A lot of garden in a small space | Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work...

...and they said it couldn't be done. | Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work | Mel Bartholomew

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	• Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work Mel Bartholomew Rodale Books, 2005 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 80 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The best vegetable gardening book to start with

This book transformed me into a gardener, from a former self who would buy a few tomato plants or pepper seeds and watch nothing much happen. We've all read generic gardening books with nice photos and a long recitation of suggested, common methods for doing what needs to be done. One of the reasons that Square Foot Gardening is different is that the author has strong preferences. Start seeds in vermiculite! Plant oak leaf lettuce! Read the seed catalogs in december! --Because of Bartholomew's enthusiasm, these specific things are fun to start with, and because his method works so well, you wind up happy and with lots of vegetables. One warning though, I tried to build a Bartholomew style trellis from copper plumbing and string, a bit too close to a neighbor's property line. "I'm sorry, but this looks like a soccer net." I tore it down and worked considerably harder on something nicer. (But yes, do build the trellis, it's worth it.)

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A lot of garden in a small space

This book will show you the way to get the most garden out of the smallest area. Electrical conduit used to create a lattice work for climbing plants? It works! Using Mel's method I've even successfully grown pumpkins and cantelope vertically. If your house sits on less than 1/2 acre and you'd still like a vegetable garden, this book is a must!

...and they said it couldn't be done.

I moved to Southern California a year ago, and bought a house on a hill in San Diego's East County area. For those of you that don't know, that means HOT summers and very poor soil. As I was telling my new neighbors about my enthusiastic plans for planting a vegetable garden, I was met with nothing but skepticism. "You'll never grow vegetables in this lousy soil." and "I tried for several years - the gophers got most of it and nothing ever grew anyway." and "The soil here is so bad even the cactuses have a hard time."

They didn't know what I knew. I had purchased a copy of this book a few years earlier. I dug out a small area, lined it with 1/2 inch hardware cloth to keep out the gophers, and followed the instructions in this book for preparing the soil and planting. I now have a small garden (total of 32 sqaure feet) that produces more vegetables than I can eat, and still has room for some colorful flowers to break the green monotony. (I wish Amazon would let us post photos in these reviews!) My neighbors are now believers, as I shower them with the excess produce.

I highly reccommend this book to anyone who wants to grow a vegetable garden!

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Maximum production- minimum space and work

Square Foot Gardening is innovative, quaint, and informative. However, it is difficult to explain to the neighborhood farmers who have done long straight rows since the dawn of time. But it's time for a better more fruitful way.

After hearing the "facts" from the local people I didn't use this method, and you know what happened? I used too much space, I'm still battling weeds, and caterpillars or something similar destroyed all my beautiful cabbage. They were absolutely certain the plants wouldn't have enough room to grow and produce anything worthy of eating. I knew in my heart it would work and I'm positive next year will bring a happy hearty garden using the Square Foot Gardening recommendations.

I've received a couple of helpful emails recommending alternatives to the planks I couldn't find out here in rural country. So, I'm off to build my raised beds and hope for much better results next year.

Please, buy this book, learn it-use it, don't waste your time with any other method. Feed your loved ones home grown goodies- their healthy bodies will thank you.

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Can't wait for Spring!

This makes so much sense! Eliminate over-sowing then thinning. Stop the endless weeding of empty spaces between rows. Successive plantings will avoid the over-run of ripe veggies during the busy Summer. Wow, why didn't someone tell me earlier? I can't wait for Spring so I can try it myself.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, page 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

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