How to Start A Square Foot Garden (A Begginer Guide)

You can grow your own food, friend! From container gardens to growing indoor plants near a window or having a large land plot with vegetables and herbs, there are many ways to grow your own food!

A square foot garden is another option, and a prevalent one, to grow food.

How to Start a Square Foot Garden

You ready to learn? Let's begin!

What is a Square Foot Garden?

Square food garden involves using sections (square) for the growing. It is a straightforward way to garden and recommended for beginners.

Why a Square Foot Garden?

The main reason people will do square foot gardens is convenience and lack of space. If you are trying to grow many different vegetables, fruits, and herbs, it typically requires spacing everything out properly.

It can become a little disorganized and hard to keep track of, plus the spacing means you need a good amount of land in your backyard.

With a square foot garden, you usually only have about 12 inches per side to have each square foot be a separate crop or plant that you are growing.

It keeps everything contained in a smaller area and separated properly, but letting you grow even with a small amount of land.

How to Build Your Square Foot Garden

When you want to build a square foot garden, each box in the area should be about a square foot; hence, it is 12 inches on each side.

You will first decide where the garden will be and then calculate how many squares you can have in that area.

Creating a grid is really helpful when figuring it out. Then you will need to build a box with this layout and add potting soil to each square evenly.

For the box, try to use lumber that has not been treated, as you don’t want chemicals to be touching your plants and vegetables.

To prevent weeds from growing up, use some mat materials on the bottom below where the box will be.

What type of soil is good for a square foot garden?

Compost works well as potting soil for the square foot garden. If you are interested in making your own potting soil, we recommend visiting this site, The Grow a Good Life, which details this topic more.

What can I plant in my square foot garden?

You can plant vegetables and fruits and herbs on your square foot garden.

An example, you can plant on 1 square foot:

Lettuce
Broccoli
Eggplant
Celery
Collard Greens
Sweet Potatoes
Rosemarie
Oregano
Parsley
Tomatoes
Pepper
Cabbage

Can I have more than one box?

Yes, you can use more than one box for a certain vegetable you want more of or use each square in the grid for a separate vegetable and herb.

Just make sure you label each one, so you know when to water it.

Now that you know what a square foot garden is, you can start growing your own food.

Related Gardening Posts:

How to Start a Square Foot Garden (A Beginner Guide)