Square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew

[carrot-cruncher]

Has anybody got a copy of this book or read this book & what do they think of it.  Do you think it's a worthy investment & are the results as good as promsied?

I'm currently splitting my plot into beds 12 foot long & 4 foot wide & wondered if it's worth further sub-dividing the beds per this book.   

Cheers

CC

[carrot-cruncher]

[slugcatcher]

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Hi cc
I cant comment on this but since I read your thread I have found this on the web.
Might be of some use to you.

Ron

[annieb]

I have this book (and the follow up) and I do certainly read them over again from time to time...  I am a fairly fanatical garden-book-reader/collector... and I would say any moderately serious garden book collection has this one kicking about in it somewhere.

About the methods... there are undeniably good things about his books... He was the very first garden writer I ever read who suggested making foot paths so as to specifically avoid compacting the soil around the growing zone.  He was also the first garden writer I had ever read who questioned or challenged why we grow things in the traditional veggie patch rows (apparently to make cultivation easier on large agrobusiness model farms), and first I ever read who suggested raised beds to increase drainage.  All these are entrenched ideas now, but at the time were pretty radical and unheard of.

The complaint I have is that his methods can be overly slavish and regimented.  The graphs and small coordinate planting schemes give me a headache thinking about orchestrating follow-up plantings and figuring out whether putting 4 inches between carrots or 3 inches is going to cause the earth to spin off its axis and bring on the next ice age. 

That being said...I've been told that I'm a bit too 'cottage-y' for my own good and my gardens could do with a bit of regimenting. (Oh dear, there are the eggplants! I wondered where they'd gotten off to)...

Normally on resales or oxfam book shops you can find the paperbound version of his books, probably the 1970s versions, but the newer editions are largely the same content with better pictures.

His methods appeal greatly to my engineer Husbandguy and to my undoubtedly-future-engineer-daughter Katie.

Annie in Norway

PS Pick the books up at the library and give them a thorough browse with a glass of red after a hard afternoon's weeding... definitely worth it I'd say... I wasn't married to the concept.. but he's got a lot of good ideas...

[kitty]

hahah!what a great answer!you made me lol with the egg plants-i fear that going to be my problem too-just popping things here and there... ::) ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

I don't think I could ever get that organised; it's usually a matter of sticking things in where there's some space. I'm pretty wedded to the idea of walkways between beds though.

[Multiveg]

I have read the book - I ordered it from Amazon. I think it said that for 2 people, 4 blocks of 4x4ft would be enough, and that a garden 40 x 50ft would take 40 hours per week to maintain!  Mel seems to live in cloud cuckoo land for some of his time.

[Robert_Brenchley]

That's just over 1/3 the size of mine. OK, there's a fair bit of jungle on my plot, but it gets a bit closer to what I want every year, and it certainly doesn't get 40 hours a week!

[Svea]

i have read the website, and i agree that while some of the ideas are very good, the subdivision of these beds and the very regimented planting would do my head in. mind you, i like it tidy, but there are limits. :roll: ;D

i think i would consider it if i literally had only 4ft by 8ft of bed space, or something, to garden in.....

[Doris_Pinks]

I have had the book for about 14 years!and often refer back to it. I tend to plant stuff in blocks instead of the traditional rows, grow my squash upwards, most of which has I am sure seeped in from his book! 

[Derek]

I saw examples of this system at the Ryton Organic Centre last week...just a couple of squares.

In the overall context of allotment gardening I wouldn't use this system BUT for continous salad crops it seems ideal and I intend to use the four foot square system for this in future...probably 4 x 4 modules.

Derek

[kitty]

mmmmmm......i dont think i could stick to this method at all-seems a bit anal to me(STOP CHUCKING THINGS AT ME!!!!!)-i would be concentrating on the succession timing more than enjoying seeing things grow-its bad enough doing everything right  in a 'normal'plot...
dont wish to denigrate anyone who wants to 'ave a go tho...just not my thang!!!!!!
kitty(kats against order party) ;D ;)

[wardy]

I think the idea is to get as many different crops as poss which you want to grow in as small a space as possible.  Someone was doing this in a raised bed on a patio in one of the gardening mags (kitchen garden or GYO probably April issue).  Hers looked great and everything was doing very well so it goes to show what can be done in the tiniest of spaces  :)

[aquilegia]

Without reading the book, I've adopted some of the ideas in order to save space (very limited in my 25ft x 25ft garden).

I have four raised beds measuring 4ft x 4ft plus a long, narrow patch for my veg. I squash in as much as possible by using the block planting and closer spacings of the square foot thing and also by using companion gardening.

This year I have roots and aliums in one bed, which I've subdivided with string into 16 sqaures. it's then much easier to work out spacings (4in spacing means I can get 9 sowing stations in, 3in means 16 etc).

bed two has 9 spuds (main and 2nd earlies), 9 broad beans (as advised by bob flowerdew) a catch crop of radishes and rocket (which have mostly now been harvested).

bed three has two wigwams of beans and beans on half the bed, with one squash/courgette under each, and the other half contains dwarf peas and beans with another two squashes under.

Bed four contains four more sqaushes/courgettes (I've messed up the labels. oops) and sweetcorn. Might put in a few bush tomatoes if they ever grow.

and the long bed contains garlic and shallots.

I've always used block planting as rows take up too much room. It's all a bit lose, really! and whether or not it actually works remains to be seen (this is my first year of growing like this!)

[MarthaMad]

I’ve used this method for laying out my herb garden...Previously I had a nightmare of a garden that had plants overgrowing each other.

Now I have a 2-meter sq. block divided up into 36 squares. I have actually built a grid with strips of wood to visually divide my sections.  A bit anal I know... but every herb has its place. It is super easy for my OH to do my herb shopping as each section is clearly labeld.

I'll upload a pic as soon as I can...   

[wardy]

It seems a good way to organise things if you're short of space which many gardens are these days.  With smaller gardens things take much more planning so you can get everything crammed in.  if you've got tons of room you can afford to be much more haphazard like I am now I have an allotment but I used to have a hankie sized garden and know how tricky it can be  :)

[daveandtara]

hi. i've read the website and made a 4'x5' bed in my garden complete with grid. i got so confused with the spacings that i just shoved in what seemed to fit!
everything in the bed has grown soooo well. and i was so inspired by this success (i've never grown veg before) that i went and got myself an allotment.
the suggested soil mix (1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite ) works out quite expensive but despite several weekends away has never dried out or become waterlogged.
i'd say it's definately worth a try, even if you only make one small bed to compare how the plants in there compare with the others on your allotment.
one point tho, despite what the website says, don't plant a marrow! mine is bloody huge and threatening to take over the rest of my garden!!!