Gardening is a labor of love, but sometimes the greatest labors don’t reap the rewards we hope for.  A technique called “square foot gardening” was introduced to solve this problem.  Since the 1980’s, square foot gardening has helped many gardeners—especially those with hardships to overcome. It makes gardening easy for beginning gardeners, gardeners with limited mobility, and gardeners dealing with poor soil.

Square foot gardening consists of an open-bottomed box divided into sections.  Frame it All raised beds lend themselves very well to this technique: for best results, use a small raised bed like our Urban Raised Bed and top it with one of our planting grids. Each section of the grid separates out a 12-inch square of rich, uncompacted soil and produces a specific amount of plants based on the plant’s size.  These smaller beds are very adaptable, and because of their size, gardeners don’t have to worry about stepping on plants and compacting the soil.

Here are some benefits to Square Foot Gardening:

  • Less Work:  you don’t need to loosen the soil, and there is less weeding due to living mulch created by close planting
  • Lowers the Water Bill:  the rich soil will hold water well and you can water directly to the roots of the plants
  • Better Accessibility: as you know, Frame it All raised beds can be stacked for less back-aching work
  • Better Protection, Better Output: using our raised beds, planting grids, and matching cold frame/greenhouse covers, you’ll increase your output by using the square foot gardening technique and extending your gardening season
  • Less Space Used:  raised beds use less space than a conventional row garden, and with this technique you can still have a great crop in your small yard or on your deck or patio
  • More Crop Variety:  each grid space allows you to plant different crops

 

With a Frame it All raised bed and a planting grid, you can have a small garden that provides an abundant group of crops.  Try square foot gardening today!

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