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All New Square Foot Gardening 3rd

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ALL NEW
SQUARE FOOT
GARDENING
3RD EDITION
FULLY UPDATED

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TEXT Page:1

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ALL NEW
SQUARE FOOT
GARDENING
3RD EDITION
FULLY UPDATED

MORE PROJECTS
NEW SOLUTIONS
GROW VEGETABLES ANYWHERE

MEL BARTHOLOMEW
WITH THE SQUARE FOOT GARDENING FOUNDATION

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© 2018 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.

First published in 2018 by Cool Springs Press, an imprint of The Quarto Group,
401 Second Avenue North, Suite 310, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA.
T (612) 344-8100 F (612) 344-8692 www.QuartoKnows.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without
written permission of the copyright owners. All images in this book have been
reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the artists concerned, and no
responsibility is accepted by producer, publisher, or printer for any infringement of
copyright or otherwise, arising from the contents of this publication. Every effort has
been made to ensure that credits accurately comply with information supplied. We
apologize for any inaccuracies that may have occurred and will resolve inaccurate or
missing information in a subsequent reprinting of the book.

Cool Springs Press titles are also available at discount for retail, wholesale,
promotional, and bulk purchase. For details, contact the Special Sales Manager by
email at specialsales@quarto.com or by mail at The Quarto Group, Attn: Special Sales
Manager, 401 Second Avenue North, Suite 310, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN: 978-0-7603-6285-3
Digital edition: 978-0-76036-2-891
Softcover edition: 978-0-76036-2-853

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bartholomew, Mel, author.


Title: All new square foot gardening : more projects, new solutions, grow
vegetables anywhere / Mel Bartholomew with the Square Foot Gardening
Foundation.
Description: 3rd edition, fully updated. | Minneapolis, Minnesota : Cool
Springs Press, 2018. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018022926 | ISBN 9780760362853 (pb)
Subjects: LCSH: Vegetable gardening. | Square foot gardening.
Classification: LCC SB321 .B284 2018 | DDC 635--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018022926

Acquiring Editor: Mark Johanson


Project Manager: Alyssa Bluhm
Art Director: Brad Springer
Layout: Amy Sly
New Photography: Paul Markert
Edition Editor: Bryan Trandem

Printed in China

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DEDICATION
The Square Foot Gardening Foundation believes that everyone should
enjoy fresh harvested produce without the exhaustive work. Gardening
should be fun, simple, and easy to understand and create. We dedicate
this book to all the Square Foot Gardening fans who over the years have
moved this amazing method from the fringe into the mainstream, and to
the foundation teachers and volunteers who have done so much to teach
the method across America—and now across the world.

And we of course dedicate our most recent effort to Mel Bartholomew


himself. His memory guides our every gardening effort and he remains
an inspiration to us all.

In Mel’s words, “Happy gardening, friends.”

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CONTENTS

5
FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION
1 3 BUILDING BOXES
& GRIDS

71
13

2 6
PLANNING
YOUR SQUARE
FOOT GARDEN

45

THE 10 BASICS AND


8 STEPS OF SQUARE
FOOT GARDENING

29
4
L AY I N G O U T
YOUR SQUARE
SQUARE FOOT
GARDEN EXTRAS

95
FOOT GARDEN
59

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11
7
9
OUTSIDE THE
BOX: COMMUNITY
OPPORTUNITIES

199

12
MEL’S MIX:
THE MAGICAL
GROWING MEDIUM

125

8
M A I N TA I N I N G
YOUR SQUARE
FOOT GARDEN

165
THE SQUARE FOOT

10
GARDENING GUIDE
T O V E G E TA B L E S

PLANTING
209
YOUR SQUARE
FOOT GARDEN

143 APPENDICES

258
HARVESTING
YOUR SQUARE
FOOT GARDEN PHOTO CREDITS

183 269
INDEX

270

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FOREWORD
“End world hunger.”
That’s the mission of the Square Foot Gardening Foundation, articulated by
Mel Bartholomew, the inventor of Square Foot Gardening and founder of the
Square Foot Gardening Foundation. It’s a tall order, but one we’re already tack-
ling, one square foot at a time.
As the Foundation enters our third decade in operation, we’re continuing to
spread Mel’s original message of growing more food in less space with less waste
(of time, materials, and money). Here’s how we’re doing it, at home and abroad,
and how you can join us!

