Al lot of houses in the cehtre of Brighton are small cottage-style properties and tend to have a fairly small back garden. This can make it difficult for a Brighton gardener to grow plants and vegetables in a small space. But there is a solution-Square Foot Gardening.
Square foot gardening offers an ideal solution for Brighton gardeners. It is also perfect for busy people, and those with arthritis or other physical limitations. If you are looking for the easiest way to garden, this method offers real advantages. Square foot gardening can even be done in raised beds, or in containers, to make it easy on your back.
Like wide bed gardening, you get a higher yield because more of the actual garden space is used for the actual vegetable plants. Since you can water only the actual garden bed, you save on watering costs as well. After the raised bed is built and the soil put in, the bed is then divided into 1 square foot sections by either tape or twine. Each of these squares can be considered a plot.
Choose a nice, sunny spot to place your garden, and then decide what plants to grow. How many plants you have, and what types, depends on the recommended spacing between plants which you’ll find on the back of the seed packets. Depending on the needs of the specific seedlings, you can plant one, four, nine or even sixteen plants in each square foot.
Square Foot Gardening also makes you see your garden differently. Instead of thinking you need a large, rectangular bed to grow veggies in, you start to notice all the smaller spaces and 1 or 2 foot wide strips where you can squeeze in a lot of vegetables.
Soil mixture for square foot gardening consists of equal thirds of compost, peat moss and coarse vermiculite Plants are more expensive than seeds, so I now seed most of our garden. Start some inside like tomatoes and peppers and direct sow corn, beans, peas, spinach, carrots and beets. If you buy plants, try to buy from a local grower, As plants go to seed, clean out their square and replant with a different variety to cycle the nutrients in the soil. Once planted, square foot gardening experts say to water with a bucket of sun-warmed water to get the garden started. Use a hose to regularly water after that. Also tend to weeding, which should be easier than for in-ground plants. But only kneel beside the box, never step on the dirt in the box.
This garden can grow a lot by planting early crops, then intermediate crops, then harvesting the early crops and replacing them with late crops. The plants are so close together weeding is kept to a minimum. Water is necessary, but if compost is added each season, the soil is kept fertile. Remember that most vegetables require at least six hours of sun so the location you chose must get that. Otherwise, you can place a square foot garden almost anywhere!
Here a good post for any Brighton Gardener who wants to make full use of a small plot. Check it out at http://gardenersbrighton.com/square-foot-brighton-gardening/
No comments:
Post a Comment