Customer Reviews

Cubed Foot Gardening: Growing Vegetables in Raised, Intensive Beds

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

There is nothing new in this 'method'. If you have read Square Foot Gardening you have read everything worth reading in this book.

The only thing 'unique' is that the method uses 2x12 lumber. That's it.

That makes the book worthless, but what puts it into negative value territory is the bad information and rudely stated personal biases.

The author clearly despises organic methods as he briefly discusses how ineffective organic methods are every few pages.

He frequently makes odd sounding claims and prefaces them with something like 'While I have no scientific evidence to support this...' and then apparently thinks his claims will be accepted based upon his having written a book.

His stated preference is for 2x12 lumber in bed construction, which is fine, but then he spends time explaining why arsenic treated wood is the best choice. He comes over like those who wish to stay away from unnecessary exposure to strongly toxic substances in their veggy garden are sissies. His statement was that he is the kind of guy who still 'eats his beef medium rare'. Neat?

He refers to anyone who disagrees with his apparent love affair with toxins as an 'organic purist' (these are BAD people).

He suggested, but didn't harp on, adopting the practice of spraying everything with a broad spectrum insecticide (needed or not) *every 2 weeks* and then went on to tell how extensively he has researched and the chemicals are perfectly safe to eat.

I honestly don't think I have ever read a gardening book this bad. I have read plenty that really didn't convey anything that I hadn't read in someone else's book, but this book not only doesn't cover anything new or unique, but it spends a lot of time praising chemicals and insulting organic gardeners. It even insults gardeners who don't consider themselves organic, but like to stay away from *icides in the veggy garden as much as possible.

To sum up the differences between Cubed Foot Gardening and most any other raised bed, intensive gardening book:

1. Pesticides are good. Use them regularly.
2. 2x12 lumber is better than anything else to make beds with. Untreated is cheap, but pressure treated is better better and 'scientists are unanimous that it is perfectly safe' (yeah, right) and cedar costs $250 for a small bed kit from Gardeners Supply (yes, he bases his 'too expensive' statement on what a kit made of cedar costs from Gardener's Supply Co).
3. Organics is bad. Skip to the good stuff.
4. Soil mix is 1 part sand, 2 parts topsoil (no definition of what topsoil means to him) and 1 part humus.
5. Spacing is different. He allows more space for many plants than Sq Ft Gardening.

That is the full extent of this book's 'contribution' to gardening.

This is a great book and I would have given it a 5 if the author had stressed the benefits of organic gardening, rather than recommending standard chemical fertilizers.

The author shows you how to get started with gardening and clearly demonstrates how to build raised beds using wood 2x12's (and others sizes). He also offers great coverage of each of the major vegetables that he recommends that you grow. This part contains some particularly good material.

There are many practical and original techniques in this book. Although this is not necessarily a beginner's book, I would recommend this book to a beginner. The only problem I had was his reliance on chemical fertilizers.

Many beginners might find it easier at first to use standard chemical fertilizers, as recommended by the author. However, today many gardeners are finding their way to organics to avoid the industrial wastes sometimes found in the standard chemical fertilizers.

I get the feeling that the author writes with your best interests at heart. He appears to be a successful gardener with much practical experience. His writing is very clear and at times quite humorous. There are plenty of pictures and diagrams to keep the book interesting.

I use raised bed gardening, but use concrete blocks and take an organic approach. Although the materials are different, the methodology is very similar. I highly recommend this book to any one getting started, or anyone who wants to build raised bed gardens using wood (looks better than concrete blocks, but deteriortes more quickly).

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

I relocated to South Carolina in July of 2003. Our new yard contained the remnants of a vegetable garden -- skeletons of bush beans and peppers protruding from red clay as hard as concrete. I purchased Mr. Bird's book about a year ago and read it during my Christmas vacation. Having no prior experience growing vegetables,I followed the instuctions exactly. The two-tier indoor plant stand was my first effort. The materials including grow bulbs and some sturdy seed trays from Harris cost under $100. I started my spring-crop seeds a bit late, the end of February, as we are usually frost-free by April 1. About the same time, I started building the 4'x4'x12" frames, a total of six. I thought about building larger frames but was glad I didn't as my wife and I could just lift and carry one comfortably. Then we had a ton of sand and two of topsoil dumped next to the boxes. I blended it with peat moss and composted manure and filled up the boxes. This was the hardest part of the project, but the resulting soil was wonderful. My spinach, lettuce, chinese cabbage and bok choi all did well until it got hot, then bugs started to eat them up despite my best efforts to use ecologically-friendly deterents. The nine heads of broccoli I grew in one frame were particularly nice. They al ripened at the same time so I gave several away to friends. As promised, radishes are especially easy to grow. I didn't get around to building pea/bean trellises but will definitely do so next season. My bush beans gave several good harvests before it got really hot. Once the tomatoes started coming, they didn't quit until frost. Mr. Bird recommends Celebrity for the heat. I had even better luck with Juliette. It has an oval shape, is somewhat larger than a cherry tomato, and produces in abundance. I also grew several varieties of both hot and mild peppers which did very well. Only my okra was a dissappointment, and I'm still not sure why? Per instruction, I got a sweet potato from the grocery store, washed and planted it in the center of the bed where the broccoli had been. For a long time, I thought it was just going to rot. One day I decided to pull it up and discard it only to find it had taken root. Once it got going it was unstoppable. Rather than prune the vines, I just headed them back into the bed. The leaves turned black with our first frost a couple of weeks ago. On Thanksgiving, I ripped up the vines. At first I didn't think there were any potatoes attached. Then I noticed something pink-orange protruding from the dirt. I started digging and unearthed thirty pounds of sweet potatoes. One weighed three pounds. They were extremely tender compared to store-bought. My wife steamed and mashed a few that afternoon and they were much better than any I've ever eaten before. So I'm hooked. I've grown flowers before but never vegetables. I checked a bunch of gardening books out from the library but found myself returning to Cubed Foot again and again. It's a blueprint for success based on Mr. Bird's long experience gardening in many different climates. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Last year I used the Cubed Foot Gardening method in my "regular" garden for my corn and it worked GREAT! My next door neighbor lost ALL her corn, but mine survived and thrived. My husband LOVES Silver Queen corn and I happily provided him with fresh-from-the-stalk corn when he came back from Iraq.

