Square Foot Gardening

A garden I installed for our friend

Starting a homestead can look like anything: a 1000sqft garden or a 64 sqft garden, an entire orchard or a single mini fruit tree, a years worth of homegrown freeze dried herbs or an apartment patio herb garden. Looking back at our transition from a quarter acre suburban lot to a seven acre homestead, I now realize our old house had so much more potential than I would allow. With interest rates and land prices, I would strongly encourage anyone to evaluate what they currently have and make the most of it. A homestead doesn’t need to look like tens of acres or even any animals. So much can be done on a quarter acre. In fact, I grow a year’s worth of tomatoes in 50 sq feet.

There is something about going against the grain and doing things outside of the box. It’s inspirational to those around you, it requires creativity, and it builds self-esteem. In no way is having acres of land sustainable for entire populations. Bringing local food to the inner city and areas with large populations is so rewarding. It enables people to be connected with their food even if all they see on a given day is concrete sky scrapers.

I recently had a friend who had surgery, and in her backyard is an old 6x6 plot. Normally she plants a summer garden, but this year she was going to let it go fallow. I decided that I would plant and maintain the garden so that she could experience the joy of gardening this year. Because I had such a small space to work with, I had to utilize the square foot gardening technique. By googling the term, you will find just how much space each individual plant needs. I forgot just how much I could squeeze into a small space. Of course I tailored the crops to her liking, and in all honestly I could’ve included a lot more produce. But in this space, I had tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, herbs, radishes, sugar snap peas, and flowers. She is going to be able to make regular bouquets, pick more tomatoes than she can eat, and enjoy plenty of zucchini and cucumber.

Zucchini in our friend's square foot garden

One of the keys to square foot gardening is to include plenty of trellises. I will write how my husband made these beautiful trellises for only $20. But in all honestly, square foot gardening is a wonderful way to manage any garden. Recently I scaled down my own garden, so I could more intensively manage a smaller area for more return. By planting crops as close together as possible you cut down on weeds, protect the soil, and reap the benefits of companion plants. All of these generally mean less pest pressure.

Flowers attract beneficial insects

Some of my crops I plant with the square foot method. It depends on the bed and the crop. I am currently reducing weeds from previous years, so I am using plastic and irrigation instead of square foot gardening. In my no dig bed that I created this year I did decide to use the square foot method. I planted kohlrabi, cabbage, kale, pepper. Unfortunately, I used hot compost to create the bed, and half my stuff died haha! Although, I wasn't laughing when my plants started turning yellow. Please read my post on compost selection and usage!

As I mentioned earlier, I grow all of our family of six’s tomato needs in 50 square feet. This includes twelve tomato plants. That can easily be grown along a south facing fence line. I grow indeterminate tomato plants, and some of those require 4 square feet each. Please read my post on growing tomatoes, because I have grown them many different ways, and where I was growing thirty plus, I am not able to get what I need from four. Next, I will be pruning our three dwarf apple trees to be a miniature size. The tree ends up being about three feet tall and wide. Four trees will produce almost an entire year of apples for our family.  By being miniature, all of my children can enjoy picking them off the tree and eating them. I can also cover the entire tree with netting in the spring to control plum curculio which probably gets two thirds of our apples. If you are trying to grow apples in the Midwest, please read my post on growing apples. We grow organic, and we have had some real trial and error. Also realize that growing a small orchard on a suburban plot is completely doable! A dwarf tree will be comfortable in a 8x8 square. Consider that empty side on a corner lot. Six trees would easily fit there. Although, I would probably do three trees and a row of berries.

Our transition to a large homestead has been extremely difficult while we supported a growing family and renovating a house. As I have learned so much, I realize that I could’ve done so much more at our suburban plot than I ever realized. My passion is to encourage all people to experience nature and gardening no matter where they live, get out there and grow!

Here are some of my favorite books that have helped me on this journey! (these are affiliate links, you do not pay extra using these, but I do get a small commission which helps keep this blog running):

Skills for Growing (Charles Dowding) - https://amzn.to/3Scow1X

The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener (Niki Jabbour) - https://amzn.to/4d5oD7g

The Big Book of Backyard Medicine (Julie Bruton-Seal) - https://amzn.to/3WqHDI7

Root Cellaring (Mike & Nancy Bubel) - https://amzn.to/4cJlLNR

The Natural Soapmaking Book for Beginners (Kelly Cable) - https://amzn.to/4cFEBoU

Pastured Poultry Profits (Joel Salatin) - https://amzn.to/4f9vNcv

Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century (Dick & James Strawbridge) - https://amzn.to/4cHZIqN

Fermented Vegetables (Kirsten & Christopher Shockey) - https://amzn.to/4d4arvj

Keeping Bees with a Smile (Fedor Lazutin) - https://amzn.to/4cGxbBL

Sprouts, Shoots, & Microgreens (Lina Wallentinson) - https://amzn.to/3ScLEND

The Big Book of Kombucha (Hannah Crum) - https://amzn.to/3SbyyA6

The Organic Backyard Vineyard (Tom Powers) - https://amzn.to/4d3i6Kn

Hot Sauce! (Jennifer Trainer Thompson) - https://amzn.to/3y8ENOn

The Apple Grower (Michael Phillips) - https://amzn.to/46c0MAS