How to Square Foot Garden
The All New Square Foot Gardening
by Mel Bartholomew
www.Squarefootgardening.com
A) Pick the location
1) Avoid trees and shrubs due to roots and shade.
2) Pick an area that gets 6-8 hours of sunshine daily.
3) Have it close to the house for convenience.
4) Area should not puddle after a heavy rain.
5) Existing soil doesn’t really matter since you will be planting above it.
B) The 3 Steps
1) Build a box.
2) Add Mel’s Mix of
1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite.
3) Add a grid & start planting
C) Follow the 10 basics
 Layout- Arrange your garden in squares, not rows. Lay it out in 4'x4' planting areas.
(Other arrangements can be used.)
 Boxes- Build boxes to hold a new soil mix above ground. Soil should be 6” deep so use
boards that are 6-8” high. You can build 4’x4’ boxes, 3’ x 3’ boxes for kids, or any size
that fits your area (but 4’ or less across.) If you want a movable or deck box, attach 1/23/4” plywood to the underside and drill four drain holes.
 Aisles- Space boxes 3' apart to form walking aisles.
 Soil- Fill boxes with Mel's special soil mix: 1/3 blended compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3
coarse vermiculite. (See backside for local prices and amounts.)
 Grid- Make a permanent square foot grid for the top of each box. A MUST! (You can use
wood lathe, old blinds, or string to mark a tic-tac-toe type design.)
 Care- NEVER WALK ON YOUR GROWING SOIL. Tend your garden from the aisles.
 Select- Plant a different flower, vegetable, or herb crop in each square foot, using 1, 4, 9,
or 16 plants per square foot. (See www.squarefootgardening.com for an explanation.) If the
package says to plant every 12 inches, plant one per square foot, package says 6”, plant 4
per sq foot, package says 4”, plant 9 per sq foot, package says 3”, plant 16 per sq foot.
 Plant- Conserve seeds. Plant only a pinch (2 or 3 seeds) per hole. Place transplants in a
slight saucer-shaped depression. Cool crops (lettuce, cabbage, peas) can be planted April to
May. Warm crops (beans, tomatoes, pumpkins) can be planted late May to early June.
Plant cool crops again in August for a fall harvest.
 Water- Water by hand from a bucket of sun-warmed water.
 Harvest- When you finish harvesting a square foot, add compost and replant it with a new
and different crop.
How to Set Up your Square Foot Garden
- Supplies for a 4’ x 4’ square box
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4- 4’ x 2” x 6” untreated boards (buy 2—8’ and cut in half, or use what you have)
6- 4’ wood lath boards (or old blinds, string would also work to mark the grid)
12 wood screws
Power drill
Weed cloth (optional, or you can lay down cardboard or newspaper as a weed barrier)
Plywood - if making movable
If you want to build a 3’ x 8’ or 4’ x 8’ or 3’ x 3’, just change the amount and length of
wood and you are good to go!
- Mel’s Mix
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1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite
Here’s what it may look like in the store:
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For a 4’ x 4’ box, you will have 16 square planting feet, but since the soil will only
be 6” deep, you will need 8 cubic feet.
If you have 3 – 4’ x 4’ boxes, that is 48 sq ft and you will need 24 cubic ft of mix.
For that you will need to purchase:
Two 4-cubic foot bag of coarse vermiculite (This is a light weight mined rock.)
Two 2.2 cubic feet compressed bales of peat moss (This expands to 4 cubic feet.)
8 cubic feet from at least five different types of compost bags (They are usually
sold by weight so you’ll need to estimate volume. Your homemade compost is the
best—and of course cheapest.)
On a not-windy day, pour composts onto a tarp and mix it by rolling it back and forth, then add
peat moss and vermiculite, water it lightly, mix, and then add to the garden. Add the grid and
you are ready to plant!
The cost of setting up your garden varies depending on the box materials you already have, if
you have your own compost, and how you want it to look. If you purchase pine boards and
compost along with the peat moss and vermiculite, it will cost around $35 per 4’ x 4’ garden.
If all of this initial (the easy part comes after) figuring and work is too complicated, too much
physical labor, or too expensive, you may contact RiverWorks. They have support, possible
group soil mixing, and a grant available thanks to Gardening World Wide. (Visit
www.gardeningww.com to “meet” the local founders of this teaching and outreaching
organization.)