BOOK REVIEWS

All New Square Foot Gardening
Grow more in less space!

Mel Bartholomew
Published by Cool Springs Press
Distributed by Raised Gardens
www.raisedgardens.co.nz
$NZ45.00

IT’S more than 30 years since Mel Bartholomew gave a new slant on potager gardening by devising a timber planter grid of garden squares. Since then, the first book on the subject is said to have become the No 1 gardening title in the US, with a million copies sold.

Under the same promise of “growing more in less space”, the new book outlines an improved version of this system. The author recaps on how to build his basic four by four square foot timber frame, divide it into grids and plant them out, using his special growing medium.

Spacing various clusters of vegetables and flowers in the square grids and caring for them is covered in detail. He also shows how to add structures to the frame, such as supports for climbing plants and protective domes and frames to keep pests and harsh weather at bay.

Tables at the back of the book tell what and when to plant at a glance. Importantly, they also detail how many of each variety can be raised in each square foot grid.

While adherents of the square foot method are fanatical about their successes, the creative gardener may find Mel’s gardening-made-easy a bit too contrived for their liking.

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH