For a better garden, start at square one

Nancy O'Donnell, Special to The Rocky

Published April 7, 2007 at midnight

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More dig!

What would be your definition of the perfect garden? Lots of flowers, baskets of vegetables, no arguments with insects, diseases or four-legged nibblers and a snap to maintain, right?

Well, years ago a gentleman named Mel Bartholomew had the same dream, but he took it a step further and created what he dubbed "square-foot gardening," and today folks from all over the world still swear by his discovery.

What is "square-foot gardening"? It's exactly what its name implies, gardening in square-foot increments. Rather than the conventional long rows of plants and wide aisles leading throughout the garden, the garden area is divided up into usable square-foot sections. Bartholomew developed the idea particularly for the smaller city garden, community garden plot, rooftop and patio garden, but the concept has proved successful for larger- scale plots, too.

The whole idea is to maximize growing-space potential while minimizing wasted space. His original idea requires the actual construction of a free-standing garden frame, but don't let that deter you from giving the theory a try.

It can be modified to work directly in the garden without any special carpentry. Bartholomew's plan calls for a raised, square bed with wooden sides measuring 4-by-4-feet by 12 inches deep. These particular measurements are important because they allow the gardener to reach the middle of the garden from all sides without ever having to step into the garden and pack the soil down.

Once the frame is made, subdivide it using wood slats, creating 16 individual 1-by-1-foot squares.

All that is left is to move it to a place in the yard that gets full sun and fill it, preferably with potting mix that will provide a great growing base without the weed seeds found in typical garden soil.

Should you be modifying this concept and planting directly in your garden soil without the wooden frame, simply stake out a 4-by-4-foot area and divide it into square-foot increments.

You should still create some sort of "summer permanent" edge around the garden by using either plastic garden edging, bricks, stone or even pieces of firewood laid end to end, all of which can be removed come fall so the area may be rototilled.

Next divide the plot into your square-foot sections with solid dividers to keep plants in their place. For the planting, grab a piece of graph paper and sketch out your overall dimensions with the square-foot sections. Read the seed package for the proper spacing requirements.

A rule of thumb is large plants such as tomato (caged or staked to minimize spreading), pepper and summer squash should be planted one per square; medium plants such as leaf lettuce, onions, Swiss chard, marigolds and zinnias 2 to 6 per square; and smaller plants - radishes, beets and carrots - 12 per square.

Position the plants in the garden so the shorter ones are near the front and the taller near the back. Don't forget to add a few cascading type annuals to fall over the front edge for decoration.

Get even more space by growing vertical at the rear of the garden using a fence fashioned from a 4-foot-high section of chicken wire stretched between four upright poles solidly pounded (remember, the plants will get heavy when they fruit) into the ground along the outside edge of the garden. This will allow you to grow the back four squares with plants that can be tied up, such as tomatoes, or climb (pole beans, cucumbers, peas, gourds). Use one plant per square.

Why bother with this style of gardening? It's been proved to take up far less space than conventional row gardening. Maintenance is minimal when using Bartholomew's original garden layout. No tilling is necessary, and potting mix virtually eliminates the need for weeding.

If space constraints make even this sized garden too large, shrink it further. Because it's small, it's a great first garden for new gardeners and a perfect-sized one for little green thumbs. Modifications of this garden have been made in Horticultural Therapy programs to make it wheelchair accessible.

Less work and more harvest is absolutely worth considering.

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