On Mon, 28 Jun 2004, Tom Engel wrote:

A few years back for my first veggie garden I used this method. It is
helpful for a beginner and actually is a good guide even when one gets more
experience. Randy

Olushola wrote:

Having never grown food before, I going to give this a try as it doesn't
seem to labor intensive. A few questions:

Is this really legit?

Is 6 inches enough for the roots?

What vegetables are not compatible with this system?

Thanks
Olushola

--



I started one this year.. Have never grown vegatables before. I don't
even get really optimal light in the 4X4' spot, but stuff is growling like
crazy. I planted cherry tomato plants, green beans, mesclun lettuce (a
mix) some other kind of lettuce, chives, brussel sprouts(may have been a
bit ambitious on that one, didn't realize how big the plant needs to be)

According to the guy who wrote the book on square foot gardening (which I
haven't read yet), the reason 6 inches is enough is because you are using
such an optimal soil mix that the roots do not need to go that deep to get
what they need. Good compost is the key. The mix is 1/3 peat moss, 1/3
vermiculite (NOT, I reapeat NOT perlite!) and 1/3 compost.

Because of the way this thing is built, you don' worry much about weeds
(some seeds managed to get in mine, but no biggie) and it doesn't matter
what the soil is where you live because you won't be using it.

I can't imagine anything being "not compatible" with it. "Square Food
Gardening" is not really anything that extreme. It's just a name that is
given to market a different way of doing things. The things that make it
what it is are the soil mix, depth, and planting in squares instead of
rows (much more space efficient).

My biggest mistake I think is that i used too many seeds. I wasn't ready
to believe I could put two or three seeds into a square and something
would grow. I'm not that experienced anyway. I just kind of thought that
you always have to stick a bunch of seeds in soil and if you put enough
in, something will grow! But it's as if ALL the seeds I planted sprouted
so my garden is a little crowded this year.