Dear Square Foot,

We have lots of exciting news here at SFG! Our Garden Shop is almost ready to open and our new office is going strong! With Spring coming fast, we are excited for another great season for SFG.

This Month's News:

• Get Ready 2009
• Spread the Word About SFG
• Mel's Philosophy - Hand Watering Part 1
• See Mel at the Central Ohio Home & Garden Show
• New Garden Shop Items

Get Ready 2009

Hey, it's almost time for spring planting!  WHEN and WHAT is the key question.  WHEN to plant all depends on the expected date of your final spring frost. Who knows that for your area?  Your County agricultural  extension agent does. Look him up in the telephone book under your County offices and call to get the date. It is very easy  to find your local Extension Office, go to www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/  find  the USA map, click on your state, it will list every county and their  contact information.

Then go to my book, "The ALL  NEW Square Foot Gardening Book."  Look on page 254 for the planting charts.  The first one tells you WHAT vegetables to plant and WHEN.  It even tells you if you should plant them as seeds in the ground or as a transplant that you either started yourself indoors or bought at the local nursery. Most people just buy their cabbage and broccoli plants at the nursery. It's a lot easier but costs a lot more.  

If your planting seeds outdoors, page 252 tells you how long those seeds will take to sprout at different temperatures. If it's too early and cold when you plant, they will just rot in the ground. So, get ready to start your outdoor planting soon and make this the best year ever with your Square Foot Garden!

Help spread the word about SFG

We have found that one of the best ways to spread the good word and advantages of SFG are what they call "gorilla marketing"; it's telling one person or another at the office, church, or shop. Then those people will tell others and pretty soon it is known all over town. It is not exactly like gossip but it spreads just as quickly and easily. So, would you help us spread the word of this unique gardening system? Tell as many people as often as you can about your experience with Square Foot Gardening.

There are a lot of imitators and knock off systems cropping up all over the gardening industry just like weeds. Some are books, gardening kits or just the infringement on the trademark name Square Foot Gardening™. Some of these are:

• cubic foot gardening
• square inch gardening
• gardening by the foot
• layered beds
• grid gardening
• raised beds

...but the original Square Foot Gardening is still king of the mountain.

I might have mentioned once before that Amazon has a rating system for the four million books they sell and last week SFG book broke into the top 100 placing 95th out of the entire four million. We need you to help spread the word so people will know what Square Foot Gardening is all about.  Send them to the official and original SFG website as a start. Here is a short list of how to do that:

• Tell all your friends and family in person, by phone, or email.
• Mention the same to all your friends and co-workers at the office, shop, and church.
• Give a short talk - just ten minutes - in those same places with the permission of those in charge.
• Show the 3 minute trailer on a computer to anyone who would like to learn a little more. You can download this DVD from our website link or we will send you a DVD  free just for the asking. The DVD comes in a nice case with  pictures and explanations. Send your requests to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
• We've opened free accounts on Facebook, Myspace, and Youtube. You can visit our sites by clicking on these links or make your own account. You can post our 3 minute DVD trailer to your account, add photos or videos, as well as some photos and description of your Square Foot Garden. You can become our friend, fan, and comment on our sites. We have videos, discussions, and lots of pictures. As a fan on Facebook you can add your pictures and videos to our page.
• If you have not done so, why not share photos of your garden on our web site under the Showcase of Gardens. Everyone loves to visit them, here's the link. http://www.squarefootgardening.com/NeighGarden.htm

Help a friend or relative to start a SFG and plan to make your SFG the best ever this year.

Mel's Philosophy For Hand-Watering

Part I

When people ask what is my general philosophy of Square-Foot Gardening, I say that I like to treat my plants as if they were my children. This helps answer questions like how much and how often to water plants and how to protect and take care of them. For example, when I say that the best way to water is by hand, using a cup from a bucket of sun-warmed water, I immediately see heads turning in the audience and their hands just itching to go up, to ask the usual questions: 'Why warm water?' 'How much water?' 'How often ?' I answer, 'If these plants were your children, would you give them a cold bath?' Of course not. Besides, do plants grow better in warm weather or cold? Obviously, warm-so why would you turn a cold-water hose on your plants when you could gently ladle out warm water onto their root area? (This also saves water by keeping their tops dry. Is saving water important to you?)  And that's just one of the many advantages of SFG.

More to come next month...

March 7th and 8th Central Ohio Home & Garden Show

Mel will be the principle speaker on Saturday March 7th at 6:00 pm and Sunday March 8th at 11:30 am and 1:30 pm. Mel will be discussing the SFG method and how to cut your grocery bill in half. The show is going to be held at the Ohio Expo Center located at 717 E. 17th Ave. Columbus, OH.

New Garden Shop Items!

We are going to have a SFG DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM ,one for every size box you have.  It will be ready for sale in just 10 days, so count down and figure out which boxes you will want to add this convenient system too. Then when it is time to plant peppers, eggplant and tomatoes, we are going to have a unique tomato plant tray that will enhance your yield all summer long. Plus the best box of all, an ALL NEW  vinyl pyramid!  Never been done before but we will have it ready at the same time.  So look out March 10th.
We are so happy to be able to share all this exciting news with you. Please check the website for updates. Thank you all for your business and support.

Sincerely,

Mel Bartholomew
Square Foot Gardening