Great comments Bill!

I hadn't thought about the knot -foursquare hybrid. That will certainly
keep the garden from looking like an army parade field. I'll have to play
with that a bit on paper. As I mentioned in my response to John, I'm
looking at a 40' x 40' garden area but may have to expand it a bit if I
adapt your hybrid idea.

So you buried whole bales of hay? I've heard of using hay in a lasagna bed
but not the whole bale. And you've had good results across the board with
it? Curious, have you tried that with deep rooted perennials or shrubbery?
I'm curious how the bales would hold up. I think I'll have to give that a
try.

Thanks a bunch!
Dutch


"Noydb" wrote in message
...
Dutchman wrote:

I've done a little research and understand the history and basics of a
four-square garden. I'm in
the process of transforming an area of my backyard into a garden. I
like
the concept of the
four-square design and will be using raised beds due to my soil
conditions. I'm trying to get a
better visualization of the garden and am looking for any design ideas.
I've picked up a book on kitchen gardens and though it referenced the
four-square design, it didn't give me anything with
which to better visualize the layout, size and scope of the garden.
Does
anyone have experience with this sort of design or can point me to some
pictures or layouts?

Many Thanks
Dutch


Wow ... you've gotten some pretty good responses so far. I just want to
toss
in a viewpoint. Why not combine the concepts of a knot garden with the
foursquare in which each of the four larger quadrants are themselves
divided into smaller quadrants? The main paths could be both wider and
made
of a different material than the side paths. Moreover, if you wish to
avoid
the boxy look altogether you could align lumber vertically and connect it
with heavy-gauge wire instead of other lumber. You could also go with a
shingle overlap joint that would flex enough for gentle curves. Once in
place, anchor to posts set in the ground. For instance, a cluster of four
round containers could occupy each of the quadrants.

In my own garden (NOT a foursquare design) I dug 2' trenches the length
and
width of the intended bed, backfilled them with baled hay (left baled to
slow their decay)then placed 2'tall open ended boxes above them and used
the displaced soil, mixed with additional compost to back fill them. As
the
soil subsides, the top is kept level to slightly rounded with additional
applications of compost used as a mulch. This method of soil preparation,
while a lot of work initially, is giving me great results because my roots
have loose, rich soil a long ways down. Thanks to the baled hay, I
estimate
that it will be at least 10 years before my soil even starts to compact
and
a long time after that before compaction would be serious enough to begin
hindering roots. Ten foot tall trellises were part of the original box
construction and both my tomatoes and my beans topped the trellises last
year ... my beans by the first week in July ... my indeterminant tomatoes
in early September.

Bill