The ten basic tenets of square-foot gardening are:
- 1. Arrange your garden in squares, not rows. Lay it out in 4′x4′ planting areas.
- 2. Build boxes to hold a new soil mix above ground.
- 3. Space boxes 3′ apart to form walking aisles.
- 4. Fill boxes with Mel’s special soil mix: 1/3 blended compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 coarse vermiculite.
- 5. Make a permanent square foot grid for the top of each box. A MUST.
- 6. NEVER WALK ON YOUR GROWING SOIL. Tend your garden from the aisles.
- 7. Plant a different flower, vegetable, or herb crop in each square foot, using 1, 4, 9, or 16 plants per square foot.
- 8. Conserve seeds. Plant only a pinch (2 or 3 seeds) per hole. Place transplants in a slight saucer-shaped depression.
- 9. Water by hand from a bucket of sun-warmed water.
- 10. When you finish harvesting a square foot, add compost and replant it with a new and different crop.
