A community that can feed itself is free.

Joel Salatin

from Holy Cows and Hog Heaven

Square Foot Gardening in the Mad River Valley

Resources for Square Foot Gardening:

• Mel Bartholomew’s website:  http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

• See a slideshow of the Square Foot Gardening Workshop

• Watch for the video of the Square Foot Gardening Workshop on MRVTV Channel 44

• Peter Burke’s advanced Square Foot Garden Workshops:  Call Peter at 802-223-7851

• Book available at the Tempest Bookstore:  All New Square Food Gardening (be sure to get the 2^nd edition with does away with digging!)

• Sign up for our workshop on Square Foot Gardening on May 23 at the Mad River Garden Center.

Article in the May 14, 2009 Valley Reporter

Square Foot Gardening by Robin McDermott

With the rising cost of food, growing interest in local food and a concern for the nutrition and safety of mass produced foods, more people than ever are starting vegetable gardens for the first time this year.  Most experienced gardeners will tell you that it takes several years to establish a highly productive vegetable garden which is enough to discourage even the most enthusiastic gardening newbie.  And, ask a five veteran gardeners how to plant potatoes, lettuce or tomatoes and you will get at least five different opinions, if not more.

What beginning vegetable gardeners really want is a formula for success and that formula may lie in Square Foot Gardening.  This method, originally developed by Mel Bartholomew, frees gardeners from digging and weeding while at the same time produces a lot more food in a lot less space than traditional row gardens.  With some simple formulas provided in Mel’s All New Square Foot Gardening book, gardeners calculate how many four foot by four foot gardens they need to feed their household during the growing season.  There are also calculations for growing storage vegetables for the winter.

A square foot garden is typically a four foot by four foot square that is then divided into 16 one foot by one foot squares.  Something different can be planted in each of the squares which means that you can produce 16 different crops in just one “box.”  The box is made from four 2X6’s (pine, cedar or any type of untreated wood will do) that are screwed together to form a square.  The square is set on the ground (no need to remove the sod or dig up the space!) and wet newspaper is layered in the bottom of the square (one Sunday New York Times is perfect for one square) to kill the grass and prevent weeds.  The square is filled with “perfect soil” which you mix from 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 peat moss.  Add a cup and a quarter each of kelp and lime to the three ingredients, mix it well, pour it into the box on top of the newspaper and water well.  Use one inch wide four foot long wood “strapping” to create the one foot by one foot grid.  Now you are ready to plant!

The formula for planting depends on what you are planting.  16 carrots or 16 radishes or 16 scallions can be planted in one of the one foot squares.  Nine beets or turnips can fit into the same sized square.  Lettuce, garlic and celeriac can be planted four at a time in one square and larger veggies such as tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes or corn are planted one plant or seed per square.  Trellis’ for climbing plants, cages to keep critters out and fabric domes to hold heat and extend the season can easily be added to square foot gardens. 

A basic Square Foot Garden will cost about $35 to $40 for all of the necessary materials including the wood and the soil and can be fully built in less than a half hour!  On April 25, the Mad River Valley Localvore project sponsored a Square Foot Gardening workshop at the Mad River Garden Center that over 45 people attended.  Peter Burke who lives in Calais, Vermont and has been Square Foot Gardening since the 1980s led the workshop with his son Jake assisting.  Peter talked about the principles and practices behind SFG for the first hour of the one and a half hour workshop.  Participants were wondering if he would ever get around to building the bed he kept promising and how would he do it in just a half hour?  Finally, at 11am Peter and Jake started building the bed and by 11:30 the bed was built including a trellis and it was fully planted. 

You can watch the Square Foot Garden progress through the summer.  It is located between the Mad River Garden Center and the Health Center.  Sugar snap peas will soon be climbing up the trellis.  Lettuce and radishes will be ready to pick by Memorial Day.  This highlights yet another benefit of Square Foot Gardens:  Succession planting.  In succession planting as one crop is harvested (such as the lettuce and radishes), a new crop is planted after adding a cup of compost to bring new life to the soil.  This way there will be a steady supply of fresh vegetables throughout the summer.