All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition, Fully Updated

Great read full of very useful ideas and information. Perfect for a new beginner or an established gardener

I have read the first edition of this book, therefore I have seen the modifications made and I think it is great. Indeed, I like how this method of square foot gardening is great for beginners. This book includes a lot of step by step explanations, which is helpful when you just start and do not want to be frustrated by too much information on the subject. In the end, this book is becoming a bible of the square foot gardening method!

What's not to love about growing more in less space? As with previous editions, the book clearly documents how to plan, set up, care for, harvest from your square foot garden and store the produce you've grown. Plans include building the growing box in addition to options for growing vertically and also ways to protect plants from raiding pests and harsh weather. Also included are instructions for building and maintaining a compost bin and making Mel's growing mix. The final section of the book covers various vegetables. This is a book Keven a brand new gardener could use to start growing successfully.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - Cool Springs Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this information book in exchange for my honest review.

Whether you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint, eat more veggies or prepare for the zombie apocalypse, the All New Square Foot Gardening is the answer.

All New Square Foot Gardening lists ten core principles of this innovative gardening method.
1. Plant densely
2. Grow up (not out)
3. Use Mel’s Mix as soil—not garden soil
4. Garden close to your home
5. Grow shallow
6. Don’t fertilize
7. Save space with small walk spaces between the garden boxes
8. Don’t use seeds only to cull them later—only plant what you will eat
9. Plant in squares
10. Rotate your crops even during the same season

The book explains how to plan your new garden. It also shows how to build or buy the garden boxes and how to make the soil to put within them. The best part is the section at the end listing a wide variety of vegetables and herbs. Within each listing is everything needed to plant, grow, and harvest that crop. It also includes how many seeds or transplants to plant per square, common problems and how to cook each crop.

This is the third edition of this book. The basic idea of gardening in one foot squares instead of rows remains the same. However, the layout, organization and full-color pictures make this edition much easier to follow to achieve your dream garden. I have used the two previous editions to create some spectacular gardens in extremely small apartment back yards so I can personally attest that this gardening style works as advertised. 5 stars!

Thanks to Cold Springs Press/Quarto Books and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The All New Square Foot Gardening. 3rd Edition by Mel Bartholomew is a must-have book for any small or backyard gardener who wants to make the most of their property when vegetable gardening. This book shows you how to grow the most food possible using space saving techniques such as vertical gardening and maximum plant spacing. It includes easy to follow instructions on planning your garden, making the square foot garden beds, using square foot grids, utilizing trellises for vertical growing, and even how to make your own soil mix for the best plant yields. This book gives you all the information you need to make a success of square foot gardening whether you are a beginning gardener or an experienced one.

I was very impressed with the amount of information provided in this book as well as the easy instructions for creating a beautiful square foot vegetable garden. I can recommend this book to all gardeners and want-to-be gardeners. You will be glad you picked this book up.

I received an ARC from Net Galley and Cold Springs Press/Quarto Books for an honest review.

This is a great book for getting started with small space, highly productive gardening. I just moved into a new place with a small backyard and one of the first things I did was get a raised bed gardening kit since it was on end of the season clearance. I can't wait to use the ideas from Square Foot Gardening when I get started gardening in my raised bed next spring.

This is an easy-to-read guide for an easy-to-grow garden. Bartholomew takes most of the overwhelming details out of garden and distills things down to make growing vegetables easy and doable even in small spaces. There are instructions for building the garden beds, square foot grids, trellises, covers and more; directions on creating his custom soil-replacement growing mix; as well as high-level info on many common garden vegetables. Looking forward to starting my plans for spring!

Such a great book series and this edition does not disappoint.
The chapters are easy to follow, incredibly accessible to every level of gardener, and full of great ideas. Be prepared to run outside and begin planning your garden as soon as you finish this book.

The author made a strong case for square foot gardening as opposed to the conventional wasteful methods. Following his clever advice, you’ll be able to get more bang for your buck. Clever illustrations guided me on a step-by-step tutorial starting from the very beginning - building the box. The book was well-written and easy to follow. Utilization of this method would be phenomenal for those who don't live in rural areas where space is at a premium. Many configurations of different box sizes were displayed. It all came down to one thing; let your imagination be your guide. Valuable tips were provided for choosing different types of building materials. It's nice being offered options. Apparently, the sky's the limit. All that's left is deciding what type of vegetables would be planted. Lastly, finding a location with sufficient sun exposure for most vegetables is a must. There's nothing like homegrown. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking innovative gardening methods.

I sent my thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Cool Springs Press for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition is an updated version of Mel Bartholomew's original book. His concept of getting the most out of your garden has been around for over 30 years. He is also the founder of the Square Foot Gardening Foundation. The basic idea is growing more food in less space with less waste. Another benefit of this book is the rewards of plant based eating. . The book discusses in depth the basics of square foot gardening. This book is great for those who always wanted to try this method of gardening, as well as, seasoned gardeners who want more produce out of their space. There are ideas for planning and making the actual boxes and creating "Mel's Mix" which is the growing medium for the