All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!

by Mel Bartholomew

book data

646 ratings, 4.13 average rating, 216 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		35%
4		45%
3		17%
2		2%
1		0%

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published

February 14th 2006 by Cool Springs Press

binding

Paperback, 271 pages

isbn

1591862027 (isbn13: 9781591862024)

description

Do you know what the best feature is in All New Square Foot Gardening?

Sure, there are ten new features in this all-new, updated book. Sure, it's ev

...more

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Do you know what the best feature is in All New Square Foot Gardening?

Sure, there are ten new features in this all-new, updated book. Sure, it's even simpler than it was before. Of course, you don't have to worry about fertilizer or poor soil ever again because you'll be growing above the ground.

But, the best feature is that anyone, anywhere can enjoy a Square Foot garden. Children, adults with limited mobility, even complete novices can achieve spectacular results.

But, let's get back to the ten improvements. You're going to love them.

1) New Location - Move your garden closer to your house by eliminating single-row gardening. Square Foot Garden needs just twenty percent of the space of a traditional garden.

2) New Direction - Locate your garden on top of existing soil. Forget about pH soil tests, double-digging (who enjoys that?), or the never-ending soil improvements.

3) New Soil - The new "Mel's Mix" is the perfect growing mix. Why, we even give you the recipe. Best of all, you can even buy the different types of compost needed.

4) New Depth - You only need to prepare a SFG box to a depth of 6 inches! It's true--the majority of plants develop just fine when grown at this depth.

5) No Fertilizer - The all new SFG does not need any fertilizer-ever! If you start with the perfect soil mix, then you don't need to add fertilizer.

6) New Boxes - The new method uses bottomless boxes placed aboveground. We show you how to build your own (with step-by-step photos).

7) New Aisles - The ideal gardening aisle width is about three to four feet. That makes it even easier to kneel, work, and harvest.

8) New Grids - Prominent and permanent grids added to your SFG box help you visualize the planting squares and know how to space for maximum harvest.

9) New Seed Saving Idea - The old-fashioned way advocates planting many seeds and then thinning the extras (that means pulling them up). The new method means planting a pinch- literally two or three seeds--per planting hole.

10) Tabletop Gardens - The new boxes are so much smaller and lighter (only 6 inches of soil, remember?), you can add a plywood bottom to make them portable.

Of course, that's not all. We've also included simple, easy-to-follow instructions using lots of photos and illustrations. You're going to love it!

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02/23/09

cheri rated it:

Read in February, 2009

Want to grow a veggie or flower garden but don't think you can? Think again. No excuses of not enough space, no yard or no ability. This is the book for any person with any skill level with just a patio or a yard, for the professional or for the handicap in a wheel chair. School children and 3rd world countries have used this technique with great success. I read this book in 1 afternoon and then my 13 year old son and husband built my boxes in 1 more afternoon. I'm taking pictures along th...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

3 comments

08/03/07

Debra rated it:

(review of isbn 1579548563)

bookshelves: reference-books

Read in June, 2004

recommends it for: gardeners!

this is my favorite gardening book. what can i say? there's a man with a neck beard on the cover. his name is mel. mel is more or less my favorite person on the planet. he retired from his job as an engineer at 42 and then turned to gardening. when you set an engineer loose in a backyard gardening, you get precision gardening. basically, he figured out how closely you can plant things so that you get the maximum yield per square foot. each individual plant produces less, but the overall y...more

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09/07/07

Tara rated it:

Such an anal approach to gardening that you can't help but succeed at it. I love an anal approach (that's what she said) so I was all over this.

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04/27/08

Kristine rated it:

(review of isbn 0878573410)

Read in January, 2007

I first heard about this gardening method either watching the church's annual general report or seeing a link to it on the LDS.org website. It was highlighted in a story about teaching poor people in third world countries or in big cities with tiny plots of growing space to start gardens. The church would go in to teach and most of the time they used this method. I was intrigued so I bought the book.

We always had a garden growing up and all I remember is LOTS AND LOTS OF WEEDIN...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

3 comments

04/12/08

Jen rated it:

bookshelves: gardening

Read in April, 2008

I guess whatever works for people is great, and it seems like he has a lot of converts...but I sure wasn't crazy about Mel's method and even less so about his delivery. It is like listening to a used car salesman - and immediately after saying that while I was reading, I read the next paragraph, where he compared his book to a brand new shiny Cadillac. Sheesh.

