What Is Square Foot Gardening? A Beginner's Guide

Square foot gardening is a way of growing vegetables, herbs and flowers by dividing a garden bed into 1-foot squares and planting a set number of plants in each one. The method was popularized by Mel Bartholomew in the 1980s, and it works well in small yards and raised beds.

How square foot gardening works

You lay a grid over your bed, so every square is 12 inches by 12 inches. Each square gets one crop. How many plants go in a square depends on how big the plant gets: 1, 4, 9 or 16. A single tomato or broccoli plant takes a whole square, and a square of radishes holds sixteen. See how many plants fit per square foot.

Why beginners like it

• It fits small spaces. A 4 x 4 foot bed holds 16 squares and about a dozen different crops.
• It's easy to follow. Each square has one job, so you always know what's planted where.
• Less weeding. Plants spaced evenly fill in the bed, which leaves less bare soil for weeds.
• Easy to look after. Small squares make it simple to water, check for pests and harvest.
• Easy to rotate crops. When a square is finished, you plant something different there next season.

What you need to start

1. A raised bed or a patch of ground. Many guides suggest a bed about 4 feet wide so you can reach the middle from either side.
2. Loose, rich soil, at least about 6 inches deep.
3. A way to mark the grid: string, thin wood strips, or a bed already divided into squares.
4. Seeds or seedlings.
5. A spacing guide so you know how many plants go in each square.

How to plant your first bed

1. Build or choose a bed and fill it with good soil.
2. Mark the grid in 1-foot squares.
3. Decide what to grow, and look up each crop's count per square.
4. Plant each square. Keep tall crops, such as trellised beans, at the back so they don't shade the rest.
5. Water gently and keep the soil moist while seeds sprout.
6. Harvest, then replant the empty square with something new.

Common beginner mistakes

Planting too thickly is the most common one. Crowded plants stay small. The second is putting too many large plants in one bed, since squash and cucumbers need far more than one square. See vegetables that need more than one square foot.

Making the spacing easier

Marking the right number of holes by eye is the hard part for beginners. The Seeding Square is a 12 x 12 inch template with color-coded spacing for 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants per square, and it comes with a planting guide for each crop. Full instructions: How to Use the Seeding Square.

Next: 16 plants per square foot: radishes, carrots and more

The Seeding Square is a gardening tool only and does not guarantee results. Written by the Huna Loa team.

Check out Seeding Square Here.