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What's Wrong With This Picture?
All of the world gardens and farms, but many parts of the world, are not blessed with the abundance we have in the U.S.A.
We can choose to share that abundance by shipping food all over the world, either as a commercial product or as a humanitarian project, and in doing so we will keep someone fed for another day. But we haven't really done any good, certainly not in the long run because those people just become dependent on our abundance.
If we taught the same people all of our modern techniques in farming, it still wouldn't do any good because as soon as the machinery is delivered and the experts finish their training sessions and leave to go home, invariably the same thing will happen. It has year after year, place after place. The machinery will break down, the workers can't fix it, and the local organization runs out of either money, expertise, trained people, fuel or something. The whole technology, including all the machinery, just sits there, a total waste. Unfortunately, thats what we still keep doing around the world and it will never work. Our leaders keep coming up with great ideas both as a nation and in various organizations. We have high hopes and great expectations of shipping all kinds of machinery and methods all over the world. BUT, instead of that doomed plan, if we could share with other nations and other peoples the idea of them learning the self-sufficient way to raise food and feed themselves THEN AND ONLY THEN will they take pride in themselves, and their new accomplishment.
How do I know this is true? I've traveled all over the world and Ive seen rusting equipment and machinery, vehicles and pumps, irrigation systems and tractors, and whatever else you can name. Ive seen it sitting in the fields rusting away and when asked why, the answer is always, "because it broke down, we don't have the parts, the fuel, the expertise, and we can't fix it." Unfortunately, this situation is right back where it started before that great effort was made.
The same thing happens when we ship food overseas. Planeloads, boatloads, and trainloads of abundant food supplies are sent around the world. Unfortunately, the inevitable result is that quite often very little of it gets to the actual people that need it. Now I'm not talking about starving situations, I'm talking about everyday subsistence. Square Foot Gardening cannot help the starving populations of the world, regardless of the situation or location. That is truly a humanitarian effort and I applaud all the organizations that step in when that situation occurs. But Square Foot Gardening can help create self-sufficiency anywhere in the world before hat drastic situation. Its being done all over, but theres no major organization teaching or promoting it.
Why can't these same leaders and organizations grasp or visualize the SFG idea? I think because Square Foot Gardening is so simple, easy, and uncomplicated that most organizations think it cant solve this huge problem that we have. They think we need something big and grandiose, something that costs a lot of money, something thats going to take a whole huge organization with lots of experts, money, training, and reserves. On the receiving end Im sure the governmental agencies and people in charge think the same thing. They dont want to receive something little and simple. They want something big and grandiose. They want something thats going to make the headlines and bring in a lot of money or spread a lot of wealth around. The idea of each family raising a small garden for daily fresh vegetables seems so simple that it's not worth their consideration.
In contrast, consider the Square Foot Gardening project in India. Today there is a 6-acre demonstration garden where villagers come and work in the gardens. They are trained in the Square Foot Gardening method, including locating, building, and planting the gardens and also making compost. They then learn harvesting and going to market. The farmers who used to grow 2 crops a year in the 6 months of the non-monsoon rains went to market with the same 2 crops all at the same time, and you can imagine what happened to the price of the crops. But now converted to SFG they can protect their gardens. First because they're only 20% of the size of their normal gardens before, and Second its so easy to protect from weather, pests, or whatever. They are now working year round, 12 months of the year growing 22 crops, and theyre taking them to market and making more money than they ever thought possible. Besides feeding their family continually from the gardens, this training center has set up everything all based on the Square Foot system. Now people come from far and wide to learn the system, and then the group helps those people build Square Foot Gardens at their own homestead where they can continue feeding their family and going to market with the crops.
NOW, the big news is this was all done by all of the people themselves using all natural materials, and it happened because the leader, a Jesuit Priest, received one book, the Square Foot Gardening book. Everything was accomplished by just reading that book and putting everything into operation. No government agencies were involved; no shiploads of material or supplies were sent in, no regulations, nothing but a book. Now thousands of people are becoming self-sufficient, improving their nutritional diet and living a better life. And the best part is the material they make compost out of was a vigorous vine that was killing all of the hardwood forests and now it's being pulled out of the trees and chopped up for compost, so now the environment is much better off because of this project.
This same story could be anywhere in the world. Ive yet to be in a country that Square Foot Gardening would not improve the daily lives and nutrition of all the villagers and all done by themselves on their own with just a little teaching.
My question to you and to the world is: What can you do to help make this happen around the world? Tell someone of this important opportunity! Do it this year!
Where's Mel
Karen's Column
Hello to all you fellow Square Foot Gardeners! My name is Karen and Mel has given me the opportunity to periodically do a column giving you an inside look at what is going on at SFG headquarters while Mel is on sabbatical. So, let me begin by introducing myself. I live in Utah, love gardening and help Mel with many different tasks. For example, when you place an order, Im the one that sends it out to you and when you call the toll-free number, Im at the other end.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of working with the Foundation is the opportunity it gives me to be in contact with YOU! It is delightful to hear your stories and we'd like to use this column to share some of that with the rest of you, as well as some other gardening thoughts and musings.
January 20, 2005
It seems that the weeks are going by so quickly. I hope all of you had a very enjoyable Christmas season and that you received just what you wanted for your next SFG. We were able to fill orders for Santa, and so I know that many of you found books, videos, 4x4 white vinyl boxes, and tomato towers under your tree!
