Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening" is a must-read for those who want to plant a garden but have limited space. One of our readers decided to not only read the book but also to give the innovative gardening concept a try and was kind enough to tell us about his results. Check out the book on Amazon after the jump and continue reading for some  lessons learned during the process.

A few months ago I wrote an article about a fairly new gardening concept called square-foot gardening.  We’re now well into August and I’ve been able to watch my little experiment grow for the past few months.  I thought I would share a couple lessons I learned along the way.

Plant vegetables that you like – I planted two squares worth of radishes and they grew like weeds.  Not too long after planting I was able to harvest a plateful of beautiful looking radishes.  After a few days of eating them, I realized that I was not the biggest fan of radishes and would have been better off replacing one of the squares with another square of carrots.

Be careful when you plant (and water) – After my initial seeding I proceeded to water my new seeds according to the guidelines in the book.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t put the dish-shaped depression into the soil as suggested and I hadn’t tamped down the soil/vermiculite mixture after covering the seeds.  This resulted in a number of my seeds washing away or washing out of the soil never to be seen again.  For example, I planted an entire square of spinach that never materialized.

Supplementary fertilizing – I only fertilized as part of the initial soil/seeding process and this was a big mistake.  Whether you use natural fertilizer (compost or manure) or a synthetic type like Miracle-Gro, it will greatly boost the production of your crop.

Be prepared for anything – We had an extremely late cold snap/snow where I live and subsequently it was past the suggested planting date by the time I got my garden in.  We also got a stretch of really hot weather this summer, which required frequent watering.  I was fortunate not to have any pests in my garden, but you may have to deal with rabbits, slugs, and other things that want your crop.  If you accept the fact that you’ll probably run into a little bit of hardship with your garden, you’ll be less frustrated when it comes along.

So overall what did I think of square-foot gardening?  I think it gives traditional gardening a good run for its money.  Having the garden close to the house as the book suggests meant that it wasn’t a chore to head out and spend a few minutes weeding or watering.  Having my entire plot within an arm’s reach from all sides meant not having to tiptoe through rows of produce to do weeding.  The thing I liked most about it (and gardening overall) was the satisfaction and pride of using my own vegetables in a salad at dinner.  I’ll be doing it again next year, but with two plots instead of one.

» Amazon