Urban Homestead Garden (squarefoot gardening abridged)

We're turning the concrete jungle backyard of our townhome into an experiment in sustainable urban homesteading. Here's how you can add some OCD (i.e. easy to maintain) gardening space using an adaption on Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening practices (build up, don't dig down and organize in sq. ft.).

http://www.squarefootgardening.com

Super easy, lots of fun.

• NOTE!!!! Before anyone comments about pressure treated lumber...READ THE INSTRUCTABLE, we already advise against it in there and just because the wood LOOKS like treated lumber to you, doesn't mean it is. It's poplar. Poplar and a non-white balanced cheapo camera!!! Leave it alone or offer to buy me a better one. And YES, I totally abuse my kids. We've already dealt with THAT too in the comments...so if your comment isn't about the topic at hand or not a question, with all due respect....keep it to yourself. Thx.

Step 1: Planning and Materials

Bartholomew's plans call for 4'x4' boxes with space for walkways around the edges. This makes the perfect size to reach the garden from all sides. Not having the luxury for space, we cut this down to 2'x4' boxes since we wouldn't be able to access the back of the box. So adjust your materials accordingly if you go full size.

MATERIALS we needed for 2 2'x4' boxes:
- 3 pieces of 1"x6"x10' lumber*
- screws (we used 2" decking since we had some laying around)
- covering for the bottom (we used old window screen, but plastic, fabric, plywood would work too)
- industrial screws
- String
- compost, newspaper, potting soil of choice (See Bartholomew's site @ http://www.squarefootgardening.com for his super mixture. This should probably vary depending on what you will be growing though.)
- Plants and/or seeds

TOOLS
- Saw (we used a jigsaw since we are masochistic...I mean live in a townhouse and don't have the room for a table saw)
- Industrial Stapler
- Electric Screw Driver

• bonus for reclaimed lumber, but sadly since the building slump hit our area pretty hard and we haven't had any hurricanes (knock on wood) recently, recycled/reclaimed lumber is hard to come by. Use poplar if you can afford it, some plants dislike pine and pressure treated could release chemicals into the soil (or so I heard).

Step 2: Playing With Wood

You'll need to cut your wood. We had lots of innuendo in this project, it started here with the getting of the...well, you get it. We needed two 2' cuts and two 4' cuts per box. Plus we were making 1'x1' extenders to grow potatoes in.

The theory is, start the potato plant on the same level as all the other plants and as the sprouts break the dirt level, keep adding more dirt in the extended. So instead of only having 6" of growing room, an additional extender increases the space by 6" and with two additional, we'll have 18" of dirt for the potatoes to grow through.

So in total we had two 2'x4' garden boxes and 4 1'x1' extenders, for a total of the following cuts of wood:

Four 2' pieces
Four 4' pieces
16 1' pieces

Step 3: Screw it

Put your pieces together with..screws! 3 in the sides of the main boxes and two each in the sides of the extenders. Bartholomew suggests alternating which ends meet at each side so you have a consistent 2'x4' interior

Step 4: Staple your screening

Staple your screening (or plastic, materials or whatever you are using (use small nails if using plywood)) along the bottom edges of your main boxes to hold in the dirt.

Step 5: Fill 'er up

With newspaper, compost, leaves, and other organics. See the great composting instructables for more.

Step 6: Gettin' Dirty

Dump in your potting soil (or special mix of your liking) and spread around.

Step 7: Measuring

Mark off 1' increments along the edges of the garden. You'll be using these to lay out your squarefeet pods.

Step 8: Create a grid

Staple your string or nail your recycled wood (Bartholomew suggests recycled venetian blinds) along the marks you just made to make a grid.

Step 9: Planting and maintaining

Now that you have 1' sections, you can get to planting.

Plant according to your plant's directions, for example if you are suppose to plant every 12" apart, place1 plant in each area, 6" apart = 4 plants/area, etc.

Comparing 4 plants in a 1' square area compared to 36" needed for row gardens plus the space for walking between the rows...this method seems to be a great idea for gardening, plus if you ad a plywood bottom and legs, you can bring the planters up to wheelchair height.

Comments

[saingworth]

is it possible to have this garden indoors?

