Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work by Mel Bartholomew
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
You hear a lot about square foot gardening, but Bartholomew really details every step to make your garden successful. The book is knowledgeable and detailed, but also an easy read. I also found that this book is very easily browsible and searchable, which is a plus for a gardening book.
I was easily sold on square foot gardening:
1. We don’t have an excess of space. With square foot gardening, you can have plenty of food for two people with two 4×4 plots.
2. There are only two of us in our household, so we don’t want an overabundance of produce that goes to waste. Rows of carrots that will be harvested at the same time would be a waste.
3. The set-up of square foot gardens make them easier to manage (weed, water, etc.) It also makes it easy to rotate crops in future years.
4. I prefer the look of the square foot gardening over rows of traditional gardening.
The chapters are set up logically, from planning to the different steps of preparing soil and planting to a dictionary of common vegetables and herbs. It is a great reference text for planting common vegetables and gardens. For a beginner, this book is a must. It made it incredibly easy to layout our garden in a spreadsheet for reference. It also goes into detail about how to plant more than one crop throughout the season. So, you really can get the most out of the land you have.
The only drawback to this book that I noticed is that the author mainly discusses common produce (common varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, beans, etc.) If you are looking to do a special variety or something different, it may not be included. A larger plant encyclopedia is probably the way to go. For a beginner like me, this is not a problem. But, if you are looking to garden smarter, this is the book for you.
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Carrie says
Looks like a great plan! Yet another reason why I wished we actually lived in a house. 🙂
shelly.mcdermott says
Nice work! Should be a great size so you don’t get overwhelmed. Can’t wait to see it all planted
Lindsey says
I am seriously impressed!!
LJK says
Are you sure that 1sqft is going to be enough space for the tomatoes? That would be my biggest concern, but otherwise, looks great!
Jenna says
I have that book too. I’ve been using it for the past 4 years! Best book EVER!