Several have asked wondering how Mel is doing. I believe he could easily be the busiest man alive and is doing great. He is developing new ideas and is doing a lot of writing. It is fun to see all that is developing.
One of Mels grandest goals has been to see SFG spread throughout the world through humanitarian efforts. This is coming to pass at an amazing rate. Recently, we have been in contact with a dear woman who is taking SFG to needy areas of Guatemala. SFG is also spreading quickly throughout Africa and this is exciting to see. We are currently working with a humanitarian group called Reach the Children and are giving them training so they can begin SFG projects as they travel to Kenya in February. The beginning compost operation is already underway there. Just to illustrate what a difference SFG can make, a young woman who was trained last spring is teaching music in Kenya. She saw the great need of the people as she attended church there. Women would come in tears to church leaders and express their desperation for food for their families. Our young friend was able to teach them Square Foot Gardening and working together gardens have been started right on the grounds of the church. The first harvest is just now taking place and instead of tears, these women can go to the gardens and pick what they need. It warms my heart to hear this. And, isnt life all about serving and helping others? I am quite passionate about this project in Africa, so Im sure you'll be hearing more about it later!
November 8, 2004
It was with reluctance that I watched the first few inches of snow cover up our garden, but it only lasted a day or two and then melted off. How different from other years when I was relieved that the weeds were finally covered. Now, there aren't any weeds to cover, just some pretty, decorative cabbages that still look so nice I couldnt pull them up.
Already Im planning for next year. We have enjoyed taking pictures of every phase of our garden. And, now, at the end of the season, I am beginning a gardening journal where I can record thoughts and notes about this years garden and am listing ideas I want to remember for next year. For example, my youngest daughter wanted to grow purple potatoes this year, but we waited too long and couldnt find any when we were ready to plant. So, we'll be prepared with purple seed potatoes early next season! (She loves the idea of purple mashed potatoes.) So, take a few minutes and write down some of your thoughts and plans for your next garden. For those of you who are lucky enough to be in a climate where you are still gardening keep good notes and records as you go. That will help your garden be even more successful.
Can you imagine the pressure I feel as our favorite gardening guru, Mel, frequently visits our garden? He is always very encouraging and enthusiastic about what we are doing. I laugh to remember one day, however, when he asked me to get my camera and take a picture of one of my cabbage plants. He had discovered an opportunity to photograph not only cabbage worms munching away but recently laid eggs as well. I can honestly say I've never gotten my camera out before for worms! (Incidentally, our gardening friend, Joy, said to sprinkle baby powder on cabbages to keep away the cabbage moths that lay the eggs that hatch into worms that grow bigger and bigger and bigger as they eat and eat ... )
October 6, 2004
For the first time in many years, I am reluctant to see our gardening season come to an end. Here, in one of Utah's high mountain valleys, our growing season is short, although we have been able to extend it through using SFG. We often get 4-5 feet of snow that often begins falling in October or November and so it is time to put the garden to bed. Our final harvest is being collected and stored in jars as delicious salsa and, at my husband's request, my grandmother's old recipe for chili sauce. Our fall crop of peas, cabbage and Swiss chard continue to grow and do well. We still have large pumpkins ripening while hanging in the air from their vertical frame. I knew that nylon netting was strong, but I had no idea it would really hold up under the weight of huge pumpkins!
While out harvesting the garden, I chuckled to myself as I took a protective cage off the lettuce. I was remembering a letter that told of a woman who put a cage over her entire garden box and then put her pet bunnies inside the cage so they could have a veritable feast! She said she realized that most use the cages to keep the critters out, but she wanted her bunnies to have a real treat. So, that gives a whole new meaning to the use of a Square Foot Garden.
Mel is making preparations to attend a Montessori Conference in Florida this weekend as the keynote speaker and he will also present several workshops.
The hurricanes have subsided there, but we hear it is still raining hard. However, nothing will dampen the spirits of those wonderful and dedicated Montessori people.
September 24, 2004
The e-mail and calls just keep coming in. I received a call from a woman, Vivian, who purchased a couple of the white vinyl boxes recently from the web site. Her husband was very reluctant at first, but soon they were both so pleased with the way the boxes looked and with the crops they were growing that she called to order more. Now, the best part of the story concerns her neighbor. His garden was planted weeks before Vivians garden went in. Vivians plants were soon much bigger and more mature than her neighbors and Viv has caught her neighbor looking over the fence at her garden and then back at his own and almost scratching his head in wonderment. What can we say? SFG triumphs again!!!
We just received an e-mail from a woman in the Channel Islands. She discovered and was reading the SFG web site late at night and realized it was just what she had been looking for. She wrote, I would like to get working right now! But, I guess Ill have to wait until morning! What great enthusiasm! Then, there is the woman who expressed her appreciation for SFG and said, Im blind and can easily garden using this method because of the grid. Then laughing she said, the only problem is that my neighbors think it is strange that I am outside gardening after dark!"
