Earlier this week we talked about the concept of square foot gardening. Now you can view the following tutorial which is an adaptation of the process outlined in Mel Bartholomew's apprpriately-titled book "Square Foot Gardening."

The folks who came up with this how-to guide live in a townhouse and therefore have limited space, but still mantain this is "super easy, lots of fun."

Intro: Urban Homestead Garden (squarefoot gardening abridged)
We're turning the concrete jungle backyard of our townhome into an experiment in sustainable urban homesteading. Here's how you can add some OCD (i.e. easy to maintain) gardening space using an adaption on Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening practices (build up, don't dig down and organize in sq. ft.).

http://www.squarefootgardening.com

Step 1: Planning and Materials
Bartholomew's plans call for 4'x4' boxes with space for walkways around the edges. This makes the perfect size to reach the garden from all sides. Not having the luxury for space, we cut this down to 2'x4' boxes since we wouldn't be able to access the back of the box. So adjust your materials accordingly if you go full size.

MATERIALS we needed for 2 2'x4' boxes:
- 3 pieces of 1"x6"x10' lumber*
- screws (we used 2" decking since we had some laying around)
- covering for the bottom (we used old window screen, but plastic, fabric, plywood would work too)
- industrial screws
- String
- compost, newspaper, potting soil of choice (See Bartholomew's site @ http://www.squarefootgardening.com for his super mixture. This should probably vary depending on what you will be growing though.)
- Plants and/or seeds

TOOLS
- Saw (we used a jigsaw since we are masochistic...I mean live in a townhouse and don't have the room for a table saw)
- Industrial Stapler
- Electric Screw Driver

See the rest of the instructions after the jump and click here to read a review of the book that spawned this idea.

» Instructables