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Sunday 24 January 2010

My Square Foot Garden project

Square foot gardening is gardening in a small space for folk who don’t have much space, are new to gardening and want to experiment, or for young people.

Traditionally, each small bed was a square foot (or 30 cm2), hence the name, and typically there are 9 such squares, i.e. a 3 x 3 grid. But you decide: make them bigger, or have more (e.g. 4 x 4) if you have the space.

I’m planning this in January, so over the next few months the spaces will gradually fill up or remain bare if the slugs get there first! I’ll take photographs of the garden once or twice a month so that you can check progress.

In planning I need to consider the position of the sun to avoid tall veg shading others. You won’t need many seeds, so consider sharing packets with friends or neighbours. I won’t be planting much yet, maybe a few broad beans which I germinated in December. I’ve prepared my soil, but if you need to dig yours and prepare, now is the time to start.

Below is my initial plan. It’s based on what we like and eat most of.



I do have an allotment so things that take a lot of space are planted elsewhere (squashes, cucumbers etc). As some crops finish I’ll replace them with others, watch this space.

I have paths on three sides of this plot so I’ve planned accordingly for watering and picking as I don’t want to stand on the earth and compact it.

I’ve just found some children’s plans, taken from the Kitchen Garden Magazine. They are much more detailed than mine but I will try to include them some time to give more ideas.

Enjoy planning and preparation!