September 10, 2004
My husband, Steve, and I are so completely excited about Square Foot Gardening. This year we totally finished converting our entire garden from that old time-consuming single-row method to what we think is a very beautiful SFG. (Check out our garden pictures on the web site under Neighborhood Gardens in Liberty, UTAH, which were taken earlier in the year. Now, its a Square Foot jungle out there!) And the best thing is that here it is September and it still looks good, no weeds! My children have loved a summer of very little weeding. In fact, we have three grown children who are quite upset that when they were growing up they had to spend so much time weeding our old single-row garden while now our three younger children get all the fun and joy of having a Square Foot Garden and miss out on the weeding. I just tell the older kids that, If life was fair, horses would ride half the time!
Im sure you would like an update on Mels sabbatical and what he is doing. He is getting organized and preparing to begin some new projects. He is trying to discipline himself not to turn on the computer and become involved with all that is happening with our e-mail. He now has to wait for the periodic update and report I give him weekly. Its exciting to track Mel as his unique creativity begins to flow.
Hope you enjoy this update, let me know and I'll pass on more of the exciting things that keep happening all the time here at SFG HQ.
Happy Gardening, -Karen
Sun Valley to Boise to
Salt Lake City
It all started in Sun Valley, wasn't that a song? I was speaking at the local library and several people invited me down to Boise, Idaho to give a lecture at their local library. I went of course (I'll go anywhere to talk about Square Foot Gardening). At that second talk I met the owner of a very unusual business in Boise, The Tree House exotic plants and trees. When you step through their front door you are suddenly transported into a tropical paradise with not only plants, but also birds and animals. They give school tours and were interested in hosting several Square Foot Gardening lectures as well as teaching it themselves. They hosted a local LDS Church group who couldn't get over how many principles of Square Foot Gardening coincided with their Mormon religious values gardening - self sufficiency, family activities, preparedness, reverence for the earth.
It sounded like a golden opportunity to speak to an audience who could really appreciate all the attributes of this simple yet productive gardening method. While in Boise the Head Start School also started teaching Square Foot Gardening to the young tikes. It's never too early and they might as well learn the right way to start with. At the same time, we made some nice contacts with the County Agricultural Department and ended up giving a workshop for all their Master Gardeners. We have continued this contact and gave several more training sessions at the Master Gardener course in Salt Lake City as well as developing an outline of a lesson plan written for just such a teaching course. I also had the honor of being the principle speaker at the Master Gardeners National Convention in Houston, Texas several years back, but I'm getting ahead of my story.
The Square Foot Gardening Foundation was on a mission of giving gardens to schools and teaching the teachers how to teach the children. Thinking this program might appeal to the LDS churches, now where's the head of the LDS church? Why it's Salt Lake City. Why don't we hop down there and see what we can stir up? Well we did and to make a long story short, we signed up the entire state. Square Foot Gardening became the curriculum for the fourth grade science class and we donated a 3-foot x 3-foot garden box with soil and grid to almost 500 schools throughout the state.
In addition, I wrote a fifty-five page lesson plan which we later converted for home schooling. If you have anything to do with school, teaching children, or home activities, check out our product page for that lesson plan. I think you'll like it and find it very useful for just about any age and any situation. Have you ever been asked about Square Foot Gardening or thought of teaching someone what you know? Think about that.
After we completed the initial school project in Utah, we were invited to build a demonstration garden at a fabulous theme park called Thanksgiving Point just south of Salt Lake City. It is a 550 acre park just filled with gardens, shops, restaurants, farm animals, and all kinds of displays and things to do. That kept us very busy for a couple of years and led us into many other new activities including our Global Gardening Project in Florida, but more about that in a future column.
So you never know whose going to be in the audience or where it might lead to. I always say, Keep your head up and your eyes open.
From Canada to Sweden to India
Remember the story about the letter I got from a lady in Canada (Jane) who supported a Jesuit Priest (Father A) in India and how he used the Square Foot Gardening Book to start a massive project in his local village helping people become more self sufficient through Square Foot Gardening? Jane was originally from Sweden and coincidentally, my book has been translated and sold in Sweden. These pictures were taken during one of my visits there.
That's not a house but a restaurant in the mountains (notice the sod roof). Since it was wintertime, we took the opportunity to go cross-country skiing (That's also not their house but just a wayside cabin for skiers). At the other side of the calendar six months later, here is a picture of Jane's cousin's Square Food Garden in Sweden. Quite a difference from the winter scene isn't it? As I travel around the world, I see how adaptable Square Foot
Gardening is no matter what country you are in, the climate, the soil, or the crops that they grow. Everyone seems to have been able to adapt it easily to their local conditions and since we now heavily promote composting, particularly since it makes up 1/3 of the ingredients for Mel's Mix, Square Foot Gardening becomes an ecologically perfect system to be started around the world.
I asked my publisher (Rodale Press) to have the book translated in many different languages but they have refused or at least they have been unable, and I was never sure whether that was because of their lack of interest or their lack of ability. That doesn't seem very nice to say. However, everywhere I go there seems to be a crying need and demand to translate the book and have it available around the world. I've been trying lately to find a way to have it translated into Spanish and if the publisher won't do it, then maybe I should just go ahead and have my second book, "Cash from Square Foot Gardening", translated into several different languages.
If there's anyone out there that would like to help get the translated versions of the books and videos, or knows the right people or has the right contacts, please get in touch with us. You can email us at info_squarefootgardening.com. Our contacts in Salt Lake City will enable us to find translators for just about any language in the world.
