# Square foot garden planner



## OldCootHillbilly

Hey yall, I found this little planner what might help yall lookin ta try square foot gardinin. I use the square foot system (still learnin it) an works real well. I got raised beds an that sure do help out with bad knees!

Here it be:


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## 8thDayStranger

Cool. May try some of that this year.


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## siletz

Thanks OCH! I use a tweeked version of square foot garden that works well for me, but it's annoying to have to run back into the house to look up a certain spacing as I'm planting. I'll print this out and keep it in my garden tote. Happy planting! :flower:


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## alwaysready

How high are your beds? I'm planning on putting some in over the next few weeks I want them to be 2 feet high.


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## Cud579

My raised beds are about 10 inches high. I have had good luck with them. I recently found a cool website for planning out the garden whether it ve raised bed or traditional. Www.growveg.com. I did not pay for anything so I just print off my charts.


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## OldCootHillbilly

Mine be bout 15 inchs high. With one a them wheeled garden seats it saves on the ol back an knees. You can make em as tall as yall wanna. I've seen some that was built up offin the ground fer a feller that couldn't bend over at all.


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## Grimm

My DH is saving scrap wood to make me my raised beds this spring after the move.


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## haley4217

Just a suggestion for raised gardens...... What are your goals? Long term raised gardens with a lot of time to get them built, or in a hurry to get some plants going? Building a raised garden with bags of soil are quick square foot gardens that can get your plants in the ground and growing in a weekend day instead of over several weekends and usually at a reduced start up cost. 

One bag high, poke holes on one side of the bag to provide drainage. Place the bag on bare ground where you want your square foot garden. Then, using a box knife or razor blade knife cut a square hole in the top of the bag leaving about an inch or two of the top plastic in place connected to the four sides. Trowel, seeds and water. Next step harvest. Generally a single bag is deep enough for squash, tomatoes, pepper, even a coupe of corn stalks.

Need more depth for something like beets, carrots or other root crops? Start with a single layer bag as above with the hole cut in top. Take bag two and cut a similar square hole in it. Quickly and carefully turn it over on top of bag one matching up the holes as best you can. You'll loose a little dirt, don't worry you use it in a minute. Now cut another square hole in the top of bag two. Gather up that spilled dirt and put it back in bag two. Trowel, seeds, water. Iced tea and lawn chair and watch your garden grow.

Very good system for "three sisters" gardening with corn, bean and squash.

Build your permanent rises beds while your topsoil bag garden is growing. This fall or winter pickup the sacks, shovel up spilled soil and all this goes into your permanent raised gardens with leaves, compost and more soil.

One other tip... Get the local donut shop to save their coffee grounds for you. Spread on the surface of your square foot garden. Very rich in nitrogen, attracts earthworms like steel to a magnet and generally unpalatable to some bugs.


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## alwaysready

Thanks my project will take a couple of Saturdays to get started. I like that I can add over time so everything does not have to be done at once. I'm going with 2 feet to save the old back and knees.


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## Transplant

I love my square foot garden lay out. I am actually thinking about using cinder blocks this year. The old boards I was using didn't make the move.


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## NaeKid

I would love to see some pictures of all of your SquareFoot gardens or your raised-bed gardens. My garden is quite "traditional" .. remove the lawn, stir up the soil, add-in the seeds and water as required.


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## Meerkat

OldCootHillbilly said:


> Hey yall, I found this little planner what might help yall lookin ta try square foot gardinin. I use the square foot system (still learnin it) an works real well. I got raised beds an that sure do help out with bad knees!
> 
> Here it be:


I think I understand, but not sure. Are these sqare foot areas divided by some kind of borders? Or just measured off in feet?:dunno: :wave:


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## Transplant

Meerkat said:


> I think I understand, but not sure. Are these sqare foot areas divided by some kind of borders? Or just measured off in feet?:dunno: :wave:


A square foot garden always has a grid. I used 2x12x6 for my box then used string for the grid. I measured 12 inches and stapled the string to the top of the board measured 12 more etc.

