Product Description

Do you know what the best feature is in All New Square Foot Gardening?

Sure, there are ten new features in this all-new, updated book. Sure, it's even simpler than it was before. Of course, you don't have to worry about fertilizer or poor soil ever again because you'll be growing above the ground.

But, the best feature is that anyone, anywhere can enjoy a Square Foot garden. Children, adults with limited mobility, even complete novices can achieve spectacular results.

But, let's get back to the ten improvements. You're going to love them.

1)      New Location - Move your garden closer to your house by eliminating single-row gardening. Square Foot Garden needs just twenty percent of the space of a traditional garden.

2)      New Direction - Locate your garden on top of existing soil. Forget about pH soil tests, double-digging (who enjoys that?), or the never-ending soil improvements.

3)      New Soil - The new "Mel's Mix" is the perfect growing mix. Why, we even give you the recipe. Best of all, you can even buy the different types of compost needed.

4)      New Depth - You only need to prepare a SFG box to a depth of 6 inches! It's true--the majority of plants develop just fine when grown at this depth.

5)      No Fertilizer - The all new SFG does not need any fertilizer-ever! If you start with the perfect soil mix, then you don't need to add fertilizer.

6)      New Boxes - The new method uses bottomless boxes placed aboveground. We show you how to build your own (with step-by-step photos).

7)      New Aisles - The ideal gardening aisle width is about three to four feet. That makes it even easier to kneel, work, and harvest.

8)      New Grids - Prominent and permanent grids added to your SFG box help you visualize the planting squares and know how to space for maximum harvest.

9)      New Seed Saving Idea - The old-fashioned way advocates planting many seeds and then thinning the extras (that means pulling them up). The new method means planting a pinch- literally two or three seeds--per planting hole.

10)  Tabletop Gardens - The new boxes are so much smaller and lighter (only 6 inches of soil, remember?), you can add a plywood bottom to make them portable.

Of course, that's not all. We've also included simple, easy-to-follow instructions using lots of photos and illustrations. You're going to love it!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #480 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-14
• Format: Illustrated
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Customer Reviews

You don't always have to listen to Mel!
I bought this book because I wanted some information on gardening intensively in raised beds. The best things about the book are the plant spacing guides and the timing charts in the back that help you know when to plant what, according to your frost dates. These are absolutely essential for the first time gardener, and I've referred to them many times. Aside for that, I don't care for Mel's writing style. He somehow comes off as pompous and condescending: "If you don't do __ , you don't have a square foot garden!" I don't care if I don't have a square foot garden, as Mel has defined it. I deviated from Mel's soil mix by purchasing landscape soil from a local company. My mix is 20% topsoil, 50-60% leaf compost, and the rest is sand. I also went 12 inches deep with the soil. It's nice to plant tomatoes deeply, and put carrots wherever I feel like it. Many, many people have admired my garden. It is incredibly productive and beautiful at the same time, with pictures that rival the author's. Oh, and that's another pet peeve--I wish the book had a few more photos, especially of trellised crops like tomatoes and melons. I can understand the need to start from scratch with your soil if you live in an area with terrible soils, but here in MI, the soil is nice to begin with. There's absolutely no reason to ignore great local resources if you have them. Instead of spending a fortune on the soil mix, I put my money into great-looking composite raised bed kits.

What an ego!
There are some very useful ideas here if you can stomach the author tooting his own horn on nearly every page while knocking other styles of gardening. I read a review before buying the book that said something similar and wish I'd just checked it out from the library. The system is workable, simple, and surely a nice gardening solution for many people, but it's not a book I'd need to keep on the shelf as a ready reference.

Excellent Update to Favorite Gardening Method
I have been using Mel's original SFG method since my mother first gave me the book over 20 years ago. Bought this updated version as a gift for a friend but snuck a peek at it first. The new method sounds even easier and more productive, so I will be purchasing another copy for myself!