He essentially advocates container gardening, cloaked in the guise of shallow 6" raised beds. The beds are self-cont...more I guess whatever works for people is great, and it seems like he has a lot of converts...but I sure wasn't crazy about Mel's method and even less so about his delivery. It is like listening to a used car salesman - and immediately after saying that while I was reading, I read the next paragraph, where he compared his book to a brand new shiny Cadillac. Sheesh.

He essentially advocates container gardening, cloaked in the guise of shallow 6" raised beds. The beds are self-contained, filled with a vermiculite mix, and broken down - literally, he is very emphatic about this - into 1 foot squares. So, effectively, you are planting each crop in 1/2 cubic foot of soil. And not fertilizing, beyond applications of compost he alludes to but never explains. (Wouldn't these tiny bins soon overflow?) He says it works, but there are very few pictures of actual vegetables in his book - instead it is a lot of petunias and such, which I find pretty ugly planted in a visible grid.

I like that his method could encourage rotation, but if you are actually concerned about pests I question whether moving a plant family over one foot would actually make it out of reach of a fungus or insect.

If you want a garden, but don't actually want to spend much time gardening, and are a bit of a control freak (he waxes poetic about the beauty of these nice neat 4x4 containers) who doesn't want the messiness of plants, this could be a good book for you. If that sounds sassy, I don't mean it that way - I really do think that this is his audience.

Oh, one more thing - he also talks about "Square Meter Gardening", his effort to stop hunger by bringing his method to starving people in the third-world. It just seems awfully absurd, patronizing, and potentially damaging, to bring this method that is focused on purchasing and importing soil (NOT enriching or using any of the existing soil) and is presumably designed for temperate zones where a lush summer vegetable garden isn't that hard to come by, to dry poor countries. I don't know that it is economically nor ecologically feasible. Is his assumption really that subsistence farmers are starving because they just don't know how to farm? (I believe so, since he actually uses the "teach a man to fish" cliche in his proposal.) If so, I doubt that Mel's method will go a long way towards changing that. (less)

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01/24/09

Laurel rated it:

I love this idea! I would love to give it 5 stars, but I haven't actually implemented the book yet, so I thought I'd wait for the fifth star to see if I actually think it works!

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

3 comments

06/16/09

Emily rated it:

Read in June, 2009

I love Mel! I've been gardening using his old book (circa 1985-ish?) for several years, and I thought I knew what love was when I discovered that treasure. Then I picked up his ALL NEW SFG book and was thrilled at how Mel took a simple system and made it even simpler! The book's step-by-step, full-color-photograph-illustrated instructions for every single part of the gardening process are invaluable. And so clear that I truly believe anyone, literally anyone, could garden with this book as a...more

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05/22/09

Jared rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: people with really lousy soil

Mel Bartholomew is a huge advocate of box gardening. Box gardening is a great idea, especially when you have alkaline clay like we have in our backyard. Constructing the boxes is a snap -- okay, more like a whine, because it takes a drill. He doesn't emphasize enough, though, that the gardens take a huge amount of water, because the wood seems to wick the water away from the dirt.

Stuff seems to grow well in Mel's Mix, if you plant it in the right part of the season. Last year we ...more Mel Bartholomew is a huge advocate of box gardening. Box gardening is a great idea, especially when you have alkaline clay like we have in our backyard. Constructing the boxes is a snap -- okay, more like a whine, because it takes a drill. He doesn't emphasize enough, though, that the gardens take a huge amount of water, because the wood seems to wick the water away from the dirt.

Stuff seems to grow well in Mel's Mix, if you plant it in the right part of the season. Last year we planted quite late, so our harvest was pretty meager. This year, all of our varieties of lettuce are already huge, our asparagus is coming up, our strawberries are going wild, and our carrots seem to be doing well. For some reason, though, tomatoes seem to just as well in the clay, if not better. So we're doing an experiment: planting tomatoes in boxes and out of boxes to see which are better.

The square-foot part of the idea seems to work for some things, but it's not as helpful for others. I find his emphasis on the idea a little funny. For things that can be planted in a single square, they're great. But last year our tomatoes plants got so big that they overflowed into other squares, choking out the plants that were in them. And, I'm sorry, but strawberries were meant to take over a whole box. There's just no point in dividing the plants up.

The book is very conversational. Some of the concepts could use better diagrams, like the greenhouse idea. And he mentions that each box will last for several years, but he doesn't give any ideas about how to move the dirt when you have to take one apart. And his idea of putting chicken wire on the bottom of the box to keep critters out is great -- but we've learned that you have to use maybe quarter inch chicken wire, because small rodents like voles can get through the one inch. And the edges of the wire tear up the weed fabric, so we have weeds around the edges of the boxes.

Thankfully, though, the garden boxes themselves are really easy to weed, because the dirt doesn't get compacted from being walked on, like you get with a normal garden. Overall, I'm glad we're using this approach, because the results we got the first year trying to plant directly in our clay (with some topsoil thrown on top) was rather sad -- except for the tomatoes.(less)

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04/27/09

Kim rated it:

(review of isbn 1579548563)

bookshelves: gardening

Read in April, 2009

This is, by far, the best vegetable gardening book I have read.

You hear a lot about square foot gardening, but Bartholomew really details every step to make your garden successful. The book is knowledgeable and detailed, but also an easy read. I also found that this book is very easily browsible and searchable, which is a plus for a gardening book.

I was easily sold on square foot gardening:
1. We don't have an excess of space. With square foot gardening, you can hav...more

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01/12/09

Brent rated it:

(review of isbn 1579548563)

Read in December, 2008

This book was a Christmas gift that I had almost finished by the time we arrived back in St. Louis.

I found it helpful to read through the entire process of preparing the soil in spring, planting seeds, harvesting, and then preparing the soil for the harsh winter. The unusual method of planting exactly the number of seeds needed--and spaced appropriately--instead of the typical method of dumping a packet of seeds in a row and then thinning them out later is appealing.

In ...more

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11/10/08

Lisa rated it:

(review of isbn 1579548563)

bookshelves: gardening

Read in November, 2008

The idea that I like is that it reminded me that I want to grow more things vertically this year to get the most out of my kitchen garden. I also love that it encourages you to get away from the mindset of planting in rows and following the seed packets word for word in terms of spacing. From experience, raised beds are excellent for starting a garden from scratch. I created and tended two 8'x4' raised beds when I lived in our former house that didn't have a backyard garden (we were in a townhou...more The idea that I like is that it reminded me that I want to grow more things vertically this year to get the most out of my kitchen garden. I also love that it encourages you to get away from the mindset of planting in rows and following the seed packets word for word in terms of spacing. From experience, raised beds are excellent for starting a garden from scratch. I created and tended two 8'x4' raised beds when I lived in our former house that didn't have a backyard garden (we were in a townhouse at the time so I also planted heavily in containers on our deck - my first plant was chives and I absolutely think they are the perfect first herb for kitchen gardeners as they are so easy to grow... but that has nothing to do with this book - LOL!).

So let's get back to the book...What I didn't like was the planting mix recommended and the need for soil testing. I read the newer edition (from my local library) as well as the older one that I had on my shelf to compare. The newer one eliminates the need for soil testing but I think makes use of peat in the recommended soil mix, which is not renewable, so is rather taxing on our planet if everyone went out and built a garden like this. I'm much more in favor of building up the soil with compost. And them measuring for each square foot and nailing it down with window blinds!!! Are you kidding me? I just can't imagine myself doing this (though I was tempted to try this method next season for the sheer reason of getting rid of all of the weed seed - what I SHOULD do it just put some black plastic or newspaper down now and plant through it come spring).

I also don't think I would like how everything will *look* in a garden of this sort. The tomato will be in this square. And the lettuce will be in this square. It just seems too orderly (even for someone fairly anal such as myself). Also if all of my lettuce and carrots are planted in their own square all together isn't this like open invitation to the bunnies that frequent my garden to come right in and make themselves at home to our square-foot buffet? The only reason I had some lettuce and arugula available is because some of it was hidden under some other plant and they couldn't get to it. (Yes, I should probably look into some protective covering... and I DID use some this year on the strawberries but the birds still got to the ripe berries. I was so frustrated with our lack of berries that I pulled the pushes a few weeks ago and tossed them in the compost. Of course, I sorely regretted it two days later... but these are the challenges that we invite into our lives when we pick that seed pack and shovel).

I am aiming for more of a casual kitchen garden - a cottage garden of fruits/vegetables/herbs (though I am very far from having this garden ideal since I haven't found any good references on this subject but not for lack of trying. So mainly it's been trial and error. I've either found lots of books on formal kitchen gardens and one where you would need to become a full time landscape architect to be able to have the time and knowledge to be able to implement such designs). But I have a strip of dirt on the side of my house... no room to make fancy hexagonal herb gardens that you would need a gardener on staff to maintain. I envision rosemary intermingling with peas, and tomatoes getting cozy alongside basil, lavender alongside green beans. I am continually inspired by the French potager gardens and the casual Italian kitchen gardens that I've seen. Maybe this is too idyllic or maybe it IS something that can become a reality.. along with the garden arch full of trailing roses that are free of disease (which has a few years yet before these will even be purchased)... but I still have a lifetime to perfect it. And as all gardeners know, despite these trials and frustrations out in the garden, when December and January roll around we will be right there by the mailbox awaiting the seed catalogs for the new year. I've already started collecting the stack that started arriving and making a list for the essentials that I MUST have in next season's garden. I can just taste the potatoes now (that will be grown in an old garbage can on the deck just as soon as Mike drills holes in it or shows me where the drill is)!(less)