Going back to Sweden, I wanted to slip in one picture I thought was quite nice. It's me in the narrowest street in the world. I'm not sure how they define that but it's a big tourist attraction there. I guess the only vehicle you could get down that street would be a motorcycle but I was satisfied to just walk down it.
The only changes in the Square Foot System that are required in different parts of the world are first to convert square feet into square meters which was done in India and a square meter (if you remember your high school math) is a little more than 3 feet or a yard. If you take a square meter which is approximately 39 inches x 39 inches and divide it into thirds, by the time you subtract the width of a grid, you end up with almost perfect 12" x 12" squares. Thus a square meter has 9 square feet and then you just follow the book for all the spacing of square feet. The plant spacing of 1, 4, 9, or 16 per square works out perfectly in the square meter set up.
The only other change is in the ingredients of Mel's Mix (See "How To" Rule # 4). In many parts of the world you cannot find peat moss (the first ingredient). However, there are many good substitutions and especially in tropical areas there is ground coconut fiber. Incidentally, sawdust is not a good substitute. The second ingredient, Vermiculite, is mined and usually found all over the world. There are some mines that are contaminated with asbestos so it's important to find out ahead of time from the supplier if it has been certified for gardening use. I've been told that everything sold in this country comes from safe and clean mines.
The last ingredient, compost, is available anywhere in the world. It's homemade and it's one of the most ecological sensible things for anyone in any country to do. Obviously the warmer the climate the faster plants grow and the more materials there will be for composting. In our travels to many third world countries who exclaim "We are so poor here we don't have anything, not even compost", we look around and there is such an abundance of material that all they need is a little persuasion, education and helping hand to get started. In fact, in several of our travels, some people from the audience have come up and said "Wouldn't that make a good home business to start making compost and selling it as a planting soil?" The answer of course is, go to it!
I've often said that you never know where your next turn will be and as Casey Stengel once said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it". That advice has taken me down some very interesting roads.
Haiti Gardens
It was sometime back in the early 90s, when my good friends Pat & Connie Lahr, of Maple Lake, Minnesota, asked me to come to Haiti with them to experience their mission to teach the Haitian poor how to square-foot garden and make them more self sufficient. They have been doing this for many years and have set up quite a program with a lot of support.
I was very hesitant to accept the invitation and even more apprehensive about actually going because Haiti was not the most stable country at that time, and I believe Papa Doc was still heading the government, but military and private coups were happening all the time, it seemed.
As we landed and traveled to their apartment in the city, we saw the usual military presence found in many developing countries. There were lots of army vehicles, men, and guns all over the place, but things seemed stable enough, so I started to relax. They took me on many excursions through Haiti, including some of the very poorest parts of the cities (make-shift shanties and cardboard shacks).
But, all the local people were very interested in why we were there and were very hospitable and easy to get along with. Pat and Connie had set up several demonstration gardens and we taught square-foot gardening with the help of interpreters and good-ole stand-by sign language when all else failed.
Several things stand out in my mind when I think about that trip. The first was goats. You have to be in one of these countries to appreciate how many goats, chickens, and other animals run loose throughout the towns and countryside, and they will eat or dig-up just about any garden as soon as you plant it. They are always scrounging for food. I just told the people to get some chicken wire to cover each 4 foot x 4 foot plot. I explained, with great pride, that square-foot gardening condenses your garden down to only 20% or 1/5 the space of a conventional single-row garden, which incidentally was what they were being taught by their government and agricultural experts. My, my, when will the world learn that single-row gardening is an antiquated wasteful, harmful way to garden, even to farm, for that matter.
PIC LEFT After showing them how little space they need, I said, now to keep out the goats or chickens, all you have to do is cover this 4 foot x 4 foot garden with some chicken wire. Make a frame out of any other kind of wire or pipe, and then cover it, and you will be able to lift the whole thing off and tend to it, and yet it will keep all those animals out. Well, they merrily shrugged their shoulders and finally said, we dont have any chicken wire. We are a poor country and poor people, and we have nothing like that. You cant find wire or metal thrown anywhere.
Well, I was stunned for a little while. How to solve their problem? Bamboo fences and covers might work, but they in themselves were a lot of work to make and no one seemed really interested in this extra work. Then one morning I woke up with that light bulb on in my brain. How could we keep the animals out of the garden? Well, lets locate the garden where they dont or cant get to, the rooftops. Every building in Haiti has a flat roof and I was told that they were strong enough to stand and walk on, so why not put a ladder up and build our 4 x 4s right up there. Youll get better sun, no vandalism (take the ladder down at night), no animals, and just about a perfect spot for a garden. Because square foot gardening uses a light-weight soil and compost mix, there really wasnt much extra weight on the roof, and since we control the watering, that would also not cause any problems. Using scrap lumber, sticks, or tree bamboo and a sheet of plastic to contain the water inside the garden, it turned out to be a snap. It took a little getting used to watering so that the garden did not become soggy, and yet it was kept moist for the plants sake. Sorry about that goats!
Last year at one of our international training camps in Florida, I met someone who goes to Haiti a lot, and she said a remarkable thing. She was telling about her work there, and said, you know, a lot of the gardens in Haiti are located on the rooftops. I was very pleased at that and so you see, one person can make a difference in the world, even if it is just from one idea.
