Gardening Advice

Mel Bartholomew – Introducing Square Foot Gardening

20 Comments

Square Foot Gardening (SFG) is a great way to convert that boring suburbia grass lawn into a sustainable produce isle. Don’t have a lawn? That’s cool- SFG can be done practically anywhere. Mel was kind enough to send me this DVD which gives a quick intro into SFG. This method is great for the absolute beginner who might be a little overwhelmed by starting that first organic garden. For more information, including including Mel’s popular book & instructional dvds, check out: www.squarefootgardening.com

20 thoughts on “Mel Bartholomew – Introducing Square Foot Gardening”

  1. You can also use small planting pots, a barrel or a small tub and grow things. Like I’ve got potatoes in a small barrel, and every time the plant gets to be about five inches tall, I cover it up 3/4 way with dirt, then it produces more potatoes, cuz it has to grow taller. Try it out for yourself.

  2. I’m not Mel, but thanks! 🙂 Sounds like you’re doing great- keep up the good work. We need more of these Prosperity Gardens across the American landscape.

  3. Love your book. And love my raised garden beds in my back yard. We have eaten great veggies and fruit all summer.

  8. We’ve been doing SFG for a couple years now and it is so much better than the old way. Lower costs (especially after getting started), less waste, less water, and a lot less weeding. I spend more time getting my crops ready for the table.

  9. David Will, founder of the Organic Living Club (OLC) in South Texas discussed using barrels to grow produce during our December meeting. You can watch it here:

    watch?v=HivTEa6BMx4

    or look for it on my YouTube homepage. -OT

  10. I love SFG, I live in a city and have limited space so this system is wonderful. We have fruitfull crops year rounds thanks to SFG. The only improvment I ask for is translating SFG to crcular barrel type planters because I have 4 of those and would like to maximize their use as well.

  11. So glad to have found your video. Square Foot Gardening is something I am planning for the 2009 growing season.

    Thanks

  12. This guy is no alan chadwick.

    Raised bed gardening is great and attractive. I think row planting is best for large plots and more farm scale stuff. Intensive planting requires a lot of water. True the shade of the leaves holds it in the ground but the close planting causes a lot of competition for water among the plants.

  13. What a tosser. He never invented this. It was being used in France well before he was even thought of!! What a cheek to claim HE invented it. The shame

  15. I’d stick to a local nursery for the ingredients- they need your support more than the box stores. Fertile Garden Supply carries quality organic products and will ship’em anywhere if its legal to do. Google’em and you’ll find’em.

  16. Thanks for all this beautiful information. Where can you get these ingredients? Hardware store or Home Depot?

  17. It is easy! The box is bottomless. I recommend a different mixture than what Mel uses. Pet moss is antimicrobial & good, healthy soil is teaming w/ microbes. I recommend the following mixture: 40% compost, 40% coconut fiber, 10% expanded shale, 10% mix of lava sand, green-sand, and alfalfa meal. Also use stone, brick or concrete bricks for your SFG, instead of wood or any other material. Good luck & keep us posted!

  18. Thanks for this video, i have never been successful at gardening. This seems easy? Does the box have a bottom in in?

  19. thank you so much for posting this video – it helps to be able to share the information via a quick introduction and inspire people to buy the excellent book and video and then go make their gardens – so needed in today’s world!

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