The Greenest Thing You Can Do: Square Foot Gardening

I really love this article, because it records my first real step in becoming a consciously sustainable person. I’m not talking about going green or environmentally conscious or any other nebulous phrase that suggests some environmentally conscious effort without really being concrete enough to define a measurable standard.

I’ve taken tentative steps before, but now that I’ve done my research, I know what true sustainability is, I know it’s our highest goal, and I know how to achieve it. I chose to start this journey towards total sustainability by starting to become a producer. Yes, of course I will continue to consume, and for now there are many holes in my game, but I am also becoming a producer, and it feels very good.

I buy All new square footage of landscaping because I had heard good things about it and wanted to start growing my own fruits and vegetables with the least amount of hassle. I know that hydroponics is the most efficient way to grow anything, but it’s a pretty tricky place to start. Square Foot Gardening seemed like a nice simple solution from the outside looking in. But would he comply?

After reading it and buying the materials to start my own square foot garden, I have to say that it really does provide a very easy way to start growing your own food. One of the many great things about this method is that it can be done in any setting, even on an apartment balcony. I highly recommend this book to people like me who don’t want to deal with the hassles of gardening. Author Mel Bartholomew provides a step-by-step process for building his gardener, mixing the perfect soil, planting, cultivating, and harvesting. No fertilizers. No pesticides. It’s something good.

It took me less than a week to read the book, buy the materials, assemble the box, mix the soil, and plant my vegetables. The author doesn’t mention costs, so I’m going to list my material costs right here for his benefit:

• Heirloom Seeds (more on heirloom in my next blog): 8 packs – $23.25
• Lumber: (1) plywood sheet + (2) 2×6 redwood – $28.59
• Soil mix: vermiculite + peat + compost – $80.93
• Grid: 5/8″ x 1/4″ trim board – $14.98
• Total Cost: $147.75
• Working time: about 8 man hours

This was more than I expected, but most costs are one time. The only ongoing costs are for compost and seeds. If you compost yourself, that line item is removed. With Mel’s technique, seed use and waste is significantly reduced compared to traditional row gardening, so seed packets can last up to five years.

So what is the reward?

I’ll have to wait and find out for myself, but according to the book, here’s a vintage example of a 4×4 box:

• 1 cabbage
• 1 broccoli
• 1 cauliflower
• 4 heads of romaine lettuce
• 4 heads of red lettuce
• 4 lettuce leaves
• 4 heads of lettuce
• 16 spring onions
• 5 pounds. sugar snap peas
• 8 Swiss chard
• 9 bunches of spinach
• 32 carrots
• 32 radishes
• 16 beats

I priced this theoretical crop at my local grocery store and it came to over $115.00. If you have two growing seasons per year (this is typical), you will receive the bonus after the second harvest.

You’ve probably heard about “getting back in touch with nature” a million times, so I’m not going to bore you with that. What I do want to say is that the project is a lot of fun, it’s a fantastic way to beautify your garden, it has endless possibilities for adaptation and creativity, and it’s one of the greenest things you can do. Sometimes I think that green can be summed up in one sentence: do it yourself or buy it locally. That’s the long and the short.

The book is much more detailed and comprehensive than this short summary suggests, so I highly recommend that you buy it, read it, and make it a reality in your garden.

There are a few other items I’d like to mention before signing off and will expand on in future blogs.

As I mentioned before, my research has determined that hydroponic farming is the most efficient, and I love the idea, but it requires more money up front than a one square foot garden. I will continue with this in the future though, so stay tuned.

One technique that I will try in future growing is living water. I’m not doing it in this first season, so this first performance can be considered as a control in my little experiment. For those of you who are not familiar with the work of Victor Shauberger or Masaru Emoto, water can have incredible regenerating and vitalizing properties if given the correct energetic charge. As with hydroponics, I’ll clarify in the near future.

OK, one last near-future note. One method that is out of the square foot gardening book that I experimented with is the seed planting process mentioned in Anastasia, the first book in the Ringing Cedars series. I’m late to this party, I just finished the first book, but all I can say is wow. That book has already contributed mightily to the paradigm shift, and the material is excellent, but I’m not going to take it at face value. I will review that book in the near future and let you know how effective the tips in that book are based on how my crop turns out.

That’s all I have for now. Happy Easter, and love to all,

Millard