It takes a little bit of effort, but square foot garden plans help you make the best of your square foot garden space. When you plant the right plants together, you get the best yield. In fact, you might be surprised to learn just how much food you can grow in a small amount of space. I live in the desert, so gardening is extra difficult. Spring is the best time to plant seedlings that were started indoors in January. Unless you live in the desert as well, you might be able to wait a little bit longer to start your plants.
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This is the plan I used last Spring, and I got great results from these plans. I want you to get great results, too, show I'm sharing my square foot gardening plans with you.
Plan Your Space
Before you begin square foot gardening, you need to decide what size boxes you will use. My smaller boxes are 4'x4', and my large box is 8'x4'. I do not recommend the long box. It is very difficult to reach the plants in the middle. If you want to square foot garden, stick to nothing larger than 4'x4' or 4'x6'. I wanted a big garden, so I filled my available space with as many boxes as I could. Be sure to leave enough space in between the boxes that you can comfortably kneel down in front of all the sides of each box.
Build or Purchase Boxes
The boxes are pretty easy to build, but if that's not something you want to try, check out these great garden boxes available for purchase on Amazon. (Affiliate links.)
Once you've built or purchased your boxes, divide them into square foot sections. I created mine with old blind slats that I stapled together to make a grid. The blind slats work really well because the whole grid can be lifted off the box when it's time to prepare the ground for planting. (Of course, the first time you plant, you'll prepare the ground before adding the grid.) I got the used blinds for a few dollars at Habitat for Humanity Restore.
Right now, my boxes are mostly empty, but here's what they look like in early Summer (I can't wait!):
Include a Trellis for Climbing Plants
Each of my boxes has a trellis on one side for vine plants. They really help me get the most out of my space. You can build your own garden trellis with my simple plans. The gorgeous garden below belongs to my uncle. I only wish my garden looked that good! He taught me how to build my trellis.
What to Plant in Your Square Foot Garden
With those steps complete, you're ready to plant your garden. I filled in my space while referencing my companion planting guide. (Link below.) I wanted to be sure that the plants I put in the same box were compatible. (Some plants don't do well planted by certain crops.) I also checked the information on my seed packages to find plants that grew best in the spring and purchased seeds for vine crops to take advantage of my trellis. I put all of that information together to design my garden.
To make your own plan, I suggest drawing out your boxes, as I did in my square foot garden plan. In my first plan, my trellis' were on an outside edge of each box. When the vines spilled all over outside of the box, I moved my trellis' to go across the middle of the boxes. (That way, I could plant vines on both sides of each trellis. You can download my first plan by clicking on the download link below. It will open a pdf file that you can view or print.
I also have a blank printable that shows my garden after I moved the trellis'.
You can download a pdf of that file by clicking the download link below.
Thanks for stopping by today. Check below for more great gardening ideas.
Each image is linked to a post, so click on it to visit.
Thanks for stopping by, and happy gardening!
Brenna
Love square foot gardening. I'm behind this year too. We lost our sunny garden spot, so this year I am having to plan a garden based on plants that are better in shade. It will be a new challenge.
[email protected] and Gluten Free
I wish I had a garden! Yours looks like it's going to be awesome :)
Tammy Northrup {Yours and Mine ARE Ours}
How awesome to be able to plant already! How late does your growing season go to? We typically can't plant until May and if we're lucky season will go through mid September.
Sharon @ Life After Empty Nest
I LOVE this idea! Thanks for sharing! I can't wait to read what grows well together! I grow some herbs and orchids but I want to grow more! I love gardening, especially when you can eat it!
If you have time come take a look at my orchids!
http://www.lifeafteremptynest.com/2013/03/my-love-of-orchids.html
I'm your newest follower!
xoxo
Linda
I have three 4x4 beds. I am going to try your layout plans. Im beginning to plant tomorrow! Thank for the tips. Have a wonderful gardening season!
Found you in Six Sisters!
Linda
Heather
Hi! Love your plans and also your printout for compatible plants...so good to have! I'm just starting to plant as we speak and it's starting to get overwhelming. I was wondering, do the vine plants have to be trained or do they climb by themselves? Love your blog!
Linda Watson
What do the colors on the chart mean as far as good or bad match?
Kara
How do you go from season to season with prepping the soil and minimizing the weeds and things you don't want to grow... When it's become overgrown from the previous season and tons of tomato seeds and plenty of others have made a home in the soil mix that's there?
Heidi
Hi, Kara. Sadly, I have moved to a new area, and there is currently no space for a garden, so it's been a little while since I've gardened. Here's what I remember: Some years, after my garden was finished, I covered it up for the fall/winter season with plastic. That kept the weeds down. As for the plants/weeds that appeared when I didn't cover the garden, I just lifted off the slats to divide the garden spot into squares, tilled and prepped the soil, put the slats back, and planted away.
Sofie
Hi,
Thanks for this, I just found it via pinterest. On the plan at the top, you have numbers written beside each crop. The same crop does not have the same number in each bed, so I'm not sure if they represent seedlings planted with different denisity/amounts. Can you explain what they are? It's probably a very stupid question, I know. :)
Heidi
Hi, Sophie. Not a dumb question. The numbers do represent the number of plants I planted in the square for each plant. I didn’t repeat the numbers in each box, but they should stay the same. Good luck with your garden!