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05/17/09

jess rated it:

bookshelves: 2009

Read in May, 2009

Mel's method (revised) for gardening successively in smaller spaces. I mean, you can have big expanses of SFG, but the planting is more precise and the yield is higher. Gone are rows of monocrops we envision in gardens. In a Square Foot Garden, 12" grids reign supreme. There are a lot of rules & structure in SFG- how many plants per space, the exact formula for the soil, etc. I, personally, am not disciplined enough to follow a gardening methodology like this, but I think it's a great idea ...more

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05/19/08

Darci rated it:

Read in May, 2008

Why did it take so long for someone to figure this method out and get the word out to the world?! This is the only way to garden! Now everyone can do it! Kind of like a 'Gardening for Dummies' type of book, but that's fine with me!

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01/24/08

Amber rated it:

(review of isbn 0878573410)

recommends it for: small yard owners

In my small yard a good principle. I apply to the Ronco school of gardening--you know set it and forget it. That's right, I plant my seeds, let the sprinklers and sun do their thing and pray that I'll get more that 4 tomatoes.

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01/12/09

Bill rated it:

Read in January, 1988

This book is somewhat dated, like including a long harange about automatic watering systems which I consider to be critical to a successful garden, however, the book is groundbreaking in eliminating the 'farming' structure of sowing seeds. Urban gardens are small and needed new thinking. Most of this basic thinking is in this book, and it is unbelievably helpful in creating a new gardening structure that doesn't include massive numbers of 'rows'.

My only complaint is growing 4 zucch...more

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04/20/09

Gayle rated it:

bookshelves: own

Read in May, 2009

This looks like a great way to garden! I don't think I will use all of the techniques, but I want to incorporate a lot of them into my gardening this year. I signed up for a community garden plot and I am going to try to square-foot-garden it. The drawback is that I can't use Mel's Mix because the soil has already been placed in the plot, but it is a raised bed. All I have to do is incorporate some of the ingredients of Mel's Mix, work it in, set up the grid, and start planting. I think that wil...more

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06/03/08

Ashley rated it:

bookshelves: year-of-2008

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: to anyone wanting garden (also renters) & for creative ideas

My garden is based on this book, so I'm giving it 5 stars - positive thinking to ensure an excellent garden! The writing could be better, but I HAVE to say - although it's not sophisticated, the advice is sound, logical, and easy to follow. The book is organized fairly well, so it's pretty easy to find an answer to a question when you need it. Do you HAVE to have the book to do sq.ft. gardening? No - you can find what you need with some sluething around online. Does the book come in handy? ...more

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03/05/08

Tim rated it:

As a farm boy who never really wanted to farm, I do spend a great deal of time being nostalgic about my bucolic days in the country. At any rate, even though I refuse to have anything to do with cows (with the exception of eating them), I do at times return to the soil and grow a mess of vegetables.

Unfortunately, living in a gentrified urban area means that our small garden plot suffers from the usual ills of a former-ghetto environment -- do shards of glass count as clay, sand, or ...more

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08/08/08

Maureen rated it:

bookshelves: gardening, non-fiction, reference

Read in January, 1981

recommends it for: everyone

Mel Bartholomew lays out the strategy for more efficient use of garden space in a very entertaining manner. His basic plan is to lay out the garden in four foot by four foot blocks, with seed or seedlings laid out according to their need for space. By growing on a grid, plants have all the room they need to grow, but the area used can be kept to a manageable size. Trailing, vine-y plants are grown vertically on trellises to further reduce garden space. This was the first gardening book I eve...more

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03/14/09

Michelle rated it:

Read in March, 2009

Bartholomew outlines an easy approach to growing vegetables for a family. The problem with the traditional single row method is that it encourages you to plant far more than most people really need or can handle. I've encountered this year after year in my backyard. Its difficult to keep up with the weeding and also to manage a large row of vegetables that ripen at the same time. The square foot method book includes instructions for building your boxes and gives a "recipe" for a weed f...more

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