Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS)'s Reviews > All New Square Foot Gardening

I purchased my 1981 edition of SQUARE FOOT GARDENING in the early 1980's when I was fairly new to gardening. At the time I had limited space and my husband had built me some raised beds. I was able to invest both time and money and grew some fairly decent vegetables. What I learned is that smaller plants such as lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes and onions did well provided that you use good soil to avoid disease problems. It is also important for you to rotate crops.

Another plus was that it was easy to contain the beds with netting to avoid pests and frosts/freezes. The experience I gained by using this book as a guide helped prevent future mistakes years later. Vertical climbing for melons and cukes did not fair as well. Some vegetables just do better with plenty of space.

In this edition growing potatoes is not listed. Forget about watermelons and winter squash. Small summer squash varieties would provide a few things to eat but healthier bigger plants need more space. My experience with growing tomatoes and large pepper plants using Mr. Bartholomew's methods stressed the vegetables.

So, almost thirty years later, who would I say would have success with this book? Those looking to grow the smaller vegetables. Parents and teachers trying to instill the love of gardening with young children. Handicapped persons that have access to high-rise raised beds. Someone that wants to try herb gardening using caution with invasive herbs (mints) and ones that take up too much space (rosemary comes to mind). I no longer use his book but the experience I have gained growing different vegetables was worth trying his method at that time. I am now going to donate my copy to our local library.