It is not my garden it is just one I found online but it will give you an idea of what it will look like


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## OldCootHillbilly

NaeKid said:


> I would love to see some pictures of all of your SquareFoot gardens or your raised-bed gardens. My garden is quite "traditional" .. remove the lawn, stir up the soil, add-in the seeds and water as required.


Gonna have ta wait till the snow melts my friend! Got over 20 inchs a snow on top of em right now!:surrender:


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## Meerkat

Transplant said:


> A square foot garden always has a grid. I used 2x12x6 for my box then used string for the grid. I measured 12 inches and stapled the string to the top of the board measured 12 more etc.
> 
> It is not my garden it is just one I found online but it will give you an idea of what it will look like


 Thanks, thats a good looking garden you got there.:wave:

I have several raised beds, I'll do this to a couple of them.


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## Cud579

My raised garden beds are 3 foot wide. We are planning to revamp som so 4 foot wide. The rule is that you don't want your beds over 4 foot wide cuz you need to be able to garden without stepping in/on your beds. Your soil will stay looser, the weeds are so much easier to manage and I have noticed that I don't have quite so many weeds early on. Once everything is very established thenI don't have Ny problems with weeds.

If you have any cattle farmers around, you can probably get come nice rich soil if especially if they are digging out their feed pen area that gets lots of deposits. We started doing that with raised bed #2. It was way better soil. Everything did great but our corn, but I attribute that to the hest and the drought. 

Hubby was against raised beds as he was brought up with the big garden but I have made a believer outta him. Our yields are so much better.


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## Cud579

That growveg.com site will tell you how many of each type of plant to plant in a square foot. We add screws every foot down the tops of our boards so I can visualize better where my squares are then I had twine to make my grids. Once it is all planted the twine gets wrapped back up to save for later.


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## Neec0

New to gardening and composting. Not sure if I should start my own thread or not.

Here is the setup I designed in growveg.com: Wondering if this is okay for Zone 5 and for a first time gardener (I've grown tomatoes before, just not started/tended a garden)... I will start a seperate thread with my question about composting.










In order from top to bottom starting with the left box, and each number signifies how many plants per square foot:

Tomato
Basil
Cukes
Cilantro

Peppers (bell)
Red Onion
Green Onion
White Onion
Chives
Peppers (hot)

Sweet Corn
carrots
potato
raddish

Do you see any issues with this? I will be purchasing the seeds to sow the early plants soon as my last frost date is in May.


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## Grimm

Neec0 said:


> New to gardening and composting. Not sure if I should start my own thread or not.
> 
> Here is the setup I designed in growveg.com: Wondering if this is okay for Zone 5 and for a first time gardener (I've grown tomatoes before, just not started/tended a garden)... I will start a seperate thread with my question about composting.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In order from top to bottom starting with the left box, and each number signifies how many plants per square foot:
> 
> Tomato
> Basil
> Cukes
> Cilantro
> 
> Peppers (bell)
> Red Onion
> Green Onion
> White Onion
> Chives
> Peppers (hot)
> 
> Sweet Corn
> carrots
> potato
> raddish
> 
> Do you see any issues with this? I will be purchasing the seeds to sow the early plants soon as my last frost date is in May.


I would move your peppers to the last bed on the right away from your tomatoes.


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## Neec0

Grimm said:


> I would move your peppers to the last bed on the right away from your tomatoes.


What if we put the the corn/root bed in between and moved the pepper/onion bed to the outside?

Nothing is set in yet. That is just the way that I drew it out.

Thanks for your input!!!

I have SOOO much to study in a very short time... Anyone have a great link to the best seeds to use? I know I want heirloom where possible...

Again, I am a complete newbie.


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## Cud579

I would suggest that you space the tomatoes out a little further than they reccomend. They will work being. 1 per square foot but it will get tight. Last year I did 1 every 18 inches. That was fine. 

I to am in zone 5. I have already started my tomatoes indoors of course. If you can start them in a sunny southerly window then go ahead and get them started.