This season we finally had the time and money to build raised beds. They're not necessarily cheap to make and fill with GOOD garden soil, but think of it as a lifetime investment. My in-laws came to visit last week and were SO impressed with our garden. Our veggies were growing MUCH faster than theirs.

We used (2) 2 x 8s stacked and braced together, roofing material on the inside (to help keep the wood from rotting) and chicken wire on the bottom to keep the critters out. We'll eventually "cap" them with 2 x 6s which will make nice "bench" height raised beds. I've got back problems and I appreciate being able to sit down while I garden.

I've combined the methods in this book and "Square Foot Gardening" and EVERYTHING looks fantastic.

What I especially like about Cubed Foot Gardening is that the author gives the N-P-K rating for the fertilizers that best suit each veggie.

As someone who cut my gardening "teeth" with Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening", I was interested in what differing suggestions Chris Bird's Cubed Foot Gardening would impart. What was he talking about? Cubed foot? 3' by 3'? NOT. 1' x 1' x 1' deep. I was using raised beds, even with the square foot method...but now I learn that my 2 x 8 boxes aren't nearly tall enough for plants with deep root systems. Next year, I'll add another level of depth to the boxes to at least 2 x 12, if not 2 x 16. I've grown the verticle pumpkins and cantilope. It DOES work. I found Mr. Bird's spacing suggestions a bit more realistic, and he's included several hilarious comments. A great supplement to "Square Foot Gardening".

Length:: 3:14 Mins

PHOTO SLIDESHOW: The pictures with this review are a daily account of the garden I raised last year using much of the advice from this book.

BOOK REVIEW: Chris Bird believes it's easier to grow a garden in raised beds, and in this book, he shows you how. Bird details the fundamentals of cubed foot gardening (how to build the boxes, space considerations, etc) and gives a brief introduction to the most popular vegetables grown in the US. He includes a useful season planting guide, which should be used instead of everyone's grandparents' methods like "plant corn two Mondays after the first dogwood bloom."

The most appealing aspect of the book is the personal voice of the author. More than a how-to guide, this is one man's story about his successes and failures. He even admits when his method may not be the best or points out his many setbacks in his life of gardening.

I was given this book one year after I started gardening in raised beds and have spent the last year correcting many of the mistakes I made on my own. Along with the seasonal planting guide and suggestions on which crops to plant, I learned creative designs for trellises and innovative planting techniques, including a brilliant "salt shaker" method of scattering small seeds evenly over an area.

If you're looking for a time- and labor-saving method of growing vegetables, this is your book, whether you're a complete beginner or a more experienced gardener. Everything you need to know is clearly set out, including charts, diagrams and practical tips (e.g. why buy expensive little pots for your seedlings when you can recycle styrofoam cups from the office?). The at-a-glance guide to each vegetable from seed to harvest is especially useful, as are the more detailed sections on individual veggies. Christopher Bird writes in a refreshingly informal way that neither patronizes you nor blinds you with science, and the text is enhanced with plenty of mouthwatering full-color photos from the author's own gardens.

A previous reviewer criticizes the book for not being organic enough. But it's obvious to me that Cubed Foot Gardening isn't about organics. It's about intensive, raised-bed vegetable gardening using the most effective techniques available, some of which are organic, others not. That makes perfect sense to me.

If you're into vegetable gardening then "Cubed Foot Gardening" is a good book to invest in. Bird gives good, practical advice on getting started, climate needs, where to put your garden, etc. He doe not tell anyone not to use organic, stating that it is the gardener's choice. On pg. 174 he states that the gardener should, "Try organic methods of insecticide first...", then "Spray chemical insecticides if necessary, on a limited basis..." This seems to contradict other posters who have been emphatic that he is "anti-organic". Maybe they didn't read the whole book. The vegetable guide on pg. 44-45 is very good. Overall this is an easy to read, very manageable to apply work.

In a way I wish this had been available when I first started gardening, but I'm not sure I'd have been open-minded enough to accept it then. I cut my teeth on Ortho's very basic (and inorganic) ALL ABOUT VEGETABLE GARDENING. Dick Raymond's JOY OF GARDENING opened my eyes to new possibilities. Then I read (and tried) Mel Batholomew's revolutionary SQUARE FOOT GARDENING. But, at least for now, CUBED FOOT GARDENING is the ultimate, the gardener's equivalent of the physicist's elusive "theory of everything." And it's so simple! It makes me wonder why I didn't think of this myself.

I purchased this book to replace a copy that I purchased earlier and "loaned" to someone. The author's method is highly practical and straightforward. I would have liked the author to consider and explain other options and let me make some choices. He seems to be a strong advocate mainly for his chosen techniques.