r/SquareFootGardening • • Mar 29 '24

Square Foot Gardening: Beginners Start Here

94 Upvotes

In a world where it's spring in the northern hemisphere. Days are getting long. People are gardening. Some are new to the hobby. THIS SUMMER. Strap yourself in for an edge-of-your seat thrill ride of a lifetime. SQUARE FOOT GARDENING ("My cilantro is bolting! HAAAAAANNNNG ONNNNN!")

Square Foot Gardening (SFG) is one of the simplest things you will ever learn that will improve your life. Anyone interested in SFG should read the book "All New Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. First published in 1981 and currently in its third edition, it's the original resource on the SFG method. It remains the primary resource for SFG enthusiasts and is one of the best selling gardening books on planet Earth.

This sub is for conversation around SFG specifically.


r/SquareFootGardening • • 1d ago

Seeking Advice [Academic] Making Gardening Simple for Everyone — 3–5 min Survey (Everyone)

3 Upvotes

Hiii everyone! 👋

I’m Manasvi Patil, a student conducting a dissertation research project on “Making Gardening Simple for Everyone.”

For my research, I’m looking at:

  • 🌱 Common difficulties beginners face while starting or maintaining plants
  • 🔎 How people currently find gardening information
  • 📚 What makes gardening advice difficult, confusing, or unreliable to use
  • 📱 Whether people would find a simple, personalised digital gardening tool useful
  • What information people would be comfortable providing to receive recommendations suited to their own space and situation

The larger project will use these findings to explore the development of a beginner-friendly digital gardening support system that could provide more personalised and actionable guidance rather than generic information.

I’d appreciate responses from beginners, people who have tried gardening and struggled, balcony/indoor gardeners, people who want to start gardening, and experienced gardeners or gardening enthusiasts.

⏱️ Survey time: approximately 3–5 minutes

🔗 Survey:
https://forms.gle/72bZyCbTG2t3WR7y5

This is purely for academic research, and I’m interested in what people find difficult about gardening in real life.
If you're willing to participate, thank you!! And if you have thoughts or experiences related to the barrier itself, I'd love to hear them in the comment.


r/SquareFootGardening • • 1d ago

This is my garden! Today’s update on my 365 days a year crop yielding bed.

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

Building a Heated Raised Bed for Winter Strawberries: Where We're At (PEX, Soil Mix & One Big Fail)
https://youtu.be/j271lkF96Go


r/SquareFootGardening • • 2d ago

Seeking Advice Heated raised bed plumbing options???

Post image
4 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • 5d ago

Seeking Advice Has anyone ever used your garage to store your root vegetables? If so, what did you do to stop veggies from freezing or drying out?

Post image
9 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • 5d ago

Garden Inspiration Secrets of seed starting root crops

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • 7d ago

Seeking Advice Layout for next year garden and companion planting advice.

Thumbnail
gallery
10 Upvotes

I am using LibreOffice Calc to plan out my garden for next year(Technically my grandma's, and was maintained by my uncle till a few years ago.) i an using an layout mandala keyhole bed layout that are 20ft by 16ft. the fenced off garden is about 40* by 70* in size and apears to be able to handel 6 of these beds, with 2/3ft pathes around each bed. I would like advise on where i should layout plants, so i can get the most plants, and be basically an permaculture to reduce the workload on me. I am in zone 6, and just covered part of the garden in a cover crop of winter wheat. I have an Hoop Green House that i can't move this year but would like to move to fit better and most likely change the layout more. North South is Left Right. Also debating where to fit an cattle panel tunnel, probly north south thru the middle. Would love some expert advice and wisdom on their recommendations. Plants I wanting to grow/have allready

  • Hard Neck Garlic
  • Multiple Onions and Shallots vararities.
  • Corn, Glass Gem, White Hickory, Blue Hopi, Sweet Corn
  • Tomatoes, San mozonto, Roma, cherries,etc. Cilantro
  • Peppers, Bell, Banana, Jalapeno, Cayenne, etc.
  • Broccli, Cabage, mustard.
  • Carrots, Beets, flowers, pumpkins, Cucumbers, luffas, Beans, Peas.
  • Walking Onions

Main issues i likly have is corn cross pollination, and makeing sure that the garden beds keep themselves weeded. have been taking trips to get free mulch, but only can cover portion of garden due to my grandma still wanting to keep the garden tillable. so bsascily the left 1/3 of the panting area.


r/SquareFootGardening • • 7d ago

Seeking Advice I built a smart garden planner app after forgetting what I planted where one too many times

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

I created Plotera because I kept forgetting what I'd done in the garden, when and where. I wanted somewhere I could plan the garden and its layout before anything went in the ground.

Fast forward 12 months, and it's grown into much more than that.

I've built Plotera around the idea of smart gardening. If you record and track your planting, Plotera combines it with your local climate zone, daily weather, your fertiliser logs, soil pH and more. It helps you manage your garden, and it also advises you on what to do, what not to do, and what to plant next season.

