kids leave home...
I haven't read anything on square foot gardening beyond random blog experiences, so all I really know about it is based on what other people have talked about. We decided against even looking into it because it seemed, like you said, those types of gardens were for augmenting the grocery list, not providing stores of produce for the pantry.
Of course, I say this and our garden last year provided nothing past a few meals. But, it was our first attempt and we only planted a few of each type of vegetable and did not succession plant. We have bigger plans this year. :)
I, too, wondered about square foot gardening and root veggies. It didn't seem to work out logically for me, so I just assummed those were planted differently or not at all.
I am sorry about your morning glory problem. We get little weeds here and there that aren't a problem at all to pick out. The biggest problem we have are leaves, which blow in from all directions and during all seasons and cover our garden. Sometimes we can rake them out, gently, but it's a pain when they blow on top of new sprouts.
By the way......it's a bummer about your chest freezer (wish i had one.....wish i had wonderful goodness to fill it with). But that idea about burying a refrigerator door-side up is really quite ingenius! Too bad here you dig two feet and hit sand. :)
i left a comment here yesterday. did it get lost? i clicked on the subscribe to follow-up comments button when i submitted my comment and i got the follow-up comment from home handymum, but not my comment. and it was a long one, too. and i have no idea what i said. :( bummer.
going in a different direction, how's the no-shampoo going? are you still doing it? have you tried the shampoo bar idea? i was mostly continuing the limp and greasy process of baking soda and vinegar, until i found an all-natural brand of shampoo and conditioner on super-sale at our health food store and switched to that because i couldn't stand it anymore. :) then last week my aunt gave me a a shampoo bar as part of my birthday present from miss jenny's soaps (she has a website but i'm not sure of the exact address) and i really like it! anyway, i wanted to let you know and wondered where you went with all that gobbledygook.
How funny! I have that book on hold at the library and have checked out the website. Though my hubby said we will just use the dirt with have with some added topsoil he buys...he's not buying the whole idea.
Though he did make me three 4x8 "raised" beds...raised as in maybe 3 - 4 inches? And I am going to do the square foot part, that makes sense to me. But we just won't be doing it just as the author says. You let me know if it works for ya'll!
This will be my FIRST garden ever, so I'm not expecting much! :)
Well, I am also toying with doing all "raised" beds. Simply because I am worried that the ridiculous crawfish we have here will pop up through my garden, like they do in our yards. And that would just gross me out.
Annie, I double-checked and sure enough - the email was read (I remember reading it, even) and the publish link was a different color, but it hadn't shown up here! I fixed that, I hope! As small as these beds are intended to be, they *seem* (i.e. 'in the book') to be quite productive. I'm all for that, small or otherwise. I don't see why you couldn't do a classy root-cellar-fridge in the sand, as long as you can get the sand out of the hole long enough to install your castoff appliance. hehe.
I mostly gave up on the baking soda, still do the vinegar sometimes, but as often as not I just wash and condition with some organic Jason stuff (which I got at the used-food store ages ago), but even that's once a week at most. Haven't tried the bars yet - maybe when Hubby is employed again (this upcoming week, yay!) and I run out of this stuff. So, that's mostly where I am in that. I did tease Hubby that I might convert to orthodox judaism, just for the headcoverings; my hair "needs to be under the law" these days. :)
Meghann, you can be sure I'll post my garden-happenings here - what else would I be doing all summer? :) I encourage you to get some compost, or some rabbits (raw rabbit manure won't burn plants), or other stuff to add to your beds; topsoil is pretty worthless when it comes to giving your plants what they need, though "foliar spray" of minerals can help too. I don't know that I'd go to all the trouble of the raised beds if not for the fancy, weed-free dirt and all... of course, I'm not doing them for 'visual interest' anyway though! Google search for your county extension office; you can find what they say grows good in your climate and frost dates (wait, do you even GET frost?!?) and such. :) That will help your productivity a bit. And congratulations! Gardening is fantastic! With that, and the homeschooling, and your hubby's gun, you're officially crazy like us!
MamaJ, crawfish? Pop up? In your yard? Do explain, please! The closest thing I know that word to equivocate is "crawdads" which lived in the creek at my dad's when I was little. They were like little 6" lobsters. But they lived in the water, not the dirt (I think). Do they crawl up through holes? Do they just live under rocks and everywhere? I still think I'd take them over the morning glory... But then again, perhaps they like lettuce...
Thank you for the idea to google the extension office, I've been meaning to do something like that, but hadn't figured out exactly what to do yet! We have begun to save all our veggie/fruit scraps and have begun a compost pile. Though we haven't added manure yet, it is on the list to do. We will be adding that to the beds as well as the top soil from what my hubby say's. We've clashed heads a bit with this garden thing as I've been told to take a soil sample to find out what it lacks / needs. But dear hubby is not agreeing...so we'll just do it his way this year and if it works...great! If not, we'll learn right? :)
Meghann, to be honest I've NEVER had my soil tested. I think my neighbor market-gardeners do, but they need maximum productivity for their livelihood. And you can't go wrong with compost. Your extension office can probably tell you in general what the soil in your area needs (or another local gardener). I know, for instance, that soil around here is generally 'sweet' - alkaline, not acid, so adding lime or ashes wouldn't be necessary like it is in other areas. The lifeblood of 'real' (i.e. organic, not chemical) gardening is probably the compost. It's the live microbes and what they do that really supports the plant, not just your N, P, K that they test and augment. I got some of this sea mineral stuff a few years ago, and it's a little packet of powder that you turn into a gallon of concentrate, and then use a little of that in a sprayer (I use one of those 2 gallon weed sprayer things, but a spray bottle would work for a smaller amount). You spray it on the leaves of your plants and the idea is that they will absorb a lot of minerals/fertilizers that way which they might lack in the soil. I can't say how effective it is, as there were other things I did differently that year too, but I have no complaints, and will continue to use it. Maybe something like that would help if your compost is slow-going?
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