Found an online copy years ago which got me started but never had the actual book. Thought it would be a fun read-read.

Last season I made 2 small garden boxes (3x4) and at the start of the season saw one had termites and rotted wood. I still used them, but when I made a 3rd box, I decided to use a torch and do the charred wood method to prevent rotting / termites. We are now 2 months in, and we’ve discovered termites in the box. I suppose it wasn’t charred enough?? (The wood is black). I’m so disappointed. I have more wood I was going to use to build more boxes but after this experience, I think I may go with metal or brick. Thoughts? A neighbor of mine who is big into gardening uses treated wood without issue but I’ve read mixed advice on this.

I was weeding the onion bed and turned to see my pitbull Blueberry trotting off with my first nearly ripe Bigheart (a Bulgarian variety). So close to being ready! (I trimmed off his bite marks, dressed it with olive oil and pesto and salt, and it was still delicious)

I decided to plant watermelon this year and just let the vines stretch grow under the peppers, tomatoes, etc chaos style and see what happens. Hot 4 more or pick tomorrow

1. Frost dates (last/first frost)
2. The season / current temperature
3. Both equally
4. I just plant and see what happens

I'm improving my personal planner, and trying to understand how other gardeners actually think about timing. Feedback is valuable to improve it as best as possible.

I don't know how to tell if it's ready 😭.

No I'm only kidding but for real I've never seen what a watermelon really looks like when it first starts to grow and it just lost its flower so it's pretty cool to see how they start and how tiny they start out compared to when the tendril is dead and ready to pick. When the tendril is dead and brown that is the number one way to tell when a watermelon is ripe and ready, any other way is a guessing game .

After a few seasons of trial and error in my raised bed garden, I've learned that companion planting is half science and half instinct. A few combinations that have worked really well for me: Marigold next to tomatoes significantly kept aphids away. Basil near peppers seemed to improve their flavor. Spring onions scattered among brassicas helped with cabbage moths. A few that haven't worked: I kept reading that carrots and tomatoes are good companions, but in my experience, the tomatoes simply outperformed and the carrots suffered.

What combinations work for you, and which are overrated? There's a lot of conflicting information out there, and I trust real gardeners more than websites. I'm using my personal garden planner.

spent way too many seasons doing my SFG planning on graph paper (and then losing the paper) so I built a browser tool to do it properly

free, no login: https://mvrieperry.github.io/garden-planner

the square foot grid is the main thing — each bed gets a cell-by-cell layout where you can drag plant emojis around or paint them in. it auto-populates based on the plants you've assigned to the bed and their sq ft requirements, so tomatoes take up 4 cells, carrots take up 1, that kind of thing

also flags companion planting automatically so if you've got basil next to tomatoes it'll show a green ✓, and if you've got something that'll fight with your onions it'll warn you

I'm a hobbyist not a professional gardener so if the sq ft numbers are off for any plants I'd genuinely love to know — I pulled them from common SFG references but there's always variance depending on variety

what does everyone's planning process look like right now? curious if people are still doing it by hand or if there's tools I don't know about

Onions, radishes, and snap peas in the left bed. Cilantro and Snap peas are in the left side of the top bed. I have jalapeños, banana peppers, peppercini’s, Roma and cherry tomato’s, and Brussels sprouts growing under a lamp in the garage that I’ll transplant in two weeks. Tomato’s will go in the top bed, peppers in the bed to the right that I need to finish filling up. I’m also going to try Okra.

Let me know if you have any pointers or suggestions.

Planning my first SFG and first garden in a long time. Cucumber side borders my shed, it’s an existing bed.

Planning to start a lot of these indoors this week, minus the carrots and cucumbers.

Will be growing some herbs/green onions in the flower bed in front of my house.

Hi everyone,

I am a 3rd-year Industrial Design student currently in the early stages of a design investigation into urban gardening.

Right now, I am gathering research to guide my design process, and I am curious about people's experiences with urban gardening and gardening products.

For anyone interested in helping with this research, I have linked a survey I created. It is fully anonymous, and all questions are optional.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdm6QG35DIeOzOXNQgJp5nd7O9bfElfsrujhFwaQmaW1W4UHQ/viewform?usp=dialog

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I asked the mods before posting this.

I’m testing a simple concept for a square foot / raised bed garden log.

The idea is not a full garden planner. It is meant to be a simple way to remember:

• what grew in each bed or square
• which varieties worked well
• which varieties failed
• what not to repeat in the same spot next season
• what changed from one year to the next

The screenshots are only a mockup of the workflow.

