Square Foot Gardening Benefits!


Growing your own food doesn’t necessarily require endless rows, large tractors and enough garden space. To have a successful yield of your own produce from even the smallest yards, calls for a technique – square foot gardening. It is the practice of growing small yet intensively planted gardens. Well, the system is well-suited for novice gardeners and for the planting areas with poor soil.

This method involves efficient ways for weed control, uses less water and gives better control over the soil consumption.

Benefits of square foot gardening
Square Foot Gardening Definition:

Square foot gardening is a technique of intensive gardening which involves raising plants & vegetables in a compact, raised bed that can grow variety of crops. The plantation area used in this system is basically a square which is broken into grids with crops grown in each grid. Developed by Mel Bartholomew; a retired civil engineer who describes this practice as the one that conserves labor, water and soil conditioners needed for maximum production in a garden space. As a general tip one should plant different crops in each grid of a square foot garden so as to get a vast variety of produce. To know what benefits it exactly offers, read further:
Square Foot Gardening Benefits:

Out of numerous advantages of square foot gardening, here are some of them that you should know. They are:

TAKES LESS SPACE: Square foot gardening system efficiently works anywhere, even on a deck or a patio; all one needs is 4 feet x 4 feet area (or larger than this). However the space required in this system is 80% less than the one needed in conventional gardening.
LESS MAINTENANCE: Unlike traditional gardening; square foot gardens require less care and maintenance. These gardens require no or very less tilling, very little compost, mulch or fertilizer. Even the water requirement in this process is 20% as compared to traditional gardening. Besides these, you won’t have to use a pickup truck to haul your material, heavy dig or need to build large compost piles. These garden systems are also easy to protect from garden pests, diseases and weeds.
EASY PEST CONTROL: Square foot gardens are those types of gardens which provide an easy control over most of the pests. Moreover, due to their small size, covering them with barriers or cages is much more practical than with large-sized gardens. To get rid of various pests in large gardens; read garden pest control and treatment.
EASIER WEED CONTROL & REMOVAL: Weed control and removal is easiest in this gardening technique with very less or no weeding. This is because crops have no rows between them. Moreover, the chances of weeds in your garden become negligible if you use a perfect soil mix.
ELIMINATES OVER-PLANTING: Growing using square-foot technique helps the growers to focus on quantity of the food needed. On the other hand, large plots involve excess crop production out of which a major part gets destroyed. While the former grows sufficient crop needed throughout the year.
MORE PRODUCE: This gardening method is known to produce high amount of crops in small space. Veggies such as onions, cabbages, peppers, beans, salad greens and many other small plants can be conveniently grown in this garden. Their amount is also more than that of conventional gardening.
BEST SUITED FOR BEGINNERS: Out of curiosity, many novice gardeners tend to grow a bigger vegetable garden than they can manage. This results in a huge mess of untended, weedy garden leading to a bad gardening experience. Square foot gardens give them a better start for owing an attractive garden successfully.
EASILY DONE BY PHYSICAL DISABLED: This gardening practice has a plus point that it can be easily done by people with physical disabilities. It’s because the garden is restricted to a small area and doesn’t pose any hindrance to their work.
ELIMINATE HEAVY TOOLS: Traditional gardening generally requires heavy tools in order to loosen the soil while in this system, soil is not walked on thus it remains loose and more easily workable.

TIPS:

Use raised beds, weed-free soil mix and weed barriers for highly nutritious and weed-free yield. You can add Olivia’s Growing Solution in your soil for much faster propagation.
If you are planting 2 or more plots, leave some space between them for easy maintenance.
People with any kind of physical disability can raise the square boxes to the wheelchair level.
To suppress weeds easily, spread landscape cloth or newspapers on the ground.
One can use trellis at northern ends of the squares to plant vines vertically.

So, sit, relax and enjoy fresh summer veggies, fruits and herbs in your own garden. Opt for this gardening technique to enjoy savory stuff without any back-breaking work.

The Benefits of a Greenhouse:

Fresh greens, vegetable and fruit.
Transplant availability and success.
Fresh cut flowers all year long.
A warm place to go in the middle of a cold, gray winter.
Ability to grow things you wouldn't otherwise be able to grow (exotic flowers, tropical fruit)

Advantages of Vertical Trellis in growing Vegetables
Merits of Vertical Trellises as a form to improve crop yields

Vertical trellis fencing is very common because of its decorative design as well as other benefits. When plants are grown vertically on a fence, they do not only look attractive but also perform well. Growing plants horizontally can affect its performance in many ways. They become exposed to damages, too. Many of the leaves which are required for photosynthesis can become damaged as well as the fruits. Bugs can also infest the plants because they can become over dumb due to excess watering.
vertical trellis with bamboo poles

Outdoor crops grown on vegetable vertical trellises will grow healthier and require less agrochemicals.

