GARDENING : ‘Square’ Method Takes the Right Angle

Would you like a garden full of your favorite vegetables but don’t have the room to grow them? Discover square-foot gardening in which vegetables are raised in confined square spaces rather than rows.

“I’d been gardening 700 square feet for 10 years, and I got tired of rotary tilling all that land,” says Don Tunnell of Santa Ana, a member of the Organic Gardening Club of Orange County. “So I switched to square-foot gardening. Now I’m growing produce in 200 square feet, and the garden is just as productive.”

The benefits of planting in 4-foot by 4-foot squares were extolled by Mel Bartholomew, author of “Square Foot Gardening” (Rodale Press, 1981). Not only is a square-foot garden as productive as a much larger one, it is less time-consuming and easier to maintain, it uses less water and it’s easier to build up soil quality.

“If you grow two tomato plants using the square-foot method, you’ll get more production from them than you would if you planted a half dozen in a row,” says Byron Steffens, manager of Flowerdale Nursery in Costa Mesa.

Paul Pirtle of Huntington Beach, a member of the California Organic Gardening Club, says, “Right now I’m growing lettuce in my square-foot garden. Just recently I picked 4 pounds.”

The square-foot technique makes year-round gardening more manageable. “You’re more apt to keep a closer eye on a 4-foot by 4-foot plot than you are a larger garden,” Steffens says. “Six plants that are producing well in a 4-foot by 4-foot area get a lot more attention than 20 plants in a long, sprawling row.”

Square-foot gardening also makes keeping a garden growing year-round easier because the method makes succession planting simple. When a tomato plant is done growing in the fall, pull it out, re-fertilize and plant a cool-weather crop such as broccoli or carrots. This technique also ensures crop rotation.

Each 4-foot by 4-foot area is sectioned off into four 1-foot by 1-foot squares. Vegetation is planted within each square. The amount grown in each square varies, depending on the type of plants. According to Bartholomew, in 1 square foot can grow one broccoli, one cabbage, one cauliflower, 16 carrots, 16 onions, four parsley, eight peas or nine spinach plants.

At this time of year, you could grow a number of cool-weather crops such as one artichoke in a square, a cauliflower in another, four Swiss chard in the third square or 16 beets in the fourth. As far as lettuce goes, Pirtle says it depends on the variety and their growth habits. You will have to experiment.

Square feet can also be broken up into smaller sections. For instance, you could place eight beet and two parsley plants in the same square.

When planting spring and summer gardens, a 1-foot square can accommodate eight to nine beans, one corn, two cucumbers, one muskmelon, one pepper and 16 radishes. Many varieties of squash, eggplant and tomatoes tend to sprawl. You will need at least one or two squares for these plants.

To plant climbing vegetables such as sugar snap peas, beans and cucumbers and some types of squash and tomatoes, install a movable trellis system to change with the sun’s position throughout the year. A PVC pipe frame with attached netting often works well.

When using a trellis system or planting crops that will grow tall, be careful not to block the sun for the other plants. “If you’re planting a tall plant, tie it up well so it doesn’t shade other plants or encroach in surrounding areas,” Pirtle says.

Tunnel has had problems with planting tomatoes too closely. “Last year I planted them all one foot apart and didn’t have much luck because they shaded each other,” he says. For this reason, it’s better not to plant tomato plants side by side.

Because square-foot garden plants grow so closely, some shading is inevitable and beneficial. The square-foot garden needs less watering and weeding as a result. According to Tunnell, he spends 60% less time watering now.

“It used to be a big chore,” he says. “I would drag the hose around and water each row. It took 45 minutes to complete the process. Now I water twice a week and it just takes five minutes. I also had a lot more weeds when I had a full-size garden. I rarely have to weed anymore.”

Like many square-foot gardeners, Pirtle waters each square as needed with a watering can. To make sure not to over- or under-water any plants, he uses a moisture probe to check each square.

“Square-foot gardening enables you to do a much better job of watering because you don’t have long rows of plants to care for,” he says. “It’s easy to check each individual plant before watering. On the other hand, if you had an entire row to check, using the moisture probe could be very time consuming and you probably wouldn’t do it.”

Water probes are inexpensive and can be found at local nurseries.

If you choose to water automatically, this can easily be done by using different size drip emitters that release a certain amount of water per hour into designated squares.

Building the beds is easy. Select a type of wood that doesn’t deteriorate, such as redwood or cedar, and construct a 4-foot by 4-foot foot wooden frame. Insert it into the ground or secured it on top of the ground. Not only does the wood frame enable you to properly proportion the garden, it also serves as a protective border. Having a boundary ensures that you never walk in your garden soil and compact it. If the soil stays loose, the plants grow readily. If you have more than one bed, construct walkways in between them.

Before planting any crops, cultivate deeply and add planting mix and compost to loosen the soil. This is the only time digging with a shovel is necessary. When you replant later, dig the area with a hand trowel.

Re-fertilize each time you plant. Steffens suggests using Osmocote, a slow-release fertilizer that can last for months. Another way to fertilize is through a drip irrigation system.

“Fertilizing through your water system works well because people have a tendency to dump fertilizer into one spot in a garden or when they water, it is all washed to a low point,” Steffens says. “If you add fertilizer to your watering system, it will be evenly distributed to your plants.”

These fertilizing units are inserted in between the hose and the emitters.

Steffens also suggests adding a mineral soil conditioner to each square every time you replant. It will help keep the alkali content down and ensure healthier plants.

Overall, gardeners are pleased with the results.

“My square-foot garden did better than any other garden I’ve ever had,” says Tunnel. “When a crop was done, it was so easy to pull it out and replant something else. Now gardening is much less of a chore, less time consuming and a lot more fun.”