For my first garden, I decided I would give ‘square foot gardening’ a try. I have always grown up around traditional row farming, but this method seemed interesting enough to give it a whirl. If you’re not familiar with SFG, it’s a simple method. Take divide your garden into square foot sections – plant multiple plants in the same section. Depending on the size of the plant, you can plant any number of plants and maximize yield while at the same time, maximizing space for all of your garden goodies!
To calculate how many plants per square, look on the back of the seed packet – totally ignore the row spacing, just look at the plant spacing. Here are the recommendations on planting:
- 12″ apart = 1 plant per square
- 6″ apart = 4 plants per square
- 4″ apart = 9 per square
- 3″ apart = 16 per square
My quick references this year:
- Beans = 8
- Broccoli = 1
- Carrots = 16
- cucumbers = 2
- cantaloupe = 2
- pumpkins = 2
- Summer Squash = 9
- Tomatoes = 6-9
- Watermelon = 2
- Radish = 16
- Spinach = 4
- Butter crunch lettuce = 4
- Leaf lettuce = 4
- English Peas = 1-2 (depending on variety)
At the time of planting, I did not have available anything to physically divide the squares. Therefore I have drawn in black marker my lines on each side so that I can at the very least ‘eye ball’ my plantings. My fall garden will have dividers
On February 23, my first seedlings went into the ground. I planted four small redskin potatoes, carrots, lettuce and spinach. The farmers almanac had suggested this day to plant root vegetables so I took advantage of the nice weather. We’ll see how correct it was…..
Kathy
Wendy M. DeIorio
Groovy Garden Girls 