Square Foot Gardening

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Summary: A lot of garden in a small space
Review: This book will show you the way to get the most garden out of the smallest area. Electrical conduit used to create a lattice work for climbing plants? It works! Using Mel's method I've even successfully grown pumpkins and cantelope vertically. If your house sits on less than 1/2 acre and you'd still like a vegetable garden, this book is a must!

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Summary: If you love to garden but hate to dig, this is for you
Review: I have to admit it, digging the rocky soil of New England never appealed to me. So when I started a garden in our New Hampshire backyard, even though I had a half acre to work with, I used this book and the square foot principles.

There is no reason to create a monster patch of garden if you are only going to have to give away those hundreds of zucchini (people in our town make sure to close their car windows in August, lest passersby fill their auto with their surplus squashes.) The square-foot garden method uses square plots, starting with a 4-foot square, that's all. This book gives you the right number of plants per square to put in each for a typical family. We love lettuce, so devoted more squares to lettuce; and you'd be surprised how few tomato plants you actually need. A married couple with no kids can actually garden in a 4 foot square, which is also helpful for those living in condos or doing terrace or balcony gardening. This method is somewhat related to French intensive agriculture, where a huge crop can be grown in a relatively small space.

Another reason to square-foot garden is to have enough compost to enrich the soil. I never ever have enough of this black gold, even though we compost all our vegetable scraps and grass clippings. (A friend went so far as to strike a deal with the local organic vegetarian restaurant for their scraps to have enough.) And weeding is a lot easier in a small square than on a long, endless furrow.

This is one of my favorite garden books. It's really fun to read, especially in the dark of winter as you plan your summer salad and tomato bounty for the coming summer.

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Summary: A must have for Greenhouse owners!
Review: Great ideas in each chapter. I use these methods in my income producing greenhouse. The info on growing cut flowers for maket and herbs for chefs was very helpful. If you are interested in a Fun and Profitable home business, see Secrets to a Successful Greenhouse and Business, 2000 edition.

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Summary: Among the best organic system books anywhere, anytime
Review: This is a classic. If you're a novice gardener, it will be your bible. If you're experienced, it will give you great ideas. I've actually bought this book twice over my gardening career. First I was a novice gardener working the back 40 square feet in an urban garden. It became the talk of the neighborhood. Over the years, I let someone borrow it, and lost track of it. So now, 20 years into gardening, I needed a little boost of enthusiasm after having a couple of bad years. I now garden about 1/4 acre, and used this book this year to manage my vegetable crop. I've got my green thumb back.

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Summary: essential gardening guidebook
Review: This book is a classic. If you want to know how to garden in an organized, easy, time and money-saving manner, this is an essential book for you. It is also great for those gardeners who are elderly or physically challenged. It tells you, among other things, how to make the most out of limited space, how to rotate your crops, how to set up your beds, what and when to plant.

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Summary: High Yields! Less Work! Gardening Nirvana is Here!
Review: This book completely revolutionized my way of garden use when I first bought it in the 1970s. WOW is the only word I could think of. Easy, fast, great for the 5-minutes-in-the-evening-after-work gardener. Fabulously effective with raised beds, and especially well suited to organics.

Free yourself from the drudgery of weeding all that empty space between the rows! Plant only exactly how much you need! Introduce yourself to the most flexile, responsive way pf planting a vegetable garden you can imagine! The closest thing there is to hassle free gardening.

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Summary: New video updates book, as Mel explains his latest ideas.
Review: HAVE YOU SEEN OUR NEW VIDEO? It's a fun, fast-moving introduction to Square Foot Gardening. Suzy Valentine joins me to show you all my newest ideas. Search the Video section, and learn how SFG is even easier and more natural today. No more soil prep - use Mel's Mix! This video is a perfect companion for both my books. And its only $12.95!

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Summary: Most Excellent!
Review: I have done square foot gardening for 15 years based on his book. It is excellent. I have one in my cement patio in the back leading to my garage. It truly takes very little time and produces lots of vegetables and looks very decorative too. It gives me a calming effect when I cook and look out my kitchen window. When you buy his book, you will not be disappointed. Also, it produces a lot of lettuce which you can pick fresh each day.

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Summary: A Handful of Seeds
Review: Are you like I was. . .grab a handful of seeds and sow them like grass then worry about thinning later? Of course, thinning was an arduous chore and never really got done; which meant, I'd usually end up with a lot of small useless vegetables.

"Square Foot Gardening" has done away with the old traditional method of raising vegetables, especially, the plant thick, thin later approach. The first year I used the square foot gardening method I couldn't believe how many carrots I grew, and each carrot was picture perfect. What a difference square foot gardening made for our family garden. No longer is it like fifteen little carrots then one big one. The same is true for all the other produce. My radishes were the biggest I'd ever grown and not a hollow one in the bunch.

Each plant gets undivided attention in an easy almost carefree enviornment. Also, in arid areas such as Utah--where I live. I use only a fraction of the water with the square foot method. It's all explained, and more, in Mel Bartholomew's book: "Square Foot Gardening".

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Summary: April, 2000 update & THANKS
Review: Hi! Your comments are really great - keep them coming to encourage others! If you saw my TV show when it was on PBS, Learning and Discovery Channels, you'll know that Square Foot Gardening can reduce all the work, space, and expense of an old-fashioned garden by 80%. Since its so simple and easy to understand, its especially good for beginners and non-experts. Why, even kids can learn it in a few hours. Try it and you'll never garden any other way. I guarantee it! () Good Luck and Happy Gardening! Mel