Suggested Plant Varieties (by State)

Utah
Iowa

Why Square Foot Gardening?

So I have all sorts of ideas and hopes for this site, the least of which is to document my gardening efforts and keep all the information I research in one place. We’ll see if this turns into anything bigger than that!
 To begin, I thought I’d explain why, when I wanted to garden, I chose [...]

Planning Your Square Foot Garden

So, you are going to start a garden! What will you plant, and how much? The best rule of thumb is to start small, and then grow a bit more each season. Otherwise, you will get overwhelmed and burned out!

Write down a list of all the foods you wish to grow. Keep in mind–if you [...]

Building a Square Foot Garden

 
Since I was setting up my garden by myself, and had limited time before I needed to plant, I took the easy route of ordering my square foot gardens from Mel’s website www.squarefootgardening.com. Since I live in Utah, they were kind enough to arrange a pickup, which saved me shipping costs. Here is what I [...]

How to Create Mel’s Mix

You may be asking “whose mix”? Mel Bartholemew is the author of All New Square Foot Gardening, and the founder of the square foot gardening method. He recommends filling your garden boxes with a special mix, instead of dirt. Here’s the mix, how much it cost, and the benefits:
The Mix

1/3 vermiculite
1/3 peat moss
1/3 compost (from [...]

Buying Seeds and Plants

I have gotten my seeds from several different stores: WalMart, Home Depot, and IFA (Intermountain Farmers Association). I have not found a huge difference in price, except for the American Seed Company. They tend to be really inexpensive, but when I spoke with the cashier at IFA she said they sometimes have a germination rate [...]

Plant Spacing

Plant

# Per Square

Plant
# of Squares

Asparagus

1

Cantaloupe

2

Basil

4

Pumpkins

2

Beans

8

Summer squash

9

Beets

9

Bush Tomatoes

9

Cabbage

1

Watermelon

2

Carrots

16

Zucchini

9

Cauliflower

1

Cilantro

4

Corn

4

Cucumbers

2

Dill

4

Eggplant

1

Lettuce

4

Okra

1

Onions

9-16

Oregano

1

Parsley

1

Peas

8

Peppers

1

Potatoes

4

Radishes

16

Rosemary

1

Spinach

9

Swiss Chard

4

Vine Tomatoes

1

To calculate how many plants per square, look on the back of the seed packet–totally ignore the row spacing, just look at the plant spacing:

3″ apart (or less), plant 16 per square
4″ apart, plant 9 per square
6″ apart, plant 4 per square
12″ apart, plant 1 per square