The Urban Omnivore

A great way to improve your sustainable living is to grow your own food. Since most of us don’t have our own acres of land to farm on, we turn to gardening. For those of us who are “rurally challenged” (i.e. city dwellers), or just have land in short supply, there is a great method of gardening that produces high vegetable yields in a small amount of space. And for those of us who are “motivationally challenged” (i.e. we put the lazy in lazy Sunday), it takes a surprisingly small amount of effort to gain tremendous satisfaction. The method is called Square Foot Gardening (SFG).

Of course, there is some degree of sweat equity that needs to be built up at the beginning. That being said, the materials are relatively cheap and the construction is easy. Plus you get to use everyone’s favorite tool… the cordless power drill!

In part one of “Introduction To Square Foot Gardening”, I’ll detail how I constructed my SFG boxes.

Tools:

• Power drill and drill bits
• Screwdriver (optional if you have a screwdriver bit for your drill)
• Measuring tape
• Pencil or pen

Materials (for each box… I built two boxes):

• 4 UNTREATED 2×6 boards cut into 4 foot pieces. Treated wood contains chemicals that are harmful to plants and animals (that means you!)… Buy untreated wood. At my local hardware store, I purchased two 8 foot, pine 2×6 boards. The store cut them each in half for free. I was hoping to find cedar as it would hold up to the elements better but no one in the area carried it.
• 9 wood lath boards cut into 4 foot pieces - or similarly thin pieces of wood (moulding would work)
• 12 coarse-thread deck screws (outdoor use) - 3.5 to 4 inches long
• 13 smaller screws (outdoor use) - long enough to go all the way through two of your grid pieces (wood lath or moulding). I used 5/8 inch screws.

Construction:

1. Attach two 2×6 boards end-to-end; drill three holes evenly spaced through one board into the other; drill the deck screws into the pre-drilled holes

2. Complete the frame by attaching the other two boards in the form of a square. Make sure you rotate the corners for stability and to guarantee that you have a square when you’re finished

3. Lay out your nine wood laths in a grid on top of the frame. Start by locating the center of the frame (it should be 25 inches from the outside edge) and marking it with your pen or pencil. Then split each half (at 12.5 inches) and mark again. There is no need to weave the laths into each other since you will be holding them all together with the smaller screws.

4. Once the laths are arranged, secure them at their connections using the smaller screws. Pre-drill the holes at first to prevent splitting. You may find that you can drill the screws directly in without pre-drilling.
5. You can attach the grid to the frame by screwing in the center pieces.

That’s it! You now have a secure and interesting looking frame to begin your Square Foot Garden. Part two of this series (coming soon) will discuss weed protection and soil.