You want to start a vegetable garden, but you’re not a seasoned gardener, and you don’t plan to take on major yard work. Maybe you don’t have a lot of space either. Indeed, you’ll still need a minimum: you can’t grow in squares on a windowsill. In that case, refer to the tips for balcony gardening.
What is a square garden and where did this method come from?
To garden in squares, you’ll need a small plot (or set up a balcony garden elevated) travel the small surface, namely a 1.20 m by 1.20 m square, to grow a few vegetables and perhaps some fruit.
The principles of the square garden were laid out by an American gardener, Mel Bartholomew. He gathered the elements describing this technique in his work Square Foot Gardening, published in 1981.
The square garden thus has nothing to do with the medieval square gardens, large plots designed to cultivate rare and medicinal plants. At that time, the expression “garden bed” was already used; small squares assembled to form a larger rectangle.
The square garden: why adopt this technique?
First of all for pleasure! The idea is to cultivate a few vegetables and other things directly at home, on the balcony, or perhaps in a community garden without dedicating all the space to it.
We can easily grow:
- Salads
- Herbs
- Radishes
- Cabbages
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
- Peas
- Beets
- Swiss chard…
Why, “easy”?
The square garden brings non-negligible advantages.
- As mentioned above, little space is required: a balcony or a large yard, it’s up to you/what you can manage!
- You can start at any time of year.
- You need much less water than a traditional full-soil garden.
- You don’t need to thin out the bed.
- No need for fertilizers or pesticides: 100% organic gardening is yours to enjoy.
- The soil of the traditional garden matters less: you’ll improve the soil inside the square beds.
- You can garden even with certain physical disabilities; you’ll just need to raise the square beds a bit higher.
- Children can easily garden with you.
How to easily build a square garden
We’ll start with a large square, or more if you want, measuring 4 ft by 4 ft (1.20 m × 1.20 m). This large square will be divided into 16 smaller squares of 12 in × 12 in (30 cm × 30 cm).
You can set up several squares if you have a lot of space or a large family to feed. In that case, leave empty pathways about 70 to 90 cm (about 28–36 inches) between the different squares to move around more easily.
Place the square garden in full sun and near the house if you live in a house.
We have just described the “American method”: the “French method” recommends nine squares of 40 cm × 40 cm (about 16 in × 16 in).
Borders and layout for the square garden: wood to the rescue!
If you want a raised square garden, you’ll use untreated form boards assembled with corner braces as the borders. Use half-rounds, for example. You can also choose to do it on the ground and put up small hedges around, perhaps thyme.
For outlining the squares, recycle wood scraps, for example bamboo stalks, or battens laid on the soil.
Changing the soil: shaping the ground
The advantage of the raised square garden is that you’re not dependent on the original soil: you can fill the planter with garden soil enriched with compost.
Square garden: plant the vegetables!
Next, sow the vegetables you want, following the planting-association rules by botanical families. The goal isn’t to achieve exceptional yields, but to diversify vegetables and herbs.
Also, if you want a potato harvest for winter, you can always plant a few rows in another corner of the garden.
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vegetables – fruits
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vegetables – leafy
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vegetables – seeds
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root vegetables
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vegetables – bulbs
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aromatic herbs
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You can also plant a few flowers, notably nasturtium, to attract all the aphids to one place.
Respecting the needs of plants: density
For the square garden, don’t forget that each plant has its own specific needs. Watering will be easier given the limited space.
At planting time, you must not overcrowd with too many plants or seedlings.
If you can fit up to 25 plants for lamb’s lettuce, for example, you’ll have room in a square for only one plant of eggplant or melon.
You also need to consider crop rotation, to avoid following two nutrient-hungry crops with each other.
