SFG Basics
Square Foot Gardening (SFG) is a vegetable-growing method that divides a raised bed into a grid of 1-foot (30 cm) squares. Each square is planted with 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants — the exact number depending…
Read more →Square Foot Gardening (SFG) is a vegetable-growing method that divides a raised bed into a grid of 1-foot (30 cm) squares. Each square is planted with 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants — the exact number depending…
Read more →If you have never grown vegetables before, the Garden Guide can look overwhelming. This page is your shortcut: a realistic, month-by-month roadmap for your first SFG season, with just enough detail th…
Read more →Raised beds are the ideal partner for Square Foot Gardening. Mel Bartholomew, the inventor of SFG, explicitly recommended them. A raised bed solves many common garden problems at once – poor soil, bad…
Read more →Healthy plants grow on healthy soil — not the other way round. This chapter covers the four SFG nutrient categories, the three main plant nutrients (NPK) plus the trace elements, how to read deficienc…
Read more →You don't need a biology degree to grow great vegetables — but knowing a handful of fundamentals helps you spot problems earlier, understand why advice works, and make better decisions when something …
Read more →The placement of the bed itself — and what goes where inside it — matters more than almost any other decision. A sunny, well-oriented bed with the tall plants on the correct side produces two or three…
Read more →Companion planting places plants together that benefit each other through pest control, pollination, nutrient sharing, or physical support.
Read more →Crop rotation means not planting the same plant family in the same spot year after year. This prevents disease buildup, pest accumulation, and soil nutrient depletion.
Read more →A single square foot can produce 3–4 harvests a year instead of one. Succession planting is the art of keeping every square busy from March to November: as soon as one crop is pulled, another goes str…
Read more →Water is the #1 growth factor after sunlight. But most garden failures come from the wrong watering habits, not too little water. The rule of thumb: water deeply, less often, and at the root – not on …
Read more →A pair of pruners does more for yield than any fertilizer. The right cut sends energy where you want it — to fruit instead of foliage, to new growth instead of tired old stems — and keeps airflow movi…
Read more →Vertical growing is Square Foot Gardening's superpower — one vine up a trellis uses a single square instead of sprawling across six. Supports also keep fruit off the soil (cleaner, fewer slugs, less r…
Read more →Organic gardening works with nature instead of against it. By building healthy soil, encouraging beneficial insects, and using natural remedies, you can grow healthy crops without synthetic chemicals.
Read more →Homemade compost is the heart of a Square Foot Garden. Mel's Mix calls for 1/3 compost, and every bed needs a top-up each year. With one bin you close the loop — kitchen and garden waste goes in, rich…
Read more →Collecting seeds from your best plants closes the garden cycle, saves money, and lets you adapt varieties to your local conditions over generations. Some plants are beginner-friendly, others need more…
Read more →Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and many others need a 6–10 week head start before they can go outside. A sunny windowsill, a seed tray and a bit of patience turn €3 of seeds into a full summer's harves…
Read more →Cut a shoot from an existing plant, root it, and you've got a free clone of your favourite variety. Cuttings are faster than seeds, keep named varieties true, and work for many herbs, berries and flow…
Read more →Division — splitting an established perennial into multiple smaller plants — is the cheapest way to multiply what you already love. Most perennials actually need dividing every 2–4 years to stay vigor…
Read more →A greenhouse extends your growing season at both ends, protects from frost, and lets you grow heat-loving crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil) in climates that would otherwise be marginal. Even…
Read more →A cold frame is a low, glazed box that captures solar heat — somewhere between an open bed and a full greenhouse. It extends the season 4–8 weeks at each end, hardens off seedlings gently, and keeps s…
Read more →No garden? No problem. A sunny balcony, a wide windowsill, a single railing planter — even a closed tray on the kitchen counter can feed you. Small-space gardening has its own rules: containers dry ou…
Read more →Most vegetables love full sun, but many gardens have corners with only morning light or dappled shade under trees. Don't give up — a whole category of crops prefers cooler, shaded spots, and shade gar…
Read more →A garden should feed the eyes as well as the belly. The good news: the most beautiful garden plants are often also the most useful — attracting pollinators, deterring pests, or providing edible flower…
Read more →A good garden year ends with more tomatoes, zucchinis and herbs than you can eat fresh. Preservation is how summer sunshine makes it to February. Each method has its own sweet spot — some protect vita…
Read more →A gardener with a notebook beats a gardener with ten years of memory — because gardens change every year, and memory is lossy. Your year-two harvest will be 3× better than year one for exactly one rea…
Read more →An SFG bed needs fewer tools than a conventional garden — you never dig, you never till, and you can't walk into the bed anyway. Five good tools last decades if you clean and sharpen them. Five cheap …
Read more →A child who grew a radish will eat radishes. A child who grew a cherry tomato will eat cherry tomatoes by the handful, warm off the plant, in a way no supermarket tomato ever triggered. This chapter i…
Read more →Microgreens are seedlings harvested 7–14 days after sowing, when the first true leaves are just emerging. They pack intense flavour, vivid colour and surprisingly high nutrient density into a tiny pla…
Read more →You don't need a dark cellar or a laboratory. With ready-made spawn from a reputable supplier, growing edible mushrooms at home is as straightforward as planting a seedling — just on a different kind …
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