The Urban Permaculture Farm Magazine

Everyone I know that's read Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening loves it. We all use it. However, contrary to what Mel would like, nobody I know follows it to the letter. I believe that is because there are 100 ways to grow a tomato, probably more. So everyone gardens ever so slightly different, yet everyone's tomatoes taste far better than store-bought anyway. That's the long way of saying I don't follow SFG to the letter (90% I'd guess), and I think you'll find neither does Patti the Garden Girl. That doesn't mean that Mel wasn't way ahead of his time, nor that his method isn't amazing. Reading the first half of his book will tell you that it is, and I agree.

SFG took a guy who killed houseplants and allowed him to grow roughly 50% of his Patti Moreno and Mel Bartholomewfamily's produce needs his first year. It's phenomenal! My first year I grew three varieties of leaf lettuce (multiple successions), spinach, tons of radishes and carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, three varieties of peas, bush and pole beans, two varieties of tomatoes, three varieties of cucumbers, green onions, and two varieties of corn. All that in 130 measly square feet of raised beds.

The beauty of SFG is you plant very intensively. The onions, carrots and radishes are planted 16 per SF. Spinach is 9 per SF. CabbageFamilySee how you can get a ton of food in a small space? Heck, I believe Mel when he says you can feed a salad a day for a season for a family from a 4x4 box.

The other secret is succession planting. You plant some, then later you plant more so you have constant supply. And when you rip something out, sprinkle some more compost on the square and replant something else. I could have been better at this, but I had trouble ripping out perfectly good plants to plant something else.

I really should touch on Mel's Mix. There is a ton of debate about it. Essentially it's 1/3 diverse compost from many sources, 1/3 peat moss (buy Canadian so it's renewable), and 1/3 vermiculite. The amazing thing about Mel's Mix is that it drains like a sink and retains water like a sponge. The downside is that it is fairly expensive and work intensive. I spent close to $500 for 6 cubic yards to fill my beds 16 inches deep. Now, while I highly recommend it if you can't afford it, I'm big on gardening on the cheap (but that's another article). Mel himself teaches in third-world countries that straight compost can be used quite effectively in SFG. Again, there's 100 ways to grow a tomato...

What I like to say when debating SFG compared to traditional row planting, is that row gardening is great if you have acreage and want to use it all for your garden, but if you're an urban or suburban gardener with limited space (like my 260 SF), then raised beds and SFG in some fashion, may be right for you too! So pick up a copy of his book from the store or your local library, and above all, enjoy your garden! By Sinfonian Barelytone