Square foot gardening

[Mr.Macinstache]

Growing a garden is like printing your own money.. so far this season the investment has already paid for itself. I have no pics at the moment, but following this book are reaping some handsome vegetative rewards in the form of cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, white onions, carrots and more.

http://www.amazon.com/Square-Foot-Gardening-Second-Edition/dp/1591865484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404763173&sr=8-1&keywords=square+foot+gardening

I've also used a $12 trash can and a $30 kit to capture rain water as a watering source.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CJFBJE/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is my first year gardening and all the investment has been done and recouped by the food grown. I literally harvest a head of lettuce every 3-4 days. Next year I'll be planning even better. If you have the space and not much time, I would consider it.

[JeffC]

I too have started gardening and have found that by doing so I gain:

Access to the freshest, most delicious, carbon footprint free, organic produce. I too have broken even on costs meaning from now on its all free.
Membership in a community of other gardeners worldwide
Something fun to look at as I drink my morning coffee
A deeper and more meaningful connection to my food
The feeling of badassity that comes with incremental steps toward self sufficiency
Health, due to the fact that I always have fresh veg coming up as fast as I can eat it, making grocery stores and the temptations that come with them a rare occasion.  I have become partially vegetarian simply because it is a drag to have to go buy meat all the time. 

I use Larry Hall's Rain Gutter Grow System and if you're not familiar, check him out on youtube.  Mindblowing results, and I am able to do it as a renter!

[Markraine]

I also have a garden in my backyard and it's quite a fulfillment every time I see them.

What hose reel do you use in watering your garden? I use Hoselink Automatic Retractable Garden Hose Reel. It is my top favorite on this Most Popular 10 Best Hose Reel Reviews.

[Travis]

Doing this is at the top of my retirement bucket list. I move every two years so it feels like a lot of trouble to build one of these and attend to it for maybe one growing season.

[trc4897]

Any tips on actually building the square foot garden? I may try to get it built in my garage this winter so I'm ready in the spring.

[Cpa Cat]

I'm super excited for Spring. I built a square foot garden per the book's direction at my old house. I eventually evolved past it. I still prefer raised bed gardening, but removed the grid from my garden bed. Still, Square Foot Gardening taught me to garden!

I had to pull up my garden beds when I moved. They were about ten years old, so a bit unsightly. I removed them and planted boring grass. I've gone two full growing seasons with no garden. But I have new beds ready to roll!

I miss the fresh herbs the most, I think.

[Buffaloski Boris]

I too have started gardening and have found that by doing so I gain:

Access to the freshest, most delicious, carbon footprint free, organic produce. I too have broken even on costs meaning from now on its all free.
Membership in a community of other gardeners worldwide
Something fun to look at as I drink my morning coffee
A deeper and more meaningful connection to my food
The feeling of badassity that comes with incremental steps toward self sufficiency
Health, due to the fact that I always have fresh veg coming up as fast as I can eat it, making grocery stores and the temptations that come with them a rare occasion.  I have become partially vegetarian simply because it is a drag to have to go buy meat all the time. 

I use Larry Hall's Rain Gutter Grow System and if you're not familiar, check him out on youtube.  Mindblowing results, and I am able to do it as a renter!

I’ve done some container gardening in the past and the results were sort of meh. Got some tomatoes and such but probably not worth the amount of work. I do like gardening, but the return on my time has been not very good. I’m intrigued by this gutter system as it seems like it’s maybe a way to cut down on watering time? What are the advantages you see?

[SunnyDays]

FYI - It is not recommended to use rain water that is captured off an asphalt shingles roof for food crops due to potential toxins.

[malacca]

When I moved back the USA in 2012 I had not gardened in 20+ years. I have young kids and was eager.

I didn't have access to a tiller - so I just used a spade and turned over a good patch of my yard. I prefer yard work over going to the gym any day!

We had some seeds we had started inside using egg and milk cartons. I did buy a one dollar bag of potting soil as the ground was still frozen.

We started with seeds form the organic veggies we were eating. They grew fine. We also bought some seeds when they had them on sale for 10 cents a packet.

Wow, the first year we had a huge garden. I used sticks and branches for most of my supports but ended up buying a few cheap pieces of lumbar as the tomato plants were 10 feet in the air.

We have a forest and a swamp just off our backyard. So for compost I would just go dig up a few buckets.

So for about $10 we had a great garden - way more than we could ever eat.

Since then I put in a drip system. It is actually pretty cheap. I probably spent about $90 for the entire yard. That  covers 10 fruit trees and the garden. I also put down lawn fabric so there are no weeds in the garden.

Now in the spring I just put a seed next to each drip spot and walk away.

[zinnie]

Square foot gardening is the best! The first year I did it I got so much amazing produce with a tiny yard and little gardening knowledge. Can't wait until Spring to start it up again!