Planting the square foot garden

Now for the really fun part, planting! When choosing what to put in each square, take into consideration the size of the plant at maturity. For example, a single pepper or broccoli plant will take up an entire square foot, but smaller plants like onions or radishes can have multiple plantings in each square. And lettuces or herbs like basil and parsley, whose leaves are snipped throughout the season, can be packed in a little tighter, too. Each square foot can grow one, four, nine, or even sixteen plants!

Starting with seeds or seedlings is fine, just subdivide your squares and plant accordingly. And don’t forget to go vertical. Supports for plants like tomatoes, squash, and even cucumbers will help keep stalks and leaves from crowding each other in your raised bed. Also, takes care when laying out your bed to place taller plants where they won’t cast too much shade on the shorter ones. Place bush-type tomatoes and pole beans in the back, low-growing lettuce or cabbage down front.

Planting the Square Foot Garden (Photo by Sarah Marcheschi)

Gardening by the square foot extends the growing season

Extending your growing season is easy with a square foot garden. Start the season by growing cool weather crops like salad greens and root vegetables in early spring, then add another planting in late summer. Because a square foot garden has such a small footprint, covering and protecting plants when temperatures drop is not a labor-intensive undertaking. Arches covered in plastic, floating covers, or light blankets can be attached to your bed to protect plants from frost.

When you are ready to put the garden to bed for the winter, simply tidy it up by removing dead plant material and debris, take off grids and clean them, (or you can even leave them in place, if you’d rather), and smooth out and level the surface of the soil to make a neat and attractive canvas for next spring’s planting.