Creating Square Foot Garden Beds

While many gardener-wannabes in the suburbs hesitate to follow through with their dream, square foot gardens may give them a solution that fits any lawn issues and landscaping doubts. Designed to produce maximum produce in minimum space, the technique goes beyond simple garden layout to create a distinct gardening method.

Square foot gardening, with its raised bed design and easy maintenance, works as a solution to some of the biggest obstacles for backyard gardeners: landscaping, lawn damage, and lack of gardening time.

Landscape-Friendly Designs

Traditionally designed as large four-foot squares, the square foot technique involves dividing raised beds into smaller, one-foot square sections for growing concentrated produce. Each section includes a distinct selection of plants, with the potential for up to sixteen different varieties per box.

The beds, however, can be designed in any shape and style, making them an excellent choice for landscapers or suburban gardeners who hesitate to transform their lawn into a field of veggies. Incorporate squares, rectangles, triangles, even circles into a geometric layout of landscaping easy. Gardeners are free to design the size, shape, number, and arrangement of their boxes, solving the problems caused by weedy, untamed garden rows.

Leaving Lawns Intact

Square foot gardening boxes are typically built with organic-friendly untreated landscaping timbers or box frames built by hand; others are shaped with rock, cement blocks, or other permanent materials. A mixture of soil, compost, vermiculite, and organic nutrients is used to fill the beds to form the base for growing plants.

The soil mixture has a twofold benefit for suburban gardeners, since it eliminates the labor of breaking ground and protects the lawn from unnecessary damage. This technique means the lawn’s ground remains protected, so the lawn is intact if the beds are moved or disassembled at a later date.

Easy Maintenance for Busy Gardeners

Designed to make weeding and watering easier, square foot gardens are a great solution for backyard gardeners with limited time. Loose, quality soil and taller boxes make it easy to remove unwanted plants and pick ripe produce, without bending and pulling, or raking and hoeing dead leaves and weeds. The box design also encourages use of a sprinkler hose or a time-delay watering system as well.

Backyard gardeners who enjoy the challenge of small-space planting may find square foot gardening one of the best methods for producing quality produce with minimal effort. Other tips and techniques behind square foot gardens are easy to find, through organic gardening sites and gardening how-to forums.