[Eleniel]

Will bring this idea to my home in the Bahamas! I think this would be a lovely idea to have on a deck and to grow our own vegetables

Thanks for the Instructable! I thought it was great and had simple steps and pictures to help fallow along :D

[Dea della Luna]

Magnificent! May use this idea as a mini herb garden so it doesn't get too much sun.. ThanQ (=

[Trayne]

Since I am not using my planter for food, but for Flowers, is it ok to use the pretreated wood.  I am not a gardener of any sort, but would like to use a bit of ground that other wise does not grow even grass.
Thinking of putting the box there and then covering the rest of the area with a lava rock or mulch.
Thanks for all the wonderful instructions... and the great photos.. it really helps to see what someone else has done... thanks again

[gafisher]

Once you start this system you'll enjoy it so much that at some point you'll be tempted to add "just one" pepper or tomato or basil plant; better to avoid treated lumber just in case.  However ... not even treated lumber lasts very long in contact with damp soil, and some untreated woods can impart flavors and odors, and even inhibit growth, so here's a way to kill two birds with one stone.
 
Before building your frames, no matter what sort of lumber you use, staple a wrap of plastic sheeting ("Visqueen," etc.) around the wood.  You'll have to be a little more careful when gardening not to chop holes in the plastic, but there will be little or no contact between the wood and the soil so the frame should last longer and you won't have to worry so much about things leaching from the wood into the soil.

[Spinaltap211]

with a couple of two by fours and some more string, you can add a trellis on the back for vine plants like beans and tomatoes

[neigerg]

 Since meeting your instructable, I look forward to April to begin planting. I have constructed 2 square foot style gardens since and wanted to update you. My friends call it a true organic garden because I used some discarded wood shelves from a small home project to make sections and I also used old wine boxes. My only question now is, do you have an idea for a self watering system?

Again, thank you for the instructable!

[the rural independent]

What a cool design for compact areas.  We have rather large raised beds already established but I think I'll surprise my daughter with one of these for an herb garden.

Thanks so much for sharing this great instructable!

www.theruralindependent.com/

[Oily Seldon]

Hey, This is great! i just finished building this with my girlfriend and it looks great But a question, my garden, like yours, is also on concrete, how did you find the drainage?

[shellberry]

it works well with ours. We used a mess screening for the bottom and our patio has a slope for drainage already so no problems. Are you finding problems?

[Oily Seldon]

Well its been only 2 days and the water seems to absorbing well or drain away well so i'm sure as soon as i get a large rain ill know more

[hoihoi151]

 we get tropical storms here that bring torrents of rain. the best thing i found was adding some plastic taps to the side of the box near the bottom, turn the taps on during the epic rain and turn them off when u want to hold water

[shellberry]

awesome. I am sure it will be fine. We live in FL and get squall line storms every afternoon around 3pm. They are worse this year than the previous yr when we also had the boxes and still seem to be doing fine.

[kitsuken]

Was just wondering, would it be possible to add some plexiglass (the kind used for shed windows) to the top of this to make it into a temporary greenhouse? Maybe some blocks with notches to hold it in place/slide it out from?

[hoihoi151]

 I agree with shellberry it would be a great idea. just watch that you dont steam them. i have that problem here in Australia. my basil sprouted in green house conditions. i check my plants every 2 days and it sprouted on the off day and was dead by the on day. steamed from the heat.
dont worry. batch 2 came along just fine. just need the storms to pass now.
but yeh would be a great idea for winter :D
good thinking

[shellberry]

That's an awesome idea! It would probably make a really good winter house for up north too for growing like this: http://www.humeseeds.com/falwint.htm

[tizart7]

good work ! keep it up

[sam D]

I'm sure the baby was fine Bobcat - better off than most kids I'm quite sure. Calm the heck down.

And to the wowsers who worry about CCA treated pine - also calm down. The CSIRO says its just fine http://www.csiro.au/content/pt24
Now go back to harming yourselves by stuffing greasy burgers in your mouths and listening to mindless music and leave the poor bloke alone. He's taking time out with the kids and deserves better!

[mikeasweeney]

What kind of stuff could you grow in this?

[Solderguy]

I wouldn't use treated lumber because it might be treated with poisons like arsenic and mercury to keep termites at bay. You can use terracotta troughs instead.

