Trying Square Foot Gardening

Square foot gardening has always intrigued me, but I never took up the idea as it seemed to fiddly and also I must admit to being a traditional kinda gal. About 3 weeks ago my youngest son asked if he could be given a bed to grow his own vegetables.

This boy is a very picky eater. He eats lots of what he likes and gags down tiny amounts of what is necessary for his health. I thought it would be a good idea for him to grow his food choices, with a little direction from me :)

I know that looking at an empty bed and deciding what should go into it can sometimes be a little daunting for the new veggie gardener so I was looking for some options and remembered square foot gardening. I sent him some links and videos to watch and it was a hit!

Youngest sat down and planned out his bed using the SFG mode on the planner and then we headed out to buy his seeds, compost and seedlings. I have wanted to take him to the amazing Soil for Life garden for a long time, and now I am glad we waited as it was a wonderland for him.

The sign says: "Pedal me to water our garden"

The bike is connected to the rain water tank and a pump which waters the closer beds. Being a kid engineer he was fascinated!

This hosepipe holder was interesting to me...it was planted up with yarrow and the pipe wound around the outside of the tyre. Amazing repurposing idea.

A compost teepee which when full can have creeping veg planted in it.

The nursery where he chatted with the workers and chose his seedlings

After purchasing his seedlings and the seeds from the lovely Sarah in the shop we headed home.

We do not have exact square foot beds as we are using our existing raised beds but he measured off his blocks and used twine to mark them.

Then following his plan he planted out his seeds and seedlings. He included some companion plants like dill and spring onions around the carrots and other flowers to attract pollinators.

A square foot bed of small beginnings. While it looks empty as a lot was planted as seeds we hope for some good growth over the next weeks which will keep his interest up.

I am not sure I would go for SFG as a complete system, although there are many attractive elements to it. On many levels this is a try out for me and a healthy project for him, we will see where it leads us for the next season.

I must have a chuckle as I have already done my summer plan on my normal system, so if this bed produces what everyone promises, then I will be back at the drawing board.

Do you SFG? How do you find your yields?