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SFG AT HOME
Biting into a ripe, juicy tomato and tasting the flavor bursting on your tongue.
The delight of pulling a carrot up and seeing its fat root ready for eating. Snipping
lettuce leaves for a fresh spring salad. Knowing you have enough peppers to
feed your family, sweet potatoes to store over the winter, and herbs to make
your soups and stews flavorful. Not wondering whether you’ll have to feed your
family packaged food filled with preservatives. Motivation for growing your own
depends on your situation. For some, it’s all about flavor. For others, it’s a matter
of food security and regaining control of where your next meal is coming from,
or knowing that you’ll have a next meal.
Individuals interested in Square Foot Gardening can find certified instructors
via our website to help them get started with gardening. We’ve debuted a new
Square Foot Gardening Foundation website, www.squarefootgardening.org, and
are working on quarterly newsletters to get home gardeners excited and con-
nect them with the resources they need to get growing, including books, classes,
and materials.
Our long-term goals include establishing Square Foot Gardening Foundation
Learning Centers. These learning centers will encompass demonstration gar-
dens, hands-on creations of Square Foot Gardens, and classes and workshops to
help people learn about the environment, composting, pollinators, and a host of
other sustainable practices.
In the meantime, we’re working with organizations such as PlantPure
Communities, which advocates a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle to help in
reducing and preventing disease. We believe people will gravitate more and more
towards a plant-based diet, and we’re doing what we can to support that. Mel
believed that making it easy to grow vegetables means:

• Less cooking (eating more • Less trash


salads)
• Less water used
• Less fuel (no trucks bringing
• Less groundwater pollution
your vegetables to you)
• No fertilizers
• Eating fresh
• No plastic waste
• No waste (composting your
veggie scraps)

All great reasons to grow your own!

Foreword 9

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SFG IN OUR COMMUNITIES
We believe Square Foot Gardening can bridge gaps between young and old, urban
and rural, and individuals from different backgrounds. We envision Square
Foot Gardens not only in classrooms, but also outside of houses of worship, as
community gardens, at libraries, shelters, and assisted living communities. We
plan to focus on tabletop gardening for those who use a wheelchair—especially
our veterans.
Science tells us that people are happier when they spend time outside, and
Square Foot Gardening is the perfect way for new gardeners to get their hands
in the soil and see tangible results straight out of the gate. Biting into a radish
straight from the garden or snacking on snap peas fresh from the vine creates
an instant connection to our earth and virtually guarantees a new gardener
is hooked for life. Cultivating more gardeners will benefit all of us, particu-
larly when those gardeners are children, the stewards of our environment and
our future.
To connect with kids, we’re revising K-12 curricula to bring Square Foot
Gardening into every classroom and homeschool arena in the United States.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to help inner-city schools bring Square Foot Gardening
to their rooftops and urban community gardens, and bring food security to
their communities?
The Square Foot Gardening Foundation is already working with our Certified
Instructors in YMCAs in New Jersey. They have put together a successful sum-
mer camp program that is serving as a pilot program that will soon expand. We
would love to expand to other states and groups, such as the Boy and Girl Scouts
of America.

SFG INTERNATIONAL
INITIATIVES
Food security is not just an issue in our own homes, it is something people strug-
gle with the world over. We have proof that Square Foot Gardening can help
people in impoverished countries feed themselves while teaching about the
environment and nutrition. This type of gardening empowers citizens (especially
women) to provide for their families and their communities. Through interna-
tional organizations, including Farm4Real and Cultiva International, Square Foot
Gardening is changing people’s lives. We’re so excited to grow our resources and
funding to help support those efforts.

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From South Africa to Haiti to Guatemala, certified instructors, humanitar-
ian organizations, and individuals are making a difference with Square Foot
Gardening. A big part of founder Mel’s original vision was to teach people how
to take care of themselves through gardening, and we’re continuing to build
on that.