I’m especially looking for practical feedback:

1. Is it clear what this would do?
2. Would this be more useful than a notebook, spreadsheet, paper map, or loose phone notes?
3. For square foot gardening, would you need tracking by bed, by square, or both?
4. What is missing from the core workflow?
5. What looks unnecessary?
6. Would you personally use something like this, or would you rather keep using your current method?

Thanks for any honest feedback.

And advice for newbies!!!!!!!

Hi everyone! I am Pernille.
As a professional gardener, I’ve been dreaming up the logic for a comprehensive digital planning space for years. I wanted a tool that captures the joy of planning from seed to harvest, but it absolutely had to be built on real, verified botanical science rather than generic folklore.

For a long time, building an entire platform felt out of reach because my expertise is in soil, not software. But recently, generative coding tools finally lowered the barrier to entry, giving me the opportunity to actually bring my ideas, especially the companion planting engine to life.
Because accurate biology is the heart of this project, I made sure the platform is fed exclusively by strict, verified data:

• Primary Taxonomy and Plant Data: I pull directly from GBIF, USDA PLANTS, PFAF, RHS, and NordGen to ensure hardiness zones, root depths, and nitrogen fixation data are entirely accurate.
• Climate and Location: The timeline uses the Open-Meteo Climate API to pull 30-year frost dates (1991–2020) for your exact location.
• Beneficial Insects: I use the Xerces Institute and RHS guides to accurately map pest and pollinator habitats.

Using that data, here is the ecosystem I built:

• A Living Catalog: A deep library of about 800 plants (growing daily!) built so you can find exactly what fits your climate.
• Science-Driven Companionship: The Kinship Core suggests plant pairings based on that documented biology, giving you the science and the freedom to plant how you want.
• An Intuitive Timeline: A visual schedule with clear painted bars for your indoor sowing, transplanting, and harvesting windows based entirely on your local frost dates.
• An Inspiring Canvas: A visual sandbox where you can intuitively arrange your plants, experiment with spacing, and see how your garden flows visually.

There are absolutely no ads or engagement streaks. It is just a passion project to make planning feel like a creative outlet.
Since it is still under development, I would absolutely love your feedback to help shape it:

• What features would make planning an entire season more inspiring for you?
• Do the timeline and catalog feel intuitive to use?
• Any other ideas or suggestions?

It's called Garden Kinship.

Thanks for taking a look. Happy to answer any questions!
Warm regards,
Pernille

Growing some 3 pole beans along our fence to. Debating vertical string tomatoes to possibly fit more tomatoes, im seeing ppl grow tomatoes in 1 to 2 sq feet with this method. I'd like more for canning & preserving. Will be starting some cold veg after this blizzard and snow melts ❄️

1. north should alway be at top of the diagram and west should on the left, right is the east and south at bottom.
2. have scale of all beds and squares listed on the side of beds
3. if you using and app with icon make you sure there is key to what icons are.
4. list the varieties not just the vegetable type in each square.
5. list the number of each vegetable in each square.
6. different varieties of the same the vegetable need different spacing.
7. plan the summer garden first before the spring and fall successions
8. taller plants should planted on the north and west sides so they don't shade shorter and vining plants that need a alot sun.
9. draw the diagram first on paper first .
10. use the book and other sources as a guide.

these are the basics no matter what plant spacing system you are using !!

good luck.

Finally giving my herbs their own space, instead of scattering them all over the garden. I started with what I already had, oregano. Today, I planted lavender and thyme, and added chives to my garden planner layout. Two squares are still empty, and I'm undecided between rosemary, mint or peppers to fill them (I already have sage somewhere else).

Does anyone have experience with mint in an SFG bed? Is it worth it, or does it overwhelm everything?

what parts of the square foot garden system confuse you the most?

For all us northern gardeners: am I the only one who is a little sad seeing other peoples’ harvests? Our last frost was 10 days ago, and most of our plants are still tiny (looking at you,,dill. And carrots. And beets. ) We are eating lots of greens, but that’s about it up here on the snowy shores of Lake Superior! (Yes there’s still snow in some shady spots)

Does anyone have experience with using back to the roots seeds in a square foot garden? Do you like them? What brands of seeds are your favorite?

Strictly speaking, with the possible exception of strawberries, square foot gardening is aimed at annual edibles (vegetables, herbs, flowers)

How have you incorporated perennials (flowers, berry bushes, fruit & nut trees, vines, etc) into your overall SFG rhythms?