On Thu, 01 May 2003 17:37:41 -0400, montana
wrote:


There's a lot of information available for square foot and vertical
gardening (which is discussed in The Square Foot Gardener) out there and
people with small plots of land have been doing this for a very long
time. It just isn't always popular or necessary in the US, so I think
the concepts get overlooked, but planting in this manner can offer you a
really spectacular looking garden *filled* with interesting stuff.

Having gardened both ways - traditional 'rows' and the
square foot method - I think the square foot method is also
spectacularly less work for the results you get.

It is readily adaptable to any size container as well - I'm
using big black plant pots and tires as containers this
year. I just measure the diameter (they're both circular),
calculate the area, and space the plants according to the
charts in Bartholomew's book.

Another thing I like about is that it's 'do-able' - if I
look at the garden as a whole - and mine isn't all that
large (maybe 30' x 40' now) - I think 'Oh, I can NEVER get
that all planted and I don't know where to plant
anything....and...' and I am very intimidated. I get scared
to the point of paralysis, almost, and don't get it done.

If I think 'Today I will plant two tires of plants', it's
manageable and it doesn't scare me! Or 'Today I will
transplant little plants into two big black pots.' It's
done in easy chunks of work. If you plant on a graduated
schedule - to get the cold-tolerating plants in first - this
works out very well. Anyway, it does for me.

Pat