However, the benefits of growing plants vertically are as follows:

Crops are disease free on netting

Growing plants vertically can help them stay clear of diseases. They are not only less prone to coming in contact with diseases but also grow healthier fruits and foliages. Unsupported plants grow horizontally which makes it easier to come in contact with diseases from the ground. They might also face attacks from insects which reduce the quality of fruits. Growing plants vertically can help avoid attacks from insects and reduce fruit damage. They also receive more sunlight because foliages of the plant are exposed to enough light. On the other hand, gardeners can spot diseases among plants easily.

Save space trellising vertically

Growers with limited space can still grow more crops. All it takes it proper space management which can be achieved easily by growing plants vertically. Growing plants vertically also adds other benefits apart from the part that it saves space. It makes the gardening look more appealing and make space available for other outdoor entertainment such family get-together or picnic.
vertical trellis inside a greenhouse

A bell pepper greenhouse using vertical trellis netting in a double wall form.

Easy trellis management

double trellis netting inside a greenhouse

The double trellis netting method supports the lateral branches of the plants without any human intervention.

Growing crops like vegetables vertically usually take little time and effort. Gardeners can efficiently water their crops by when they are grown vertically. The fruits, as well as leaves, do not become over watered as the water goes directly to the roots. On the other hand, harvesting fruits from a vertical trellis is much easier than when plants are allowed to grow horizontally.
Choosing the right crop for a vertical trellis net.

Choosing the right plant to grow and the support to use is very important. However, the right plant should be the one that produces vines to grab and climb onto the support. Vegetables that can be trellised include beans, squash, peas, cucumber, and tomatoes. These plants tend to perform well when grown in a vertical position. They fruit and produce more foliage because they are exposed to an adequate amount of sunlight, proper air circulation and free from bug infestations.
vertical trellis in a backyard

Vertical trellises also help backyard growers reach higher crop yields like in any commercial agriculture operation.
Vertical trellises are very useful for commercial farmers.

Growers looking for ways to increase yield, manage limited space and grow crops with less stress can adopt growing plants vertically. This technique also makes the garden more appealing for visitors and passerby. However, choosing the right support to use is also very important. It depends on the crop being cultivated and the choice of the grower too.

Walamu:



Call it what it is.

Adaptable four acre farming.

Walamu:



Keep studying. Create a map of the square foot garden and see for yourself how mathematical precise it is.

Walamu:


Don't just grow food yet grow in wisdom.

Growing Wheat - small scale




Jassius Wise
Published on Jul 21, 2017
Growing a small plot of wheat for home use and bread making. This video covers the things I learned, what went wrong, what went right; it covers the entire process from preparing the soil to harvest, threshing and milling into flour.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUBQ_o6vRkg

Walamu:



Salom,

At least one of the four acres can be devoted to Cassava which has many uses yet mainly used as a bread. The bread form doesn't stay fresh long so there's always a need for fresh Cassava, which makes this a good cash crop. The old cassava can be used as feed for farm animals so nothing goes to waste.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whoEB28kHrQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogOL1bd0H8c

Walamu:


This time planting 1 acre of fruit trees. I guess the best direction is to decide which fruits are the cash crop of your region. Choose the right fruit that easy to grow on your land, the amount of resources it will require, and how you can nurture and protect your produce. Fruits are very good for children so if you have children they will love eating and enjoying fresh fruit which will give them strong digestive system. Alot of delicious pastries can be made from fruit to create bakeries such as cake, pies, cookies, etc. Also fruit can be preserved in jars for use later.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgtD7pWppF8



Fruit tree seedlings in Ethiopia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dbgD89LqCI

Planting Fruit Trees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XQRaB3C1bA

Don't Plant Fruit Trees Until You Watch This - Raintree

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK2EsmADLu0

Square foot gardening with fruits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLwxYVDsAVM

Walamu:


Grow beyond your own limitations you place upon yourselves.

josite:
Keep studying. Create a map of the square foot garden and see for yourself how mathematical precise it is.

Walamu:


Don't just grow food yet grow in wisdom.

Obakuso:
Do be square, balanced, and get off on the right foot with square foot gardening.

Obakuso:
Grow beyond your own limitations you place upon yourselves.

ugoulo196:
Sharing is caring. This is information is available to anyone online yet better shared than searched for.b