SQ Foot Gardening

Hi , has anybody actually tried sq foot gardening, they claim mixing your plants this way increases your production but I should imagine it can be quite difficult to match the correct plants. e.g if you plant a sprout plant this would take up a lot of light, and shade smaller plants.

I think this could be quite interesting to play with but would like to hear your thoughts and experiences.

 

We've not tried it in the way you mean exactly, but when our garden got it's 'makeover' about 4 years ago, Mr. F'smum decided to do a scale drawing, divided into 1' squares marking where things had been planted, ostensibly so that when the plants had died back, we (i.e. he) would know what was where. Now that would have been fine except a) things don't exactly grow straight up and b) I'd deliberately chosen plants which would self-seed or spread.

The upshot of this is that a few weeks ago, whilst home from the States for a months' leave, he decided to 'spend the day in the garden'. Instead of coming home to find neat lawns with crisp edges and weed-free borders, I found him frowning over his scale drawing and asked what was the matter whereupon he accused me of '... moving all the plants'!!

 

it's those aliens again!!

 

Would that be square foot gardening as in that American book "How to grow more food than you thought possible on less land than you can imagine" ?

 

not come across that one Ziggy, just google raised beds and there's plenty of ideas. Not too sure how practical though hence my question.

I have to say though that after just a few weeks of having my raised beds I am well and truely converted, I planted some cabbage plugs off ebay 3 weeks ago, put insect mesh over and I have never seen plants grow so fast and so perfect, and I worked on a farm for 25 years so I have seen some crops in my time.

I have never had any connection with organic growing before and that is why I have joined the forum, the chemicals I used to spray on the farm used to take the skin off my hands ( worst was a granual insecticide called "Thimet" used as a systemic for aphid, cutworm, carrot fly etc.

Its been a further 25 years now since I have grown anything so not used to all these new fangled ideas.

 

Hi I have looked at sq ft gardening and have three raised beds this year. I am disabled so mine are about 3ft high and had the rubbish from the garden at the bottom and then put a couple of inches of compost above.

I have found the production much better than in the garden but next year will plan things differently. My brocoli did shade out other plants who then didn't do so well and I ended up taking my courgettes out and planting them somewhere else. I made a sheet on the computer so that I would remember what 12 different plants I had in there so that can be changed regularly and hung by the beds. I would also put plants in a more organised and time related fashion as I found I wasn't making the most of the beds.
I would also change some of the numbers of plants in the ft. for example will only do 6 garlic instead of 9. They just weren't big enough.
Generally I find all I researched about this method to be true.
The plants are healthier, easier (especially for disabled) and if organised better you can maximise a meter sq to really produce.


Cheryl