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Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work
One of the bestselling garden books ever is fresher than ever! Ready to inspire a whole new generation of gardeners.
When he created the "square foot gardening" method, Mel Bartholomew, a retired engineer and efficiency expert, found the solution to the frustrations of most gardeners. His revolutionary system is simple: it's an ingenious planting method based...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
April 2nd 2005
by Rodale Books
(first published February 14th 1981)
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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
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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
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.
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
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
He essentially advocates container gardening, cloaked in the guise of shallow 6" raised beds. The beds are self-cont...more
I'm starting a new square foot garden this year. I am thrilled at the prospect of no weeds, less watering, and lots of produce! I already have little radishes, romaine, spinach, and some wild flowers popping up!
I'm sure I'll refer to this book all summer. For the first time I am really ready to have a fall garden too. I always say I'll plant a second crop, but by the end of summer and all the weeds I'm tired of gardening. I think this may be the easiest and most enjoyable way to...more
I'm sure I'll refer to this book all summer. For the first time I am really ready to have a fall garden too. I always say I'll plant a second crop, but by the end of summer and all the weeds I'm tired of gardening. I think this may be the easiest and most enjoyable way to...more
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!
Absolutely, positively revolutionary! Raised bed gardening, with Mel's emphasis on vertical growth and highly enriched soil mixtures, is the only way to grow, as far as I'm concerned. I never thought I could garden, because I live in an urban environment -- meaning little available space and poor quality, contaminated soil. Wrong! If you faithfully follow Mel's instructions, you will be rewarded with astonishing success. Tomatoes as big as your fist! Green beans that never quit! Lettuce, h...more
I may like the book even better once I actually get a chance to use it the technique. I will probably buy it for reference since it had some good information. It had really good content and ideas, but there were a few details that rubbed me the wrong way.
A major thing that was irritating about reading through it: It read like a commercial. He was constantly patting himself on the back and saying how great the method was, different and better and easier than the way everybody else has...more
A major thing that was irritating about reading through it: It read like a commercial. He was constantly patting himself on the back and saying how great the method was, different and better and easier than the way everybody else has...more
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
Jared
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people with really lousy soil
Shelves:
non-fiction
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
Stuff seems to grow well in Mel's Mix, if you plant it in the right part of the season. Last year we ...more
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
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
The author constantly compares the square foot gardening to the "old" method of gardening and why square foot gardening is better, which didn't matter to me since I have never gardened.
Since I have no previous experience to compare this to, it has so much wonderful information that I have not been able to totally absorb so I find myself going back to it often for more reference and I took it with me to Home Depot the other day.
Maybe I should write this review in the fa...more
Since I have no previous experience to compare this to, it has so much wonderful information that I have not been able to totally absorb so I find myself going back to it often for more reference and I took it with me to Home Depot the other day.
Maybe I should write this review in the fa...more
The latest version of this book is absolutely wonderful in how absolutely basic the information is. Unfortunately, he has honed this science down to such a precise level that you could get almost the same thing with just ten short pages or perhaps one of those 3 fold pamphlets. I read the book at a library and suggest the same for anyone who doesn't just want it for quick reference at their home. For me, it felt like much of the book was padding to create an excuse to sell it for more than four ...more
The book was a quick read and very very informative. I like how the hints for sharing your garden with your children are peppered throughout the text and not just at the end chapter on special gardeners.
I will be giving square foot gardening a try. My only criticism for this book is I wanted more compatibility charts and suggestions on where to place the plants in my grid. I know from past experiences that broccoli and tomatoes do not do well together and would have liked other l...more
I will be giving square foot gardening a try. My only criticism for this book is I wanted more compatibility charts and suggestions on where to place the plants in my grid. I know from past experiences that broccoli and tomatoes do not do well together and would have liked other l...more
I was lucky enough to find this book in a second hand bookstore, after years of casual searching. It presents ideas that are both new, and yet not. The appeal of this book is that one need not be wedded to the idea of a square foot, by square foot garden. The basic principals can be applied to a modified bed. It is worth a few read throughs, with pen and paper nearby for those serious about gardening. It's methodology is very similar to biointensive gardening, and the two ideals together will al...more
This book was sooo helpful to me. I've wanted to start a garden for many years, but was hampered by the thought that I needed a large area like I had seen my grampa use for his garden. Living in apartments and now a townhome I just didn't have the space. This method gave me the space!