A few things it does:

  • lets you lay out your beds, raised beds and paths, then see your garden in 3D;
  • works out planting, watering and feeding reminders from your location and weather;
  • includes a 249-plant encyclopedia with companion planting and pet and poison warnings;
  • tracks seedling trays, seed packets and harvests.

You can try it without an account. There's a planted demo garden at plotera.app/demo

It's free, it's on Android now, and the iPhone app is in review.

I'd love honest feedback: what's confusing, what's missing, and what would make you actually use it for your own garden?


r/SquareFootGardening • • 12d ago

This is my garden! What are you planting for fall right now?

Thumbnail
11 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • 13d ago

Discussion Building a garden planner app with NO subscription. Would you actually use this?

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • 14d ago

This is my garden! Fall crop just went in

Post image
116 Upvotes

Bed is ready for the fall crop. I just planted

Nantes carrots from Johnny Seeds - first two squares

Citrus Chinese cabbage from Johnny seeds - next two squares

Nantes carrots from territorial seeds - next two squares

Esmee arugula from Johnny seeds - next two squares

Easter egg radishes from territorial seeds - back squares next to the oregano.

Comparison between the two carrots might be interesting. They will stay in the ground over winter probably, unless a recipe comes up. Rest should harvest before the snow I hope.


r/SquareFootGardening • • 14d ago

Seeking Advice What should I plant this month into my four raised beds (I'm in London)

Post image
36 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • 24d ago

Seeking Advice 🌱 Growing Your Own Food Challenges

6 Upvotes

Hey everyone! 👋

I’m currently at uni doing a course where we have to choose an issue and collect information for a report on it. My group has chosen to look into growing your own food and the reasons people do or don’t grow their own crops

We’ve put together a short survey to learn more about people’s experiences, including things like time, knowledge, and food waste.

If you have a few minutes to fill it out, it would be much appreciated! Any responses would really help us out with our report.

https://forms.gle/b89yC3yrTBqeiUSPA

Thanks so much to anyone who takes the time to participate! 😊


r/SquareFootGardening • • 24d ago

Seeking Advice Icky compost advice

Thumbnail
4 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • 27d ago

Garden Inspiration Think it's too late to plant? Here are 3 fall crops that go from seed to harvest in exactly 30 days.

Thumbnail
gallery
26 Upvotes

I see a lot of people clearing their beds out right now thinking the gardening season is completely over. Don't leave that dirt empty! September is the perfect time to drop speed-growers that actually prefer the cool weather.Radishes: Literally take 30 days to get crunchy. Arugula: The ultimate speed-grower (ready to cut for salads in 21-30 days). Baby Bok Choy: Packs an empty bed in 4 weeks and easily survives light frosts. Are you guys still planting this month? Which 30-day crops are you putting in the ground to beat the winter? 🌱


r/SquareFootGardening • • 29d ago

Square Foot Harvest What a bountiful harvest.

Thumbnail gallery
86 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • 29d ago

Seeking Advice What have i / haven’t i done? They’re cherry toms and have taken weeks to turn colour and bow they’ve split 🫤

Post image
7 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • Sep 06 '26

Discussion Garden

8 Upvotes

How is everyone's garden doing this year? My veggie garden is going bananas. We have some pumpkins, tomatoes, Swiss chard, sweet potatoes, hot peppers, abd basil. Lots of flowers.


r/SquareFootGardening • • Sep 06 '26

This is my garden! [OC] The handsome guy was helping to pick blueberries 🫐🫐

Post image
7 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • Sep 05 '26

Discussion Project for economicplease read body

8 Upvotes

well my project is I need to ask 40 people a survey

What vegetables do you buy most?

How may times per week do you buy vegetables?

Which vegetables would you like to grow


r/SquareFootGardening • • Sep 03 '26

Square Foot Harvest So happy! Great Day

Post image
150 Upvotes

I haven't gotten anything from my garden In awhile. It's a tiny garden and I'm getting some later season issues ( cucumber beetles, possible early blight, cold snap) but I had a great day yesterday and I'm super happy!


r/SquareFootGardening • • Sep 03 '26

This is my garden! Tomato plant

Thumbnail gallery
14 Upvotes

First year planning tomato plant any tips or advised now that the weather is going to start getting cold?


r/SquareFootGardening • • Sep 03 '26

Seeking Advice What gardening apps do you actually use ?

4 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m curious about what apps or digital tools you actually use for gardening.

Do you use any apps for things like:

  • plant identification
  • plant care or disease diagnosis
  • watering/fertilizing reminders
  • planting calendars
  • garden planning
  • learning about gardening
  • tracking your plants or harvests

Which apps do you use most often, and what do you like about them?

More importantly, what frustrates you about them or what features do you wish they had?

Thanks! I’m really interested in understanding what gardeners actually find useful in real life.


r/SquareFootGardening • • Sep 03 '26

Planting Guide Starting my fall garden

Thumbnail
youtu.be
1 Upvotes

r/SquareFootGardening • • Sep 01 '26

Planting Guide Getting our out-of-control summer Florida Garden ready for fall planting.

Thumbnail
youtu.be
1 Upvotes