Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin ‘Henderson Bush’ lima beans. Photo via Eden Brothers. With summers getting longer and hotter, and winter weather becoming more unpredictable, climate change is here, and gardeners must learn to adapt. The 2023 USDA Hardiness Zone Map offers proof of what many of us have already observed: warmer growing zones are inching their way north, making gardening more of a challenge in many places. In order to keep growing food in this changing world, we’ll need to adopt climate resilient gardening techniques in our Square Foot Gardens!  Here are some tips to ..read more

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin Are you curious about dehydrating vegetables from your Square Foot Garden? It’s not as hard as you might think!  Zucchini, tomato, cucumber. While Square Foot Gardening was conceived to banish waste and help gardeners grow precisely the amount of food they need – sometimes you might get lucky and have a particularly bountiful year.  So when you find yourself up to your ears in cucumbers, tomatoes, or zucchini, you might start mulling over your preservation options: canning, freezing, fermenting, and – yes, dehydrating!  This method of pres ..read more

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin What if the answer to solving food insecurity was within our individual reach? We certainly think that’s the case here at the Square Foot Gardening Foundation!  The SFG method is an adaptable, organic approach, making it the perfect way to get food on the table – no matter who you are.  Created by Mel Bartholomew, this gardening method is especially easy to adapt to different situations, making it a benefit even in communities that lack access to land and financial resources.  In fact, with a bit of resourcefulness, this food growing solutio ..read more

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin Once you’ve graduated from planting and harvesting crops in your raised beds, it might be time to start saving seeds for next year’s Square Foot Garden!  The Best Crops for Saving Seeds  While you can save seeds from most vegetables, herbs, and flowers, the ones that are the easiest to save and that will provide the most reliable results come from plants that are:  Open Pollinated  When you grow plants in your raised beds you’ll have the choice between open pollinated varieties and hybrids (also known as crosses).  Open pollinated ..read more

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin Whether you’ve grown an assortment this year or have your thoughts on next year’s plans, an abundant winter squash, gourd, or pumpkin harvest from your Square Foot Garden doesn’t have to be a spice-scented daydream – it can easily become a delicious and decorative reality!  Let’s consider a few tips that will help you enjoy a plentiful harvest of these homegrown heralds of autumn. Winter Squash, Pumpkin, or Gourd – What’s the Difference?  Winter squash, pumpkins, and gourds – these members of the cucurbit family are closely related, but have diff ..read more

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin After properly sowing seeds, watering, and caring for your vegetable crops all season long, harvest time is now here – and you are met with the startling surprise of deformed carrots.  Once you’re done laughing at these wonky veggies, you might start wondering what causes these twisted, deformed, knobby, or just down right weird looking roots.  In the Square Foot Garden, there’s one reason in particular that this may happen – and when you learn what that reason is, it’s easy to prevent!  Banish Deformed Carrots with the Right Varieties  ..read more

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin Life is rolling along pretty sweetly in your Square Foot Garden beds until suddenly – your kale is stripped down to the stems, or the lush leaves on your basil have been reduced to nubs. This sad sight may be a sign that you need help managing grasshoppers in your raised bed garden!  Let’s talk about how to identify damage from these wildly hopping pests – as well as how to prevent them from becoming problematic in the first place.   Identifying Grasshopper Damage in the Garden  If you live in an area where these pests can be present in extr ..read more

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin Are you wondering how many peas to sow per square foot in your raised beds? When growing peas according to the Square Foot Gardening method, there’s a precise number of seeds to plant per grid section for a bountiful and healthy harvest of plump green pods.  Keep reading to learn how many to sow!  But first, let’s take a quick look at why we should be motivated to grow this way in the first place.  Why Grow Peas with Square Foot Spacing?  Mel Bartholomew, the creator and founder of Square Foot Gardening. Sowing these round, green seed ..read more

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin Squash vine borer. While Square Foot Gardening offers a clear advantage over other gardening methods in terms of space, time, and energy savings, practitioners of this food growing technique still have to be on the lookout for pests.  After all, gardening takes place in and with nature! We rely on beneficial insects to pollinate many of our crops, and we enjoy the beauty of bees and butterflies as they flit around our raised beds.  But meanwhile, we also need to keep our eyes peeled for unwanted visitors. Let’s learn more about three of the pes ..read more

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin You’ve made the wise decision to use foot by foot spacing to grow your carrot crop – but you might be wondering just how many seeds to sow per square!  You’ll learn the ideal number shortly, but first you might enjoy discovering just how this spacing was developed. This way you can confidently sow your homegrown produce, knowing that the techniques you use are tried and tested.  Where Does Square Foot Plant Spacing Come From?  Maybe you’ve heard of this growing technique on social media or in gardening forums, without even knowing that someo ..read more