![]() ![]() Add a covering structure like a cold frame, and your bed will yield food all year round. The method easily adapts to containers, window boxes, and elevated tables for those physically challenged by in-ground gardening. Because you can easily reach into the bed, you don’t compact the soil by walking on it. The method offers a bunch of benefits: The 4-square-foot design is ideal for small lots and small households (though you can add boxes to your plan). You can grow a lot in just 6 inches of soil.” “There are three components: peat moss to maintain aeration, vermiculite to hold water, and compost, which is food for plants. “The real differentiator of Square Foot Gardening is the growing medium,” Westwood says. ![]() Bartholomew worked out the right number of plants per square: One square holds one tomato plant, or nine spinach plants, or 16 carrots, and so on. The compact size of the bed means it’s easy for gardeners to reach into the space to plant and harvest. First, naturally, is the space itself: a 4-foot-by-4-foot raised bed (or several of them), divided into a grid of 16 12-inch squares. SFG, she says, centers on two core ideas. His 1981 book, “Square Foot Gardening,” documented the method, and today the Square Foot Gardening Foundation aims to teach it to gardeners around the world.Ĭertified instructors like Joanne Westwood of Monroe, OH, are part of that effort. ![]() Even as a newbie gardener, Bartholomew was struck by the labor intensity and inefficiency of the traditional row planting he saw around him and figured there had to be a better way. The concept was originated by Mel Bartholomew, a civil engineer who joined his community garden upon retirement in 1975. The Square Foot Gardening (SFG) method is exactly what it sounds like: a grid of 12-inch squares, densely planted. Imagine instead a quilt with tight, tidy squares in different shades of green. If your mental image of a vegetable garden includes long, straight rows of crops with dirt in between, get ready to see gardening differently. New to growing food? Square Foot Gardening might be the best method for you. Print just a few or print them all – whichever serves your needs best.Photo courtesy of the Square Foot Gardening Foundation There are an incredible 41 pages in the PDF. This planner is packed full of pages to help you make the most of your garden. Let’s take a look inside your free printable garden planner! You won’t have anything important missing after you print and hole punch for your garden binder!Ĭheck current price Free printable garden planner They have carefully designed margins to ensure they are printer friendly. ![]() This post may include affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. How to print and use garden planner printables This planner brings together the aspects of garden planners and journals I’ve found most useful over the years.įor resources to help you grow a successful garden, even without a large yard, be sure to visit this page of gardening posts here on The Artisan Life. Since then I’ve almost aways had at least something growing. I started gardening when I was four years old with container tomatoes on the back patio. I hope this planner fills the gap so you can have a garden binder that’s a joy to look at and a helpful planning tool and record. I’ve noted that, all too often, planting planners are either functional (but unattractive and unappealing to use) or frilly without much substance. This planner is as functional as it is pretty. ![]()
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