Eating organically can seem out of reach for most people’s budgets. What if instead of purchasing your vegetables, you grew them yourself? I know, I know – bet I can guess what you are thinking. Doesn’t gardening require a lot of space? Isn’t gardening rather time consuming? The whole idea seems like a bit of a hassle, until … Ta-da: Introducing the square foot garden!!!
To my surprise, this method of gardening has actually been around for thirty-five years. When Mel Bartholomew developed this style of planting, his goal was to develop a more efficient style of gardening that would eliminate the need for using as much space as well as needing less water. According to his intro video, the results are amazing.
100% Harvest (instead of only about half of your plants actually growing from seed)
- 50% of the cost compared to traditional gardening
- 20% of the space is needed for the plants
- 10% water (in other words, you used 90% LESS water)
- 5% of the Seeds (Why? Because more will actually produce)
- 2% of the work is involved (Freeing up 98% more time!)
What to keep in mind:
Construction: You can either go as simple as using stacked free or inexpensive wooden pallets for your gardening space or as elaborate as a rectangle box constructed out of wood that is complete with upright posts linked together where you can feature hanging plants above your vegetables.
Soil: This part is critical – you must have the right mix in order to be able to grow organic vegetables without using pesticides and other chemicals:
- 1/3 peat moss
- 1/3 vermiculite
- 1/3 compost
I must admit that this original method can be slightly expensive upfront. If you are wanting to save a bit of money, buy some garden soil, mix it with sand to help with drainage. Organic fertilizer is then recommended and can even be made with ingredients found at home. You may have to do a bit more weeding and reworking of the soil each year, so you need to determine if saving that money is truly worth it.
Seeds: With this gardening method, you can actually plant two different types of plants in one square. Why? Because they will produce at different times. Knowing how to do this does require a bit of research and advanced planning. Note: this is not possible with ALL of the squares! Several of the plants will take over for the whole season.
If this method of gardening intrigues you, DEFINITELY visit my Square Foot Gardening Pinterest page.
Why? You will find …
- Diagrams on various ways to build your garden square
- Ideas on blending the perfect garden soil
- Links to sites that have homemade organic fertilizer recipes
- Diagrams for plotting out your plants
Happy growing!
~ Suzanne
P.S. Even with the limited work that you have will have to do on this style of gardening, you should be certain to have the Norwex entry mat to keep your home safe from any outdoor debris as you traipse inside and outside. Plus after working the soil, you are most definitely going to want to need our Norwex peppermint foaming hand wash as well as the Norwex hand cream to keep your hands silky smooth!
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