Square Foot Gardening and Tying the Knot

My last attempts at Square Foot Gardening

Better to know a knot and not need it, than need a knot and not know it. 

I have been absolutely fascinated be an animated knot tying website this week. I have spent hours (where I should be getting on with other things) glued to the computer screen watching stop motion images of loads of great – and useful – knots being tied.  Anchor hitches, Bowline, Munter Mule,Timber Titch, not to mention the loops, bends and stoppers and the perfect way to tie a tripod knot for the beanpoles  in the garden. 

There’s even an animated image on how to properly wrap a parcel. How cool is that? I’ll be using some of them in the garden this spring that’s for sure.

It gets better. As an added bonus the site also has a wonderful page about how to fold napkins for the table. All those times you see fancy napkins in a restaurant, now you can make forty five different ones to amaze your friends and family at tea time.  You have the Water Lilly, Diamond Silverware pouch, French Pleat, Three Corner Hat, Butterfly and loads of others to choose from.  It’s simple origami but looks great. Somehow I’ll incorporate a few of them into the garden, Maybe a folded swan on one of the raised beds.

Square Foot gardening

Talking of raised beds, I’ve been looking into Square Foot Gardening recently. I experimented with it myself a few years back and didn’t really think it was of use to me as I don’t really do things by the book. The book in question is the aptly named ‘Square Foot Gardening’ written in 1981 by Mel Bartholomew (RIP) and revised in 2006 adding that square foot gardening is better off being done in raised beds  as it’s easier to measure from the edges.

SFG seems to be growing in popularity though and I can’t really think why other than it’s for people who like being told what to do in a precise manner or people that need to section their lives off into compartments. 

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh as any gardening is good gardening, and I should just let people get on with things without me judging. 

Let me tell you a bit about the process and you can make up your own mind.

The Process

Square foot gardening is the practice of dividing the growing area into small square sections (in this case 1ft)  The aim is to assist the planning and creating of small but intensively planted vegetable gardens. It results in an orderly gardening system, from which it draws much of its appeal. The major criticism of SFG is that it packs the plants too close together, which inhibits root development, and thus water and nutritional uptake suffers resulting in stunted plants. 

Bartholomew initially used a 12’ by 12’ square with a grid that divided it into 9 squares with equal lengths of 4 feet on each side. Each of these 4’ by 4’ squares was then invisibly divided into sixteen one foot squares that were each planted with a different species. 

The number of plants per square depending on an individual plant's size. For example, a single tomato plant might take a full square, as might herbs such as oregano or basil, while most strawberry plants could be planted four per square, and up to sixteen per square of plants such as radish. Tall or climbing plants such as peas and beans might be planted in a northern row (south in the southern hemisphere) so as not to shade other plants, and supported with lattice or netting.

One advantage of densely planted crops is that they can form living mulch, and also prevent weeds from establishing or even germinating. Also, natural insect repellent methods such as companion planting (i.e. planting marigolds or other naturally pest-repelling plants) become more efficient with close spacing, which may reduce the need to use pesticides. The large variety of crops in a small space also prevents plant diseases from spreading easily.

Do you like rules?

This is what puts me off a bit and make is feel a bit like a strange gardening cult or money making venture from the author to buy their magic soil mix. Over the years the SFG system has evolved into a precise set of rules:

Create Deep Raised Beds: Typically 4 feet by 4 feet, with a square foot lattice placed on top to visually separate the crops. Beds are between 6 and 12 inches deep.

Use a Specific Soil Mix: One third each of compost, peat moss and vermiculite. This starts the raised beds completely weed-free as well as being water retentive and full of nutrients.

Don't Walk on the Soil: I like that one…

Plant in Squares: To keep the planting simple there are no plant spacings to remember. Instead each square has either 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants in it depending on the size of the plant. There are exceptions though and a few larger plants span two squares. Climbing peas and beans are planted in two mini-rows of 4 per square.

Solid Lines: String just doesn't do the job, the divisions have to be wooden or plastic.

Thin with Scissors: Instead of pulling up excess plants which can disturb the root systems of the plants you want to grow you snip them off with scissors.

My results from experimenting produced more of less the same amount of produce as conventional beds so I didn’t really see the benefit. I did find that plants don’t really conform to their square foot spaces either and tend to spread. Try planting one courgette in a square foot space and you’ll see what I mean. 

I'm also very confused about the Square Foot Gardening websites. There's the .org site which is full of Donate Now, Volunteer and Fundraising buttons and classed as a Foundation, it's all done as a charity and tax exempt status. Then you go onto the .com from the site and it's all about affiliate marketing, payment for training, commissions of up to 20% for sales referrals and a huge amount of retail products and books. It's not very transparent.

But if this type of precision gets you into the garden then go for it.