Cubed Foot Gardening: Growing Vegetables in Raised, Intensive Beds (Paperback)

by Christopher O. Bird (Author) "Though it need hardly be said for experienced gardeners, let's get this out of the way up front for beginners..." (more)
Key Phrases: fine bark mulch, foot gardening, intensive beds, Foot Gardening, San Antonio (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
Raised beds are widely acknowledged as the way to grown the greatest yields of vegetables per alloted space. Christopher O. Bird offers a guide on how to get going with this most efficient and asthetically pleasing form of growing.


About the Author
Christopher O. Bird gardened in places as diverse as Alaska and south Texas during twenty years in the air force. After retiring in 1993, he became a master gardener and editor of San Antonio Gardener. He has published one other book, Modern Vegetable Gardening, and numerous articles for such publications as National Gardening and Organic Gardening.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; .. edition (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585743127
• ISBN-13: 978-1585743124
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #273,780 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

240 of 259 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars worst gardening book I ever read, July 6, 2006

By	username_5 (Midwest USA) - See all my reviews

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.

165 of 182 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, but short on organics, November 25, 2001

By	John C. Dunbar (Sugar Land, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More new ideas in Raised Intensive Bed Gardening, August 20, 2005

By	Howard Osden (Torrington, CT USA) - See all my reviews

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".