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
My father in law swears by this method. It really works, and I use a lot of the techniques in my veggie garden. I've grown everything from radish to broccoli this way. Get the book, it will help a lot.
Sure is! A LOT of folks do it and it really works.
For the most part. 6-12 is ideal.
I can't think of any of hand....corn will even grow using the system if you plant enough to pollinate. 1 per sqaure foot for corn, peppers,tomatos.
Tom
The book is a bit outdated and suggests greater than 6" depth, but the website has more up to date info.
A tremendous amount of info about crops is based upon large commercial farmers that grow acres of one type of vegetable and use machines to harvest them. This has nothing to do with the home gardener. So things like row width are useless concepts. Sq. ft. works. I believe he even showed that 9 inch carrots grew in 6in boxes because the tap root ran along the bottom, create a 90-degree angle in the carrot.
DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email) Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY,
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.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.