CHANGING THE WORLD


ONE SQUARE FOOT AT
A TIME
We’re delighted to introduce the newest book in the Square Foot Gardening fam-
ily. In All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition, you will not find any major or
even significant changes to the method Mel developed and perfected over the
years. Because, frankly, it did not need improving. But we believe we have made
some extremely helpful changes to the way the method is presented, making
it much easier for readers to navigate through the steps and create an efficient
plan for putting the Square Foot approach into action. And we have included
some very helpful information about new products and clever solutions, along
with some fabulous new illustrations and photographs. The result, we think, is
a book that takes a proven method and cuts a new path that gets you directly to
the information you need to understand it.
We hope this new edition will encourage you to grow your own vegetables at
home, share your love of gardening with your community groups, and inspire
new Square Foot Gardeners.
We look forward to meeting you as we travel around to see Square Foot
Gardening in action in the United States and overseas. Come say hi on social
media and visit our website, www.squarefootgardening.org.

Happy gardening!

Laura & Steve Bartholomew


The Square Foot Gardening Foundation

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A Square Foot Garden is not only efficient but a treat for the eyes.

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INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER

1
M el Bartholomew began developing his method of gar-
dening relatively late in life, after he retired in the
mid-1970s from his first career as an engineer. It was born
to some degree out of Mel’s pointed disagreement with the
most traditional gardening methods that didn’t make practi-
cal sense to him. There’s irony to the fact that this man who
made growing “in a box” so famous developed his methods by
thinking entirely “outside the box” when it came to rebelling
against conventional wisdom. It is perhaps this attitude of the
stubborn revolutionary that makes the Square Foot Gardening
method so very popular to this day.

INTrodUcTIoN  13

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When Mel began gardening in about 1975, it was simply a single 4 × 4 Square Foot Garden to make a huge dent in
a hobby for a newly retired fellow to pursue, a chance to your grocery bill.
get out in the fresh air and mingle with other hobbyists. At Weeding is not necessary. The reason weeds grow so
that time, of course, vegetable gardening was a rather util- rampantly is usually because too much fertilizer is applied—
itarian activity in which large rectangular plots of ground and because it is often dumped on ground that is not even
were churned up, fertilized, planted in long rows spaced planted with vegetables. Instead of churning up a huge gar-
about 3 feet apart, and regularly watered. And weeded. And den bed and tilling in massive amounts of fertilizer that
weeded. And weeded. then stimulates weeds, Mel saw that confining vegetables
Mel’s analytical mind, bolstered by a common-sense to a 4 × 4 Square Foot Garden filled with controlled growing
attitude, soon picked up on many limitations to traditional mix can eliminate most weeds and make it extremely easy
gardening methods—reasons why the activity was neither and quick to pull them when they do appear.
as enjoyable nor as productive as it might be. Among the Garden “dirt” is not a very good medium for growing
questions he asked: produce. It contains too many weed seeds and not enough
natural nutrients. You can create your own growing medium
• Why do gardeners grow in rows spaced 3 feet that is far better for growing vegetables than ordinary gar-
apart? That space is nothing more than room for den soil. “Mel’s Mix” was born out of experimentation to
weeds to grow. find the perfect growing medium.
Traditional gardening methods are wasteful. You can
• Why do gardeners always grow more food than
grow better produce in less garden space, planting fewer
they can possibly eat? Almost every gardener
seeds, using less fertilizer, watering less often, and with
wastes food by growing too much.
almost no weeding necessary. Rather than planting scads of
• Why do vegetable gardeners plant such long rows? seeds over long rows, then thinning out the seedlings once
It takes up too much space. they started crowding each other, Mel recognized that very
• Why do they fertilize so much? It is costly and careful planting of seeds right from the start could elimi-
inefficient. nate a great deal of work and could make a single pack of
seeds last for several growing seasons.
• Why is it necessary to weed constantly? All that
Similarly, Mel saw that careful application of water
work spoils the fun.
where it was needed in a small, carefully planted Square
Foot Garden was infinitely more efficient than dumping
Over the next few years, Mel systematically found solu- untold gallons over an enormous vegetable garden covering
tions to all these problems and more. And as his method most of your yard.
was perfected, more and more people wanted to learn how
he did it. Mel soon was in full swing in his second career as

ADVANTAGE TO
a community activist, lecturer, and author, promoting effi-
cient and enjoyable methods of vegetable gardening.

