Ultra-efficient organic gardening in 80% less space while using 80% less water (vs. traditional row gardening).
Bio-intensive Gardening, Vertical Gardening, Food Forests, Sustainable Organic Gardening, Korean Natural Farming, and many others can be used to grow high-nutrient organic food in a small space.
For more than 20 years, I've been using several of these methods to grow organic food for my family.
I was hooked after a single afternoon of learning about and witnessing the benefits of square-foot gardening. I never went back to traditional row gardening again.
Square Foot Gardening
“Work smarter, not harder. Grow the same amount of crops in 80% less space. This results in 80% less water, less weeds, and less work.”
If this is new to you, square-foot gardening is an extremely productive type of gardening created by the engineer Mel Bartholomew. He designed a system of gardening that utilizes every square inch of space by dividing the garden into squares of 12x12 inches or one square foot each.
Small Space? No problem!
A Square Foot garden can be as little as one square foot!
Before we moved to our current location, I had a square-foot garden on our deck (as seen in the photo below). On the left, you can see my rainwater collection (with a watering can attached by carabiner) and two square-foot garden planters that my husband made for me.
Each container is two wide deep by three feet long. Between the two of them, I had 12 one-foot squares for gardening. This was very early spring, so my plants were just getting planted. But how much food we grew in such a tiny area is amazing. There are wheels on the planters, so I could move them to an uncovered part of the deck during different times of the year (and as the plants were ready for full sun).
My Square Foot Garden
Since our move, one of the first things we did was choose a garden location and build our raised beds.
Square-Foot Gardening
Want to learn more? Go directly to the source, check out https://squarefootgardening.org
There are plenty of online videos and demonstrations also available. No, I don't benefit from you visiting these links or purchasing a square-foot garden, but we all benefit from organic gardening that uses 80% less space and water. Have fun!
Get Creative
Here are several Square Foot Gardens to get you inspired. Enjoy!
Garden Soil - Balanced For Your Area
Square-foot gardening is known for its special soil, which is made up of three (usually equal components): vermiculite (to aerate the soil), peat moss (to retain moisture), and compost (to feed the plants).
I've used this trio as a starting point for years with tremendous success. I've also found that living in an arid climate (like Arizona, Utah, or New Mexico, etc.) I needed to add less vermiculite because the garden beds would dry out too fast in the summer (even when watering them twice a day). By decreasing the vermiculite, I could water once in the morning, and the system worked well.
In the Pacific Northwest, where rain is abundant, I find the opposite to be true. I add as much as twice the amount of vermiculite to my raised garden beds for them to work best. (Otherwise, they would stay soggy and often lead to root rot).
Living Garden Soil
Using the square-foot gardening soil (of vermiculite, peat moss, and compost), the soil is dead. Yes, the compost feeds the plants, and that's fantastic (especially if you're using your homemade compost)! But fully finished compost no longer contains the actively decaying matter or living entities within it.
This system works well for short-lived plants (annuals), but I also have raised beds that contain raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and more plants that return year after year. In order for long-term plants to thrive, they require soil that's alive!
For living soil, we observe how God created the system as a whole, including getting to know our mycelium (the natural forest network known as the wood-wide web), learning the art of "chop and drop" (to replenish the nutrients these plants require), and the importance of worms (and their castings, known as "garden gold") in our gardens. Each of these and so much more play enormous roles in sustainable, God-centered gardening.
I highly recommend starting with raised beds and adding each of these components along your journey.
Ready to add worms? Learn how in my blog post "Worm Castings."
Comments