Another thing that comes to mind from that trip is the Peace Corps. In my travels around Haiti, and actually since then all over the world, Ive met many Peace Corps members. What a dedicated group they are. Quite often they were volunteered by the hosting organization in whatever country I was in as an interpreter for my talks and clinics. The first thing that all of the Peace Corps people said was, Wow, now I can have a garden right here, so I can have some fresh vegetables. The next thing they all said is, you should go to Washington D.C. to meet our headquarters and explain to them how perfect square-foot gardening is for the third-world developing countries.
What most people seem to grasp and comment on when I explain SFG is that, no matter what someone is doing in another country, whether they are teaching or helping with schools, or medical facilities, the additional knowledge they could present to that locality and its people about a new method of gardening that takes so little space, yet provides so much for those who need the extra nutrition and food sources, just fits in so well. I know many organizations send groups of people to a developing country to some small locale in order to build a new hospital or clinic or new school, and they are there for many, many months. Well, why not at the same time be able to teach square-foot gardening to all the local people. It works anywhere in the world and it will enhance and enrich everyone...
It was good advice, but like everything else in our busy lives, I never got around to it. Does anyone out there have any connections with the Peace Corps or with the government in D.C., or for that matter do you have any connection with any organization that sends volunteers, missionaries, or help to other countries. We would like to contact and tell them all about the square-foot gardening system. Incidentally, we have converted square-foot gardening to square-meter gardening for those areas of the world that use the metric system.
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HAITI GARDENS was established in 1985 by Pat and Connie Lahr of Minnesota, to empower the people of Haiti to plant small vegetable gardens near their homes to combat malnutrition.
Each year from 2,000 families have been involved with the program. In 2003, 4 project leaders are directly working with 360 families and 4 classrooms of students.
SFG in Africa
Hi ALL of you.
Well two of your SFG students are off to Africa this coming Monday for 7 months in Malawi, Rwanda and Ethiopia. And of all things we are on a mission to teach and train trainers on new ways to grow their own food using SFG and other methods ... over there we call it Compost Gardening. You may see some bucket gardens also.
Our Montana Africa Garden test of growing in straight compost, outperformed all of our other gardens this summer hands down (see attached file). There will be over 45 kilos from this 120 cm square. Exciting and as we leave tomorrow - this African Style SFG is still in explosive growth at home in Montana USA. What a wonderful gift to give folks that are hurting for quality and quantity of food made for free from junk and garbage. Be praying for us. Thank you.
We have started a travel blog for folks to keep track of where we are and what's going on ... so stay tuned if you like and also feed us more good ideas as we are still in a steep learning curve about new ways to feed the world.
Take care
Wayne and Connie class of 2008 on SFG --- If it was not for this class we would not be on this long-term mission trip
Wayne & Connie Burleson
Humanitarian Food Gardening Project
GLOBAL WARMING
Mel wrote this in 2007 so you can see he was ahead of the solution even before we knew it was a problem.
See what you think.
Everyone agrees that global warming is coming. Did we cause it? Who knows?
Some say, "Yes we better change our ways." Others say "No, its a natural phenomenon and there is little we can do." Who is right and who is wrong, and mostly who cares at this point?
Global warming is no ordinary problem.
It's the problem of our times, and our childrens times. Solving it will require the efforts of the best minds of our generation. It might just be a wakeup call for humanity. It's an excellent reason to change our ways. Stop polluting our earth. Stop wasting our water, and our energy!
(1) However, There is something we all can do, and its so simple and easy that its ridiculous. We can all start just one small Square Foot Garden, right in our back or front yard, patio, deck, or even balcony or porch.
What good is that going to do you ask?
Keep in mind SFG uses no polluting fertilizers, insecticides or pesticides. No big noisy, smelly roto-tiller. No gas, oil or grease will be used. You won't have to drive to the store continually to buy more seeds, then some more heavy and expensive tools. All you need is a one dollar trowel. You'll only need 10% of the normal water. The list goes on and on. Eliminating all those things that no longer are needed means they don't have to be manufactured. No need for raw materials to be transported across the country polluting the air and the quiet of the country side, then products transported back again, causing more traffic congestion which results in constant replacement of roads and bridges.
How could a small garden do all that you ask? Well check the numbers.
If there are 300 million people in the USA, divide that by 2 for couples and we have 150 million households, all of which have room for at least one 4x4 SFG. A balcony does it with a 2x8 SFG and still gives you 16 sq. feet. Planting each sq. foot with a different crop and rotating crops every season, you will harvest at least 3 crops every year. Lets say for easy calculating, each crop produces 1 lb. of food per square foot, per season.
We now have the astronomical figure of 7,200 million pounds of food every year that doesnt have to be transported, refrigerated, stored, boxed, handled, wasted and RECALLED. Add another zillion pounds of food that states like, Florida, Texas, California, and Hawaii will add to their total because they have four seasons to grow in. . . . Are you impressed yet? You should be and the most exciting part is this can all be done all over the world. Do you like big numbers? Do the math for China.
One of the biggest advantages of SFG is that it can be done all over the world the same way using nothing but compost for the Mels Mix. Making compost cleans up the neighborhood, protects the environment and will help produce the Green Earth we all want! At a cost of zero dollars of government money. No increase of your taxes folks. Could you just imagine the cost if we had the government do all this?