The insights Mel developed would revolutionize gardening BEGINNERS


forever:
Vegetables can be tightly spaced. Vegetables can be Although the so-called experts were slow to embrace the
planted mere inches apart and still can grow quite produc- Square Foot Gardening method, novices quickly learned
tively, and you can get far more produce in a limited space that it was both much easier and more productive than
than people realize. A lot of produce can be grown in a very traditional gardening methods. That, of course, makes it a
small space. In fact, a single 4 × 4-foot raised bed subdivided lot more fun too. Mel’s vision of Square Foot Gardening has
into 16 squares using dividers can grow a lot of the produce now been around for 40-plus years, yet it remains as revo-
a normal family needs. Simple succession planting—intro- lutionary today as it was when he first created it. There are
ducing a new crop when the previous crop is done—allows still some “experts” who look down upon doing anything

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the easy, fun way, but there are also millions of real-life gar- Have a look at some of the very clever ways in which
deners who enthusiastically practice Square Foot Gardening everyday gardeners have used the Square Foot Gardening
in exactly the way that Mel would want. We humbly smile method.
and listen to experts trumpet the virtues of row gardening,
while harvesting enormous quantities of delicious vegeta-
bles to feed our families and friends.

INTrodUcTIoN  15

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SQUARE FOOT GARDENING
IN PRACTICE

 Don’t discount the sheer appeal of a Square Foot Garden as a landscape feature.
The various shades and colors are nourishing in many ways.

 This stacked pyramid garden is perfect in an urban space. Ordinary concrete block
is used to edge the garden, with the voids in the blocks used for additional planting.

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 When gardening with kids, downsizing to a
smaller box (2 × 2 or 3 × 3) will make it easier for
the little ones to tend their garden.

 The small size and high density of a Square Foot


Garden makes it the perfect method for family
gardening with kids of all ages. Raised beds are
also ideal for seniors, for whom accessibility can
be a challenge in a traditional single-row garden.

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 Truth be told, a Square Foot Garden need not
be “square” at all, provided the area of the grid
squares is about the same. This gardener has
created a visually striking pyramid box with
triangular planting spaces.

 A raised bed like this one can be fitted with a


grid to make a perfect Square Foot Garden for a
gardener in a wheelchair.

INTrodUcTIoN  19

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In this major Square Foot Gardening setup, the gardener has A serious Square Foot Gardening practice can easily be
adapted the classic square box into narrower 3 × 7 shapes integrated into an ordinary suburban landscape as part of
to take advantage of the space. Each box is equipped with a the decorative border to the yard. Here, the owner has built
standard conduit trellis frame, some with traditional nylon a series of classic 4 × 4 boxes, plus two narrow boxes to take
netting, others with simple strands of vertical twine. advantage of a space near the privacy fence.

This garden is being built with convenient raised-bed kits In this rural setting, a gardener has created a major operation
made of PVC plastic with corner connectors. using nothing but Square Foot Gardening boxes, each
equipped with a classic conduit trellis.

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Equipped with a trellis,
a Square Foot Garden
can support climbing
vegetables and make a
strong vertical statement
as an element of the
landscape design.

INTrodUcTIoN  21

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A YEAR OF SQUARE FOOT
GARDENING PRODUCE
On the following page, you’ll see all the produce you can grow in one Square Foot Garden in a
moderate climate with a regular growing season. If you live in the South, you might get even
more food than this. Our 16 grid squares are planted as follows.

This Square Foot Gardening setup is a standard 4 × 4 box. (9) head cabbage, 1 plant
The back side is mounted with a classic conduit-and-net
trellis. It was planted with maximum diversity in mind, (10) broccoli, 1 plant
with one different type of vegetable in each grid:
(11) cauliflower, 1 plant
(1) pole beans, 8 seeds/plants
(12) curly kale, 1 plant
(2) climbing peas, 8 seeds/plants
(13) leaf lettuce, 4 plants
(3) cucumber, 2 plants
(14) onions, 16 sets
(4) musk melon, 1 plant
(15) radishes, 16 seeds/plants
(5) tomato, 1 plant
(16) leaf spinach, 9 seeds/plants
(6) green pepper, 1 plant
Some of these vegetables bore fruit only one time, while
(7) eggplant, 1 plant others were constant producers, and a couple of the squares
were replanted for second harvest at midseason.
(8) potato, 1 plant

