I’ve never been much for gardening beyond an attempt to grow tomatoes and peppers in our backyard before downsizing to a condo over a year ago. So I joined a community garden…which turns out to be two elevated square foot gardens with several of us each having 4 one-foot square plots. This started last fall; the few of us who planted then grew lettuces or flowers.
Now it’s spring, and I’m not sure where to go with my 4 square feet, and whether to suggest some type of sharing with others. I’ve read about the potential productivity of a square foot, and have the Bartholomew book, but I’m not sure whether it makes sense to be ambitious and try to grow tomatoes and peppers, and if there are any flowers that might make sense.
The plots are in a fairly sunny spot and the soil supplied last fall is very good, but it’s not more than 8 inches deep.
Tomato or pepper plants will only be able to be planted at one plant per square - if it’s a smaller pepper maybe 2.
Other plants like onions, beets, carrots - can have several plants in one square.
Depends what you want to grow! One thing you should be mindful of is height of plants - if you put a tomato plant in both sides of onions your onions will get shaded out.
I can answer more questions (this was one of my talents in the other thread…) but I’m not sure what questions you need answered!
Four square feet is not very much. I used to have a community garden plot that was quite a bit larger.
One obvious question is whether you want to go for maximizing food production, or for an attractive garden.
With such a small spot, assuming that you want to grow food, I would grow things that have good production per area, and can go vertical.
Carrots are good per square foot, but are not really all that exciting. You can buy carrots. Basil for pesto needs a lot more space (in our family basil in large quantities is assumed).
Tomatoes are of course a good option. I generally grow mine straight up, pruned to a single branch. Something like “Super Sweet 100” or “Sweet Million” can give you quite a large crop from one plant in a small space. You could fit at a minimum one of each into your 4 square feet of space, and possibly one for each square foot. If you improve the soil sufficiently you might get at least 6 feet in height and possibly more. 12 feet in height is possible but will make trellising and picking tough unless you are able to go horizontal at some point.
I would try to improve the soil as much as you can. I would probably take the top 8 inches off, remove at least another four to six inches, and then replace it with compost while returning the original top 8 inches in a mix with the compost. I would take the discarded soil away somewhere else.
Do you have room for a plant to go horizontal by a significant distance? You could of course do four pole beans (one per square foot). The problem is that they could get high enough to be beyond human reach rather quickly. You would therefore need to grow them horizontally for quite some distance. Four plants could create a pretty good yield for quite a while.
My vote is green beans and carrots. Use a trellis and stream them up and over so you use front and back. I made a big batch of vegetable beef soup using my beans, carrots, tomatoes and grass fed beef last fall and then froze in seal-a-meals. Just had one the other day. Still tasted great.
Go for high volume, high value stuff (what costs an arm and a leg at the store). Herbs are expensive but would fit your small plot well. Radishes… other stuff can be planted in their spot after they are harvested. My favorite homegrown herb is dill - it is priced like gold at grocery stores. Or just plant a few heirloom tomato bushes… Also, consider your local pests. In my neck of the woods, lettuce is DOA unless it is planted in pots or heavy slug control is applied (which the garden community rules may preclude).
A long time ago I had three square foot gardens. I read the book and pretty much tried everything and then figured out what worked for me in terms of climate and payback. Any garden I’m involved in has to be 100% organic. What I remember - corn wasn’t worth it because you couldn’t grow more than 9 stalks. Brussel sprouts not worth it because they got covered with aphids. Lettuce, mâche, spicy greens totally worth it, you can grow much more interesting varieties than you’ll find in the grocery store. (Never had a slug problem.) Ditto with most green beans. Heirloom tomatoes. Most herbs. I’ve gotten lazier and my current house doesn’t have enough sun for vegetables in any part of the garden. I grow herbs and heirloom tomatoes and greens in pots. Back when I started gardening there were no farmer’s markets around here, but now I can find better stuff than I can grow so I’m pickier about what I grow. I also belong to a CSA which isn’t terribly adventurous, but provides the basics.
I was also going to suggest a trellis especially if you are on an edge of the garden.
One of the purposes of the right packing of veggies in square foot is the more you pack your plants the less weeds - of course you still
Need to have adequate sunlight.
Why do they only give you 4 squares? That is so little space!
You could go with a theme. Here are a couple suggestions:
Heirloom tomato theme - 4 varieties, one each square - look on YouTube to figure out leaf/stem
Pruning
Salsa theme - 2 tomatoes, jalapeño, onion and cilantro.
Also agree with @BunsenBurner - depending on your climate you can do a spring crop, summer crop and fall crop.
