All in One Square Foot

This week I received my packet about my community garden plots, which of course has set me to task on some preliminary planning. Besides the general rules for gardens, the packet included helpful information on planting in Texas and on square foot gardening (SFG). If you're not familiar with the concept, SFG is the practice of planting small intensively planned gardens. Instead of planting in rows, SFG divides a raised bed into sections, each measuring a 1 sq. ft. Each section receives one variety of plant and the number plants depends on their size. For example, one square foot could accommodate one pepper/cabbage/broccoli plant or 2 cucumber plants or four corn/lettuce/potato plants or eight bean/radish/spinach plants or 16 carrot/onion/garlic plants. In some cases, the plants are so big that they require more than one square foot, such as melons which require at least 2 sq. ft. for one plant or as in the case of summer squash, 9 sq. ft. The benefits of SFG are several: minimal land use, increased yields, and since the plants are in close proximity to each other, minimal weeding.

The packet says that each plot is roughly 6 sq. ft. and I am receiving 2 plots, totaling 12 sq. ft. As you might imagine, summer squash is not on the agenda, which is sad because I love summer squash. My plan, at the moment, is to plant lettuce, onions, garlic, potatoes, beans, corn, tomatoes, watermelon, broccoli, two varieties of peppers, and carrots. Of course, this is for spring planting. I still have summer and fall plantings. Who knows, I might plant some pumpkins for Halloween and Thanksgiving!