Lesson 2: Designing Your Square Foot Garden
Designing a garden requires making several decisions: size and layout of garden, location of the garden, soil and drainage considerations. The garden should receive enough sunlight for the plants you want to grow. This lesson will discuss these factors in garden design. Vertical growing of vining crops, and selecting appropriate garden tools are also discussed in this lesson.
Objectives:
• The student will choose an appropriate location for their garden, considering all the factors mentioned in this lesson.
• The student will create a garden plan showing the shape and size of the garden.
• Students will determine their soil mix and what steps need to be taken to provide good drainage and soil quality within the garden bed.
• Students will determine if they need to build trellises, pathways, and/or raised beds.
Garden Location
You might want to read Square Foot Gardening, Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 9. Also visit Bartholomew’s website at: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ to see a picture of his square foot gardens. Bookmark this site and try to visit his weekly column often.
Why do you garden? This is an important question to ask yourself before beginning your final garden plan. Do you garden to raise your own crops? Are you strictly a flower gardener? Do you like to have an abundance of fresh herbs near your kitchen door? Do you combine vegetables, flowers and herbs in one garden? Do you collect a specific group of plants and want a home for this special collection? Your answers to these questions directly relate to where you choose to locate your garden.
Key Considerations in Garden Location
Sun and Shade: The amount of sun you need to provide depends partly on the type of plants you want to grow. An alternative viewpoint is that the plants you can grow depend on the amount of direct sunlight available in your garden location. If you have only shaded garden sites available, it just doesn’t make sense to try to grow corn which needs eight hours of full sunlight each day. You could grow beautiful primroses, hostas, begonias, or vegetables which are tolerant of shade.
Scout your yard and identify one or two possible garden sites. Look at the surroundings for each site. Are they shaded by buildings or trees? If trees are nearby, you must consider how much they will grow each year and how many years it will take their shadow to shade your garden. If a tree grows 1 foot a year, the shadow it casts will expand by slightly more than 1 foot each year. The result is that a garden plot located in full sun today may be in the shade in five years. Planning for tree growth today will prevent you from having to start move your garden site in a few years’ time. Also remember that tree roots will be using nutrients and moisture that you wanted available to your garden. It is often best to locate gardens away from trees.
Soil and Drainage: Most gardeners believe that plants need soil to grow. The truth is that plants need the air spaces between soil particles and the nutrients the soil holds. The best soil for gardening is crumbly and dark colored. The dark color indicates the presence of decayed organic matter. Water drains through it easily leaving it moist but not soggy.
Unfortunately, many of us start gardening with poor quality, highly compacted soil. The first thing we must do is add some organic matter to the soil. Organic matter helps to loosen clay soils so it drains easily. Organic matter added to sandy soil helps that soil absorb the moisture necessary for growing plants. This topic is discussed in more detail in the section called “Prepare Your Soil”.
If possible, avoid locating your square foot garden on a hillside or in a location lower than the majority of your yard. A garden on a hillside can be difficult to keep adequately moist while those located in low spots may not drain fast enough after a rainstorm to keep the plants from rotting.