[wildfyre]

Here is a great article on pressure treated wood for gardening - http://www.finegardening.com/design/articles/pressure-treated-wood-in-beds.aspx

[shmacky26]

Great instructable. I love anything that has to do with growing plants, mainly vegetables. However, may I give you 2 small tips. 1. I would make it deep enough where you could put a layer of peagravel, or any kind of rocks to help with adequate drainage, and 2., I would put some form of nonacidic mulch down. You're box looks so nice and neat, I can't imagine what a huge mudddy mess a huge down pour would do to it. Mulch could be something as simple as wet newspaper. Just a couple tips, great instructable, I applaud how you have inspired others. Take that as a huge compliment, I normally only make fun of people.

[shellberry]

Great suggestions, we've had them up for about a year now and haven't had a problem with the crazy downpours of Florida. We did try to make one a few months ago with a plastic liner that failed and would have been excellent for growing water chestnuts or arrowroot or some other marshy plants, but def. not the traditional veggies. Sticking with the mess bottom keeps the dirt in and lets the water out. The gravel would be a great addition for users building at the bottom of slopes or in valley areas.

[sketchy_d]

Thanks for these instructions. I printed them off and asked my parents to help me make one for my birthday...now we're making 4 of them because my mom wants some too! This is a really awesome idea and I'm glad I found it.

[LegoJake]

Amazing project, now all i can think of is fresh strawberries. mmm.... i should start building.

[boocat]

You should put your baby under an umbrella (or at least a hat and gauze shirt) so she doesn't end up covered with wrinkles and spots in forty years.

[frostad]

Awesome, I was planning on starting a SF garden this summer. It's nice to have the steps and pictures of one started successfully. Thanks!

[DIYDragon]

Lovely, favorited. I'd like to have a nice little vegetable garden like this, but I have a tad more room to play with. The real challenge is to keep my dog from playing in it. Pesky thing that she is sometimes. ; )

[magnoliasouth]

I have three pesky pups! My backyard garden has this plastic mesh attached to these posts. The posts work like stakes and just push into the ground. We just overlap one area in lieu of a gate.

I'm sure you could modify this idea to the square foot box by attaching wooden slats, or dowels, to the outside of the box. Then just pull the mesh (or screening would work too) snugly around it.

[thelunatick1]

to keep pests out 1. fencing. 2. raise the bed height 3. training dogs (though 3 year olds, as I equate dogs to being, isn't reliable) raising the bed 2 thoughts 1. table 2. countertop. table where the space beneath is enclosed and place to store gardening stuff.

[vooodooo]

whats the best type of wood to use for an organic vegetable garde?

[DaniCoexist]

And here's another one our venture partner Claus made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXEJ9OfWBII

SO FUN! xx

[DaniCoexist]

Love this!! Thanks for sharing...like the idea of laying the mulch directly under the soil...will be trying this out ourselves, and also the compost box you have in the bed...I did hear that youre supposed to dilute the concentrated compost "juice" 1:10 as it may make your plants grow like crazy but ultimately be just big and not so strong, but I guess yours are going great and trial and error is what its all about! Check out our little video of ours...this was 2 weeks ago now, so we have much more stuff in the bed and more growth now too... http://coexist.es/en/urban-garden-part-one-dani-gary.html thanks again, we'll be back for more! xxx

[strouslot]

This is the coolest. Thanks so much.

[TheCoinBox]

As a follower of Mel's for over 30 years, I will simply say use whatever materials you have on hand. When laying out the square foot grids, draw a line in the dirt with you finger. Worried about bottom drainage, use layers of newspaper or cardboard. Keep it simple and labor unintensive.

[scarishari]

i have an old doorframe. could that be used as a raised bed?

[shellberry]

It depends on the door, how old it is and has it been painted or treated with chemicals? If so you may risk exposure to some pretty gross toxins, so you can make a raised bed from it, but you can't grow edibles. But the bees need all the lovin' they can get these days with CCD, so drill some drain holes and build away!

[kckthx]

Thanks for the wheelchair accessible tip!

[fatt0x]

This is going to be my first attempt on doing one of these boxes, can anyone explain how the bottom goes in and what you used?

[shellberry]

As far as the bottom material to keep the dirt in the box or the bottom being the dirt and compost mixture?