Back to the solution to pollution and global warming-
(2) Heres why a Square Foot Garden could be one of the best things to have in 2007 and beyond:
• The method is irrefutable
• The solution is clear
• Something must be done NOW, and every day there is a more critical need for solutions that will fight global warming
Advantages of Square Foot Gardening:
Advantages
New Method - Easy to understand
User Friendly - Great for beginners
Locate Anywhere - Close to your house
Economical - Reduces everything 5 to 1
Efficient - Twice as much in half the space
Easy to Protect from pests and weather
Earth Friendly - Reduce Reuse Recycle
Very Productive - Just enough as you need it
(3) Everyone is flocking to so-called clean or green technologies that cut down on green house gas emissions, notably carbon dioxide, reduce non-renewable fossil fuel and conserve water resources. But its going to cost a bundle of money. Why not start with something that is practically free and has no side effects?
(4) We need a clean and green revolution striking at the heart of the global warming problem.
(5) SFG is uniquely positioned to help serve that mission with a gardening method that eliminates carbon dioxide emissions, reduces dirty energy uses, and conserves water everywhere in the world.
(6) The problem is real. The solution is here. The time is now.
If you agree, please copy this article and send to everyone you know. Its their problem too.
If you don't agree, write me and tell me why.
Thank you all.
Mel Bartholomew - Inventor, Author, and Founder of the Square Foot Gardening Foundation
Mel in New Orleans!
Mel's Last Trip to New Orleans May, 2009
I want to tell you about my last speaking engagement trip because it turned out to be so eventful and exciting. It originally started as an invitation to speak before the Louisiana Master Gardeners in New Orleans on a Friday. Then, it was decided that, as long as I would be in New Orleans, the land grant college in Louisiana, LSU, might also like to have an event on the next day. So, that was arranged for Saturday.
At the same time, Mike in Monroe Louisiana, has been working on a community-wide garden for many months now, and we have been back and forth helping each other set it up and get it built. This was primarily for a whole group of handicapped folks in a nearby village, but it expanded into the community, and then the First Presbyterian Church decided to help out, and Mike was able to get some land donated, and then a water connection from someone else and it kept growing.
He then received some very old, used, railroad ties, which seemed safe because all the creosote had evaporated from them, to set up their gardens. So, he laid out 4' x 16' gardens, and then he got donations and help for making Mels Mix and the grids. He also built some raised beds on legs for the handicapped in wheelchairs, and those that couldnt get up and down very easily. So, Mike took a wild chance and wrote me if I would come and give a talk in the community and help with the gardens.
As it turned out, each one of these 3 locations was a 2 to 3 hour drive apart, however, we worked out all the logistics, and the weekend just turned out to be perfect. I took, Alan, our video man, with me to record everything, and were hoping to make some videos of these types of events, and show whats being done around the country. The keynote talk at the Master Gardeners luncheon on Friday went very well. A few equipment failures, but we got by those and had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun. There was a good crowd at their annual convention, and then we held 2 workshops after that where we got everyone to actually do the hand sawing and the drilling, and putting boxes together, and then, with the big tarp, mixing the ingredients for Mels Mix, and getting the boxes all set up with plywood bottoms, and everyone pitched in and got a hands-on adventure.
That evening, at their Jazz Festival, they had a book signing for all the authors that were there, and that was very enjoyable with all the people coming and getting their book signed, and telling me all the stories of what they have done with Square Foot Gardening. I was amazed at how many people had some of the original books, not only on this day, but on all my trips and speaking engagements that I make. It's fun to hear their stories about how they were introduced to Square Foot Gardening and even to the stories of how they sat on their fathers knee and watched me on television way back when they were a child. Makes you realize how many years have gone by since I wrote the very first book on Square Foot Gardening, 1981.
Halfway through the book signing, I was whisked away, and put in a car, and taken to Baton Rouge, where we were put up in a very comfortable and elegant hotel by the Ag Department of LSU, but the next morning all the events started all over again.
The talk was sold out to capacity, and what a nice group of people; again, a lot of followers of Square Foot Gardening plus a lot of new people that wanted to learn the easy, no work way, after that a book signing, and then a workshop outside. Again, everyone pitching in with power drills, and making drainage holes, and putting screws in the wood, and making the boxes and mixing the soil.
That was just barely finished when we hopped in a car and were whisked away to Monroe, Louisiana. Mike had come to pick Alan and me up, and our next stop was Mikes home town of Monroe, and we saw all the public gardens that Mike had created. And, the next day, Sunday, right after church, we were able to fill the churchs community room, had a wonderful lecture, again an awful lot of enthusiasm, and then, after book signing and meeting the crowd, we went across the street to the public gardens, where we gave a demonstration on how to plant and take care of all your plants. Louisiana gardening is quite different than everywhere else in the country because of the heat and humidity and the general weather conditions.