I've also been quickly overwhelmed by all the info in most books on how to improve the soil by adding more of this or that. With this method you start with perfect soil right off!
My onl...more
I've also been quickly overwhelmed by all the info in most books on how to improve the soil by adding more of this or that. With this method you start with perfect soil right off!
My onl...more
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
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
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
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
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!
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.
I bought this book after first borrowing it from the library. It really is a book you want to own. It is very informative about how to get started in building the square foot garden, and how to grow certain vegetables. I read the book in the winter and then started building two square foot gardens with the help of my teenage son. It was pretty easy to do. I then put them outside and followed the directions in the book. I added the soil and planted the seeds or plants and am now waiting to harves...more
Karen
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone wanting to plant their own garden.
This book is an excellent reference for beginning to garden in a small space using the square foot method. The reference section at the end describing many common crops and how and when to plant them is especially useful. However, a lot of the book comes across sounding like an infomercial for his method... and if a person doesn't follow it exactly then he can't call it square foot gardening. As long as I skimmed through the sections that overflowed with his own praise and condemned anyone who p...more
I no longer wants to pays for my foodz.
My only complaint amongst this and 2 my hydroponic books is this:
book 1 is about hydroponics inside.
2 is about hydropincs and soil gardening inside.
3 is about soil outside.
i don't know anything about gardening, and i'd like a little more discussion about which is appropriate for which circumstances and for what reasons. I live in San Diego where it's warm and sunny all the time. Can I use hydoponics outside? hydropo...more
My only complaint amongst this and 2 my hydroponic books is this:
book 1 is about hydroponics inside.
2 is about hydropincs and soil gardening inside.
3 is about soil outside.
i don't know anything about gardening, and i'd like a little more discussion about which is appropriate for which circumstances and for what reasons. I live in San Diego where it's warm and sunny all the time. Can I use hydoponics outside? hydropo...more
Incredibly annoying home-shopping-channel-esque tone made it difficult to get through this book. However, the actual material was very useful. If I rate to reflect the knowledge gained from the book, it would be a four or a five. If I rate the writing style I would give it a one. Sheesh, Mel, I already bought the book, why do you have to sell me the method at the beginning of every section? Highly obnoxious! Still, we are adhering pretty strictly to this book's guidance in setting up our ga...more
This book was a real inspiration for me. I'd been putting off getting back into gardening for some time because I thought it would take too much time, too much space, too much commitment, and not produce as much as I'd want to be worth it all. Bartholomew's method really changed my perspective on all that and offers a nice recipe to follow. All my other hobbies and games have rules as he explains, and by offering rules and limits with his method it makes gardening seem much more manageable. ...more
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
My only complaint is growing 4 zucch...more
Jonesey Jones
is currently reading it
We are still in the midst of our Botany study for science. I had hoped we'd be finished by now, but we are still enjoying it. My plan was to finish it in the winter and have the boys plan and build their own raised bed garden. We started reading this aloud this week and we are in Chapter 3 and the boys are all excited and are in talks about what they will grow in their squares. So it will engage all their math lessons about area and square roots and all our plant study this year.
I...more
I...more
This book was a great resource for a beginning gardener, like myself. His method sounds perfect, but it's not as easy as he makes it sound. He tried really hard to make gardening sound as easy as 1-2-3, but it was naturally a little more complicated than that. As long as you are willing to stick to it and be ready to fail and get back up again, this book is great. Some of the things he's adamant on, like, 5 different kinds of compost to start out (unless you have your own composting in your ...more
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