@mathmom - you obviously don’t live in the PNW. We have SLUGS!!! Ferocious, voracious, giant slugs that destroy lettuce as if they are lawnmowers! I gave up on lettuce until I started growing lettuce in pots on our sunny deck which the slugs are afraid to cross.
I like @abasket’s and others’ idea of planting a “recipe garden.”
We run a 1000 sqft garden, so here are my suggestions off the top of my head:
look for seeds NOW. Suppliers are having a very difficult time meeting demand, so some things will be hard to find.
spinach , snap peas, radish and lettuce planted in mid April. Yes, pests can be a problem, but a little bit can be a big success and much better than the sketchy stuff in a store. Try kohlrabhi or pak choy as well – they grow fast, and are good in salad and stir fry.
Then beans – yellow, green, purple. Put a gold tomato plant in if you must, but tomatos need full sun and even then, they’ll up and die on you.
I hate tomatos. Maybe try chioggia beets but don’t crowd them. There are lots of neat peppers out there if you have reliably warm weather – we had great success with Serranos.
If you want to grow flowers, marigolds and zinnias are pretty easy. Careful of the height so you aren’t shading anything. Oregano and sage can be invasive, but thyme and basil are great
I would avoid broccoli, brussel sprouts, zucchini, and cabbage. But the best thing to grow is something you will eat! Don’t be persuaded by pretty pictures on the seed packets- they sell stuff you can’t grow. Plants are a nice jump start for a short season.
There are lots of diagrams which show how many plants you can pack in one square - here’s an example . The trellis will give you extra growing room if they allow it and also can help give a little order and organized height to your garden.
Agree you should plant what you like to eat!
I always plant zinnias along an edge of my raised bed - but they do get VERY tall so I have to be careful what I plant near them.
We have slugs, but no I’m not in the PNW. But I grow my lettuce in pots too because the only sunny spots in my yard are on the patio. The trees all belong to my neighbors so there’s nothing I can do about them.
I call BS on potatos, sweet potatos, or winter squash for a square foot garden They are easily 120 days and a tiny yield for a food that is already cheap. And one winter squash plant will take up the whole 4 sq feet
Some people like to garden simply for the science and growth process! Potatoes are a fun experiment! While OP only has 4 “squares” you can mound potatoes in a couple squares abs still reap the benefit of the process! I grow potatoes in a felt bag - not that large but I get some yummy potatoes! Fingerlings last year!
Very true, it is fun to wait and see what has been growing underground – but I feel like dedicating half your space for an entire season is a promise potatoes don’t always keep.
What is the configuration of your 4 1-foot squares? If 2x2, I would put up a trellis on the north or east side in back of your plot, and grow pole beans up the trellis in the back 2 squares, or perhaps some slicing cucumbers that you can train up the trellis. In front, perhaps some determinate tomatoes (e.g., some types of paste tomatoes or cherry tomatoes), so that you don’t block the sun for the vegetables that you are trellising.
You might want to call the Master Gardener’s group in your area for suggestions. They’ll know what grows best and can help you choose veggies that will do best there. The services are free and there are groups in every state.
Here’s some information:
I think with 4 square feet I would take the advice above and focus on herbs. You could certainly grow a good variety and imagine all the flavors you could add to your dishes.
I would probably plant basil, chives, and dill. These could share some space. It might also be a good space to throw in a specialty pepper that you like. I like spicy peppers so I might plant a poblano or a jalapeno. You could certainly plant some spinach early and then plant a summer crop afterwards and spinach again in the fall. I love fresh spinach. If you’re a fan of eggplant, one plant would give you a good extended harvest there too. Just my ideas.
Sorry I haven’t been back since the original post. I love these ideas, so I’ll try some things that I’d eat or otherwise enjoy, and hope some survive. Maybe radishes, in one square, then spinach in another, lettuces in a third, and be adventurous in the fourth with a specialty pepper. If I can’t find one of these, I’d still like to try flowers.
The community garden club grows several herbs outside the clubhouse, and there was more than enough for all of us. And I’ll get tomatoes at the nearby farmers market, although I’d like the challenge of growing them.
I’ll also pass along these ideas to others who have small plots and see if anyone’s interested in sharing or coordinating.
What is your climate like? You’re choosing all cool weather crops - lettuce, spinach, radishes are cool weather crops that grow fast and die off when the weather gets summer hot. If you live in a place where it gets in the 80s your garden will be largely done by end of June -unless you’re in a cooler climate!
I gave up on lettuce until I started growing lettuce in pots on our sunny deck which the slugs are afraid to cross.
They are easily 120 days and a tiny yield for a food that is already cheap. And one winter squash plant will take up the whole 4 sq feet