The gardens looked beautiful, and it took a while to explain the Square Foot gardening way to some that had already started their gardens the old-fashioned way with little rows in their beds, and a conglomeration of too many plants, and too small a space. I was amazed and impressed with the number of supports that people used to hold up tomatoes. The problem is when you first plant a tomato plant; its a small seedling of perhaps 6 to a good sized plant of 1 foot tall. So, a 2' piece of bamboo stuck in the ground seems like it will be just fine without realizing that plant is going to grow 6' tall. So, we talked about using the tomato towers that we sell on our website, and I showed them the soft unbreakable netting that we use. I think were going to see some major changes in how to support, not only tomatoes, but all the vine crops at the Monroe gardens.
One of the nicest complements was a letter I just got from Mike, not only thanking us for coming and for the trip, but to tell about a lady that had been at the lecture was so excited that she immediately wanted one of the spaces, and when Mike had to tell her they'd been all sold out, and they won't be expanding the garden until next fall, she became very upset and distraught. But the story had a nice conclusion, because the couple immediately went to one of the bookstores, and found the All New Square Foot Gardening Book. By the way, we had sold out everything we had taken on the trip; next time I'll know to take a few more hundred books along. But, she bought the book, took her husband, he bought the lumber and everything they needed. They followed all the advice from the lecture. And they came back to Mike and said, "Now can we have a space, and we'll build our own gardens?" So, he did, and here are some pictures of the garden they built, all with grids and already started to be planted. So, it shows how enthused people can become once they learn how easy it is to build and maintain a Square Foot Garden.
There are a few more events coming up this summer. We're hoping to expand our 3-day symposium for certifying SFG teachers. We think that Paul in Ohio will be able to set up a 3-day event there in August. We will have our 3 day symposium in September here in Utah, and then, Dave and Harry in British Columbia, are planning on a 3-day event in October, in Vernon, BC. All dates to be announced soon. I will also be at the August Independent Nursery mens convention at Navy Pier in Chicago, and I hope to see some of you there. Im going to have an offer where you can get in free to see all the booths and exhibits and meet me there, and were also hoping to create a 2-day garden festival in Moline, IL. Karen is working hard on that event, trying to set up the plans with several of the local community organizations in order to create community gardens. This is apparently a very depressed area because of all the large factories that have closed. It was a place that President Obama visited to highlight the plight of all those unemployed. We're going to be there in order to teach people how to cut their food bill in half by building and growing a Square Foot Garden right outside their back door.
So, theres a lot happening, even though summer will be here in just a few weeks. I hope your garden is doing well, and if you havent already, read the article in Methods about Mel's tomato towers for Fathers Day.
Below is another great story from that trip! Take a read!
Monroe, L.A. Story
Hello Mel,
I have a story to tell you. I got a call Early this week from a lady who came to your seminar here in Monroe. She was so elated that she called me and told me she wanted a spot in our garden. After I told her that I would put her on a list for this fall when we enlarge our garden, she became very frustrated.
Her name is Ernestine, and she called back a couple of hours later to tell me she still wanted a garden in our spot. I again told her we did not have any more plots for this year. She proceeded to then tell me that she went to LOWES and bought the last SFG book they had and went to the other departments and bought everything to make a Mel Bartholomew Square Foot Garden.
I met her and her husband at the garden on Saturday at noon and we put together 2 of your square foot 4x4 gardens with a grid and Mel's Mix. She came back late in the evening, because of the heat, and finished her squares with plants. So there you have the story.
Thanks for being here.
Mike Roberts,
ARCO ROYAL AVE COMMUNITY GARDEN COORDINATOR
Meet the 2009 August Ohio Certified SFG Teachers
What a great class of people who came to Newark, Ohio, to attend and graduate from our 3-day certification seminar in August. Many states were represented, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky. On Saturday, August 29th, Mel had 4 of the graduates on his radio show which was broadcast remotely from the Second Presbyterian Church in Newark, Ohio, where the final graduation ceremonies were held for the following now certified SFG teachers:
Anita Groff, Claire Rossbach, Dale Wheeler, Derek Hawkins, David Wing, Frank Richards, Joan Richards, Karen Henderson, Karen Roberts, Lance Crandall, Laurann Willis, Lori Smith, Rasean Snodgrass, Robert McCreary, Ron Emery, Susan James, Susan Willis Jackson, and Tom Denning.
Special thanks go out to Cassie Daula who organized and arranged all the details for the seminar. She did an outstanding job. I had met Cassie previously when I was in Columbus, Ohio for their 2009 annual Home and Garden show, and Cassie expressed an interest in holding one of these 3-day seminars and said she could run the whole thing, which she did in grand style. The die has now been set because 5 of our graduating class said they would like to hold a 3-day certification seminar in their state next year. So, it looks like were going to having many more 3-day seminars held perhaps close to where you live. Or, would you like to hold one in your state? Now, as far as certified teachers, whos next? Theres a seminar September 24- 26 2008 in Eden, Utah, Mels home town. The class of 2008, Utah is doing great things, not only in this country, but even overseas. As we send out this letter, one of the couples from that class is now in Africa doing one of their special projects. If you arent coming to Utah next week, then there is another seminar in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada October 22- 24. So get signed up and help spread the word of SFG all over the world.