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## Grimm

Neec0 said:


> What if we put the the corn/root bed in between and moved the pepper/onion bed to the outside?
> 
> Nothing is set in yet. That is just the way that I drew it out.
> 
> Thanks for your input!!!
> 
> I have SOOO much to study in a very short time... Anyone have a great link to the best seeds to use? I know I want heirloom where possible...
> 
> Again, I am a complete newbie.


I get my seeds from Annie's Heirlooms.


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## Meerkat

Neec0 said:


> What if we put the the corn/root bed in between and moved the pepper/onion bed to the outside?
> 
> Nothing is set in yet. That is just the way that I drew it out.
> 
> Thanks for your input!!!
> 
> I have SOOO much to study in a very short time... Anyone have a great link to the best seeds to use? I know I want heirloom where possible...
> 
> Again, I am a complete newbie.


 I ordered mine heirloom seeds from this company below. The catalog has lots of good info in it about the seeds and how to grow them. Nice pictures of the plants and a huge variaty from all over the world.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

417-924-8917

www.rareseeds.com


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## Neec0

Cud579 said:


> I would suggest that you space the tomatoes out a little further than they reccomend. They will work being. 1 per square foot but it will get tight. Last year I did 1 every 18 inches. That was fine.
> 
> I to am in zone 5. I have already started my tomatoes indoors of course. If you can start them in a sunny southerly window then go ahead and get them started.


Are you saying its too late to start them?

If I can't start them inside (under a grow light, we don't have sufficient window light in our basement) should I just plant them in May?

I am going to get most of what I need to start them inside today, unless its too late... I thought it was just to get them nice and healthy before transplanting outside when the weather turns to spring? Based on the growveg time table the chart says start in Feb, but I am not too far passed that am I?


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## Meerkat

Grimm said:


> I get my seeds from Annie's Heirlooms.


Do they have a catalog? I like to check around different suppliers for price and quality.


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## siletz

Meerkat said:


> I think I understand, but not sure. Are these sqare foot areas divided by some kind of borders? Or just measured off in feet?:dunno: :wave:


The idea of square foot gardening does not require grids every foot. The grids just help visualize the space. I don't have grids at all. My raised beds are 4'x8', so I know that something like lettuce would have 8 plants across the short end. When I was first starting gardening, I would draw lines in the dirt as my grid to keep me on track.


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## siletz

Neec0 said:


> Are you saying its too late to start them?
> 
> If I can't start them inside (under a grow light, we don't have sufficient window light in our basement) should I just plant them in May?
> 
> I am going to get most of what I need to start them inside today, unless its too late... I thought it was just to get them nice and healthy before transplanting outside when the weather turns to spring? Based on the growveg time table the chart says start in Feb, but I am not too far passed that am I?


You can start them now. They just won't be quite as far along. The idea of starting them early is to get a longer harvest window. You don't want to do all of this work and only harvest them for a few weeks. If you waited until May, you would be needing to buy plants from the store, instead of seeds.


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## Grimm

Meerkat said:


> Do they have a catalog? I like to check around different suppliers for price and quality.


http://www.anniesheirloomseeds.com/

They have a link to request a catalog.


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## Grimm

siletz said:


> You can start them now. They just won't be quite as far along. The idea of starting them early is to get a longer harvest window. You don't want to do all of this work and only harvest them for a few weeks. If you waited until May, you would be needing to buy plants from the store, instead of seeds.


We are moving to the mountains in April so I started my seeds this last week. I'm taking advantage of our beach weather to start my seeds so I have a longer growing season up north.


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## Neec0

Grimm said:


> I get my seeds from Annie's Heirlooms.





Meerkat said:


> I ordered mine heirloom seeds from this company below. The catalog has lots of good info in it about the seeds and how to grow them. Nice pictures of the plants and a huge variaty from all over the world.
> 
> Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
> 
> 417-924-8917
> 
> www.rareseeds.com


Thanks for the tips! These will be next years, as its too late to purchase this year, isn't it?


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## Grimm

Neec0 said:


> Thanks for the tips! These will be next years, as its too late to purchase this year, isn't it?


I just placed an order yesterday with both Annie's and Burpee.

They are just now starting to send out the starter plants they sell.