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1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16

INTrodUcTIoN  23

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THE HARVEST FROM ONE 4 × 4 SQUARE FOOT
GARDEN IN A SINGLE GROWING SEASON
• 2 gallons green beans • 1-3 heads cabbage
• 2 gallons peas • 1-4 heads broccoli
• 18 cucumbers • 1-4 heads cauliflower
• 4 muskmelons or cantaloupes • 4 gallons kale
• 18 tomatoes • 8 shocks lettuce
• 12 green peppers • 16 onions
• 10 eggplants • 48 radishes
• 8 potatoes • 2 gallons spinach

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SQUARE
FOOT
GARDENING

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Title: 302713 - All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition
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IN MEL’S WORDS
It all started in 1975 after my retirement from my engineering consulting business in
New Jersey. To celebrate, I moved my family to a waterfront home on the North Shore
of Long Island. After a year of rebuilding the house and another year of landscaping
and improving the grounds, I decided to take up gardening as a hobby. My first step
was to attend a lecture on composting given by a local environmental group. It was a
warm spring day in April—a great time to be out in the garden. A small group milled
around at the advertised meeting point, but no instructor ever showed up. So, rather
than disband, I suggested to the group that we each share our knowledge with each
other and tell what little we knew about composting. We had a wonderful time and
actually learned a little bit from each other. As we prepared to leave, someone asked
me, “Can we do this again next week?” And I said, “Sure, why not?” Thus began my new
career of teaching gardening while I was still a novice myself.
The next step was organizing a community garden for this same environmental
group. I found some land and convinced the town to cut down all the weeds and
fence it in. A local farmer delivered two truckloads of well-rotted manure, and, after
the ground was all fertilized and plowed up, we laid out plots and aisles and opened
for business. All the spaces were quickly taken by people in the community, and every-
one started with great enthusiasm. Because most of the participants were novices who
didn’t have a garden at home, they were enthusiastic about obtaining instruction and
insights on gardening.
So, I initiated a Saturday-morning gardening workshop and presented information
on a different subject each week while everyone sat around on bales of hay, listening.
I was teaching basic single-row gardening because that’s all anyone knew back then.
The local county agricultural agent helped out and everything went well until about
midsummer. It was about then that our once-enthusiastic gardeners stopped com-
ing out to the garden. However, the weeds kept coming—and growing! Pretty soon the
place was overgrown and looked a mess.
I was discouraged and thought I had better do some research to figure out why we
had failed, so I visited many backyard gardens. What I found was a big space way out in
the farthest corner of the yard, about as close to the neighbor’s property line as possible.
In most cases, these individual gardens were also filled with overgrown weeds. The first
red flag went up in my mind, indicating that there was something wrong with tradi-
tional single-row gardening. I thought about all the conventional gardening practices
we’d been taught and began to question the efficiency of each. Gardening shouldn’t be
a lot of hard work. Gardening should be fun! There was something wrong here.
This led to further questions. Why do the planting instructions on packages of seeds
direct the gardener to pour out an entire packet along a row, only to have you later go
back and tear out 95 percent of the seeds you planted once they sprout? Why use up
an entire packet of seeds for every row you plant? Isn’t that rather wasteful? Why would
they instruct us to plant that way? Who’s in charge here, anyway?

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Row gardening is the traditional way, but it is wasteful, inefficient, and a whole lot of back-breaking work—everything
that Square Foot Gardening is not.

I soon realized that I had a lot of questions with very few answers, so I traveled all
over the country seeking out the best experts: agricultural college professors, county
agricultural agents, garden writers, radio and TV gardening personalities, gardening
publishers, book writers, garden clubs—all those who were supposedly knowledgeable
in the field of gardening. I sought answers to all the gardening questions I had, but,
no matter where I traveled throughout the country, from Maine to California, I kept
receiving the same answer. Can you imagine what that answer was? It soon became
apparent that the only reason traditional single-row gardening methods continued to
exist was “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it!” Right then and there I said, “I’m
going to invent a better way to garden.”

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