The longest foot
Square Foot gardener Mel Bartholomew talks about his method of growing big produce in little spaces
By D. Brian Burghart
brianb_newsreview.com
Mel Bartholomew is the author of the biggest-selling gardening book ever, Square Foot Gardening, which was published in 1981. He got his gardening start after retiring from his career as a civil engineer. He grew frustrated at the wastefulness of traditional gardening methods and began experimenting with new ways to use resources more efficiently. In 2006, he published All New Square Foot Gardening, which again rocketed to the bestseller lists. Nowadays, the gardening guru is heading up a nonprofit, the Square Foot Foundation, to teach people in poor countries how to grow food with limited recourses. He's going to teach a seminar in Reno, Everything You Need to Know about Square-Foot Gardening, on May 2 at Moana Lane Nursery.
I have been using many of your techniques from the first book for many years now, but I have to admit I haven't bought the new one yet.
You're in for a big surprise. We've made 10 major improvements to the system to make it even easier, even better, less work.
Let's talk about those improvements.
Well, in the first one, I said to lay out a 4-foot-by-4-foot area. Of course, pick a good location. And then dig up the first six inches of your soil. Put that aside and to those six inches of your existing soil, were going to add two inches each of three different ingredients: peat moss, vermiculite and compost. Mix it all together, and you now have 12 inches of improved soil. And because you have 12 inches, you now have to build a box to hold the extra six. So now the original square-foot system was growing in 12 inches of improved soil. It's still divided up with a grid. I had the boxes spaced 12 inches apart, and I was using just a plank of 1-by-12 to lay down and walk on. That proved much too narrow, especially when the plants grew. So one of the improvements is to make your boxes at least three feet apart, even four, if you want to have more room to get in.
The major improvement goes back to digging up your existing soil. What happened, Brian, is I went around the country, and everyone's saying, Oh, it's wonderful, it works great, but- (and you know, every time you hear but, you wonder-) what's coming now? They said, "It's a lot of work." And I'd say, "Hey, you used to have to dig up your whole garden!" I went back to the drawing boards, and I experimented with trying to grow in less depth. What I ended up finding, after growing for a year and experimenting, is plants, all plants, including plants that we thought were deep-rooted plants, like corn, and tomatoes all plants will grow better in six inches of perfect soil than in 12 inches of improved soil. So now we don't have to improve our existing soil.
Right. OK.
So, those same six inches that we used to add to our existing soil, you can forget about adding. Forget about digging. Just build a box six inches deep on top of your existing soil, take out any weeds or grass, put down a weed cloth, so weeds won't come up into your good soil, and you fill your box with six inches of perfect soil. It's the same two inches of peat moss, two inches of vermiculite and two inches of compost. And your plants will do much better than before, and there's no work.
In layers or do you mix it up?
Yeah, those three ingredients get mixed. And you put a grid on top of it and divide the surface into 16 squares for a 4-by-4. Kids use a 3-by-3 because they can't reach in.
That's what I use, too.
You walk around your box, and you reach in. You never walk on your growing soil. If you never walk on it; it never gets packed down. And because it's a perfect soil, it holds it's structure, whereas existing soil packs down even if you don't walk on it. Now you have a perfect soil. It holds water, and it also breathes air. If it has too much water, it drains out the bottom so the plants can get air. The plants can get air, which is what they have to have.
That's what the water does, it delivers oxygen to the roots, right?
The roots sort of breathe just like we do. So now you have six inches of perfect soil, and it will last forever. So what I devised is when you harvest, for each square foot, you add just a handful of compost. Just mix it in, and it reenergizes that soil. So now what we're doing is getting crop rotation and soil improvement and you don't even have to know anything about soils. It's kind of like tools, if you don't have to know whether soil is clay, or silt, or sandy, you don't have to learn any of that anymore. So there's very little you have to learn to do Square-Foot Gardening. We realized that people who have failed, or brand new gardeners who are afraid to start, are afraid of failure, so this makes it much easier for them to start because they don't have to learn a lot of stuff.
Did we get to 10 improvements?
We got the spacing, don't dig up your existing soil, the handful of compost each time, crop rotation, then there's a protection of the soil.
What do you mean by that?
When you make the soil mix, it's very loose and very friable. And people would write and say, "My cat thinks I made a new litter box," or "My dog digs in it because it's so nice." So we developed a cage, this is in the new book in pictures, so you can see how to make it you make a cage that fits right over your existing garden, 4-by-4, it's made out of chicken wire.
Is that an improvement? That's the one I use, maybe I invented it before you. It's just four inches tall with chicken wire over the top to keep the quail out.
[Ours] we make two feet high. The higher you make it, the taller the plants can grow. Because you [don't] want them to grow through, and then you can't take it off. So, yeah, if you have quail there, and they come and eat the young seedlings or even the seed, it's perfect for them. The other thing is, if it's two feet high in the springtime, you can throw a piece of plastic over it. Now you have yourself a green house, and it has enough height to let the heat out.
That would be good for things like lettuce, too. You could keep them from bolting when the summer comes in ...
You can put shade cloth over it. That'll hold the lettuce, that'll keep cabbage from bolting, too. The other major improvement is you don't use fertilizer now. In the original book, because we were improving existing ground, you had to add fertilizer. We gave you a choice: commercial, chemical or organic. Now, because one-third of this new soil is compost, all-organic, all natural. We found in research and testing all over the world that average amount of organic matter in natural soil is about 3 percent. Wer'e adding 10 times as much, so that means plants will grow much, much better. And now with the new green movement, no fertilizer just fits in perfectly.
