Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work (Paperback)

by Mel Bartholomew (Author) "Does anyone know the real reason people garden?..." (more)
Key Phrases: seeds indoors, seeds outdoors, last planting, Starting Location, Growing Watering, Earliest Outdoor Planting (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The book is great and the method is even better."--Bob Thomson, host of Victory Garden

"Top 10 Gardening Best-Seller."--Publishers Weekly

"This is a good, competent gardening book, well written and sensibly presented."--Library Journal

"How to get more from less is one of life's major challenges today. Here is a book that does just that for those with a hoe..."--Booklist

"Bartholomew is a welcome presence..."--Kirkus Reviews

"This amazing discovery truly makes gardening fun and easy."--Mike Levey, host of Amazing Discoveries

"The approach is fascinating. It's new, different and very innovative."--Long Island Horticultural Society

"It's one of the few garden books that offers something new to the reader."--Christian Science Monitor
-- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The book is great and the method is even better."--Bob Thomson, host of Victory Garden

"Top 10 Gardening Best-Seller."--Publishers Weekly

"This is a good, competent gardening book, well written and sensibly presented."--Library Journal

"How to get more from less is one of life's major challenges today. Here is a book that does just that for those with a hoe..."--Booklist

"Bartholomew is a welcome presence..."--Kirkus Reviews

"This amazing discovery truly makes gardening fun and easy."--Mike Levey, host of Amazing Discoveries

"The approach is fascinating. It's new, different and very innovative."--Long Island Horticultural Society

"It's one of the few garden books that offers something new to the reader."--Christian Science Monitor

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (March 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579548563
• ISBN-13: 978-1579548568
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,713 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

169 of 170 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love to garden but hate to dig, this is for you, February 22, 2001

By	Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Square Foot Gardening (Paperback)

I have to admit it, digging the rocky soil of New England never appealed to me. So when I started a garden in our New Hampshire backyard, even though I had a half acre to work with, I used this book and the square foot principles.

There is no reason to create a monster patch of garden if you are only going to have to give away those hundreds of zucchini (people in our town make sure to close their car windows in August, lest passersby fill their auto with their surplus squashes.) The square-foot garden method uses square plots, starting with a 4-foot square, that's all. This book gives you the right number of plants per square to put in each for a typical family. We love lettuce, so devoted more squares to lettuce; and you'd be surprised how few tomato plants you actually need. A married couple with no kids can actually garden in a 4 foot square, which is also helpful for those living in condos or doing terrace or balcony gardening. This method is somewhat related to French intensive agriculture, where a huge crop can be grown in a relatively small space.

Another reason to square-foot garden is to have enough compost to enrich the soil. I never ever have enough of this black gold, even though we compost all our vegetable scraps and grass clippings. (A friend went so far as to strike a deal with the local organic vegetarian restaurant for their scraps to have enough.) And weeding is a lot easier in a small square than on a long, endless furrow.

This is one of my favorite garden books. It's really fun to read, especially in the dark of winter as you plan your summer salad and tomato bounty for the coming summer.

108 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for a suburban gardener., March 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Square Foot Gardening (Paperback)

This is one of the 2 books that actually got me into gardening (the other being Christopher O. Bird's _Modern Vegetable Gardening_). Like most suburban dwellers, I have a back yard that does not lend itself to traditional gardening. With Mr. Bartholomew's method, I grew green and wax beans, peppers, tomatoes, zuccinni, watermelon, canteloupe, cucumbers, sunflowers, corn, pumpkins, lettuce, swiss chard, carrots and radishes all in a garden consisting of 2 4'x8', 1 4'x4' and 1 1'x8' plots. It is an excellent book for beginners, providing basic information on where to place a garden, when in the year to start it, amending your soil (or even making soil, if necessary), etc. There is also a guide for every popular vegetable, showing how and when to plant it, how often to water, how often to fertilize, how to harvest, common problems, and other such things. In conclusion, if you are typical suburban dweller who is interested in starting a garden, this book is a "must read". Not only will you gain great knowledge about a non-traditional form of gardening, but you'll learn that it is really something that you can do, no matter what your level of expertise.

117 of 119 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Handful of Seeds, May 2, 2000

By	M. D. Cummings "Marv" (Kanosh,, Utah United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Square Foot Gardening (Paperback)

Are you like I was. . .grab a handful of seeds and sow them like grass then worry about thinning later? Of course, thinning was an arduous chore and never really got done; which meant, I'd usually end up with a lot of small useless vegetables.

"Square Foot Gardening" has done away with the old traditional method of raising vegetables, especially, the plant thick, thin later approach. The first year I used the square foot gardening method I couldn't believe how many carrots I grew, and each carrot was picture perfect. What a difference square foot gardening made for our family garden. No longer is it like fifteen little carrots then one big one. The same is true for all the other produce. My radishes were the biggest I'd ever grown and not a hollow one in the bunch.

Each plant gets undivided attention in an easy almost carefree enviornment. Also, in arid areas such as Utah--where I live. I use only a fraction of the water with the square foot method. It's all explained, and more, in Mel Bartholomew's book: "Square Foot Gardening".