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## Neec0

Our local Home Depot sells Heirloom Burpees, are they decent? And what of their seedling starter packs? The "self-watering" and regular setups that hold 72 seeds?


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## Grimm

Neec0 said:


> Our local Home Depot sells Heirloom Burpees, are they decent? And what of their seedling starter packs? The "self-watering" and regular setups that hold 72 seeds?


We are moving in 2 weeks so I am using the 36 seed starter trays. They are easier to move around.

As far as the Burpee seeds from HD. I assume they are the same quality as their online catalog. I have used some of the Ferry Morse seeds from HD. No issues there.


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## Meerkat

Grimm said:


> http://www.anniesheirloomseeds.com/
> 
> They have a link to request a catalog.


Thanks for the link,Grimm.:flower:

I just ordered the catalog.


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## Meerkat

Neec0 said:


> Our local Home Depot sells Heirloom Burpees, are they decent? And what of their seedling starter packs? The "self-watering" and regular setups that hold 72 seeds?


You could get started about a week earlier if you bought them at the store.

About your next question on another post ,no its not to late to order a catalog or get started with your garden.

While you wait get busy on your soil. Soil test even if its store bought will be very helpful.


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## Navajo

I have used that old plastic decking material for the sides... works great doesn't seem to deteriorate and is cheap when you find it for free on Craigslist.

Also setup a drip irrigation system along with Square Foot Gardening methods and using Colemans "Winter Gardening" ideas you can have food growing for many months out of the year!


Oh, and hello everyone on the board...new here , not new to prepping...


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## OldCootHillbilly

Neec0 said:


> Our local Home Depot sells Heirloom Burpees, are they decent? And what of their seedling starter packs? The "self-watering" and regular setups that hold 72 seeds?


I've used the Burpee seeds (I always try an get heirlooms) an they work real well.

I also use the 72 seed kit an like it real well. The smaller ones work just as well ifin ya don't need as many plants.


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## woodymedic

Anyone have plans or ideas for standing garden beds? I'm thinking I want the tops of mine to be about 31/2-4 ft high so save the back.


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## goshengirl

woodymedic said:


> Anyone have plans or ideas for standing garden beds? I'm thinking I want the tops of mine to be about 31/2-4 ft high so save the back.


I would consider making beds with a plywood bottom (drill lots of holes for drainage) and put them on concrete blocks. We did some a couple years ago like that for a couple reasons - we wanted to be able to move our beds from year to year until we settled on the best place for them (hence the contained structure that could be moved around - although not with dirt in it!), and we wanted it off the ground for drainage since we have heavy clay soil. Ours are 4x4 boxes up on one layer of concrete blocks, and just that little bit of lift is a help. I would think putting boxes on two layers of concrete blocks would work nicely and be relatively cheap - cheap is good.


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## RevWC

Time to Plant. I am setting up my square foot this weekend..


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## PreparedRifleman73

OldCootHillbilly said:


> Hey yall, I found this little planner what might help yall lookin ta try square foot gardinin. I use the square foot system (still learnin it) an works real well. I got raised beds an that sure do help out with bad knees!
> 
> Here it be:


I also do Square Foot Gardening. Places like mother earth news and territorial seed company have SFG garden planners, you should really try them out! Also, I'd recommend that Tomatoes get 2 square feet for plant, rather than 1 per square foot. I tried both methods last year and it gets too hard to harvest when they are 1 per SF.


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## Mola5

Excellent resource. I've thought about doing this, but haven't actually planted yet. You have to really like squash and melons to sacrifice the production space of smaller veggies. 

I built a couple 4'x4' beds out of salvaged fence pickets for this purpose (plus a compost bin - same size).

I plan on planting tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, onions and carrots. We'll see how it goes.


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## perpetualsharon

Here's a link to a free square foot gardening planner

SFGPlanner

I've toyed around with the squares a bit, but it's not as in depth in planning your entire yard as GrowVeg.com is. However, if you just need a visual of what you planted where SFGPlanner is simple, easy to use and printable. It also gives you a grow table and tells you the approximate harvest dates.


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## mikeylikesit5805

I am trying something new this year. Check out my Raised Garden Table.


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