Square foot gardening is a method of kitchen gardening where more food is grown in less space. In this system of kitchen gardening, you create raised beds for about 4 feet square and separate into 16 one foot square to form a grid.
Each square is then planted with a type of crop. Plants in each square depending on the size and the nutritional requirements of a crop. After harvesting plants in each square, plant other types to allow continual harvest. The use of compost manure eliminated the need to use artificial fertilizers in square feet gardening.
Pros and Cons of Square foot gardening
Like any other form of gardening system, square foot gardening has its own pros and cons. It is in order for you to examine these pros and cons for you to determine if square foot gardening is the right gardening system for you.
Pros
- You can get high yields in a small space as compared to planting your crops on traditional rows.
- Growing a variety of crops increases biodiversity which makes plants more resistant to pests and diseases.
- Intensive planting ensures no bare soil at any particular time, which protects the soils’ ecosystem by providing crop cover throughout.
- Closely planting crops minimizes the chances of weeds thriving in the beds.
- Raised beds are suitable even for those whose years have passed on by making gardening easy for them.
- Orderly nature of square foot gardening ensures you stay on top of things throughout the year by planting hybrid plants that yield high products.
- Soil-free mixtures ensure no weeds thrive in your garden while the fertility rate is increased.
- It is easy to set up beds in this system of gardening even with complete beginners
- Smaller beds are easy to manage and cover it with cloches, cages or gold frames which protect the crops as compared to less intensive managed beds.
Cons
- The beds are not suitable for large plants that take up large space like pumpkins or squash. You can grow such crops in the fields.
- Not eco-friendly in the way that peat moss and vermiculite are sourced, plus vermiculite comes at high carbon cost. There are alternatives to filling your bed though with greener methods.
- It requires a considerable amount of water because it drys up quickly compared to growing crops on the ground.
- Fewer weeds that manage to grow in the beds are hard to remove because you will often use hands instead of traditional hoe used in weeding rows.
Planning a square foot garden is simple
You can employ a simple methodology and approach to prepare your sustainable backyard garden. This makes it appealing to beginners, the first thing is to locate the best place to do your gardening while considering the direction of the wind and how sheltered is the location from other weather elements. Consider other factors like the location of compost heap, water systems and more.
In summary
Now that you understand the pros and cons of maintaining a square foot garden, it is upon you to decide if it is right for you or not, anybody can easily get started with square foot garden. Have a look at the following gallery for more inspiration about the square foot garden.
Check my other post on gardening.
