# Square Foot Gardening



## FATGUY (May 26, 2013)

I read a book by Mel Bartholomew on "Square Foot Gardening" and thought I'd give it a shot. The basic premiss is to use a ultra rich soil mixture (1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 compost which is made up of 5 different composts) and to use garden "boxes". According to the author, this eliminates spacing your plants so you can work around them, instead, you put as many veggies in a space as can actually be supported by that amount of soil. Anyhow, here are a few pics.


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## FATGUY (May 27, 2013)

Gardening isn't new to me, but this style is. I grew up with a gargantuan garden I hated. While all the other kids were doing whatever, I was in the garden. Gardening as a hobby sounded as reasonable to me as coal mining for fun. I swore up and down I'd never have a garden. Guess I lied


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## luckydozenfarm (May 28, 2013)

When I was 7 I had my first garden, a 5x10 plot. I only had a shovel, rake and hoe. Unbelievably hard work for such a little area and a little kid.

Then I went to a Troy Bilt push tiller at age 12 and while it was still a lot of work, but not as much as the rake and hoe. My garden went up to 1000 square feet.

At 16, I bought a riding mower and found a food plot disc and I converted the troy-bilt so I could pull it with the riding mower...garden was at 5000 sq ft and was still a lot of work, but not as much as pushing the tiller on foot.

At 25, I got a small tractor and a 5' pto driven tiller...garden was at 2 acres, way easier than pulling a tiller with a riding mower, but it was still hot and sweaty work.

I'm now up to a 36 horsepower cab tractor with A/C, 6' tiller, and a 4 row hiller and 4 row Jang seeder attachment for my FEL. I can till, hill and plant without leaving the tractor seat and a cold beer in my hand for 25 acres field.

My point is, is that gardening is a relaxing and fruitful endeavor, no matter what stage of gardener you are.


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## Dalmatian90 (May 28, 2013)

If I was sane, I'd just do pots on my deck and maybe a cold-frame sized area 

Unfortunately, my sanity is quite questionable.


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## Frank Boyer (May 28, 2013)

#### Raymond used the intensive planting in a "Garden Way" TV series. Toro might have been his sponsor. He used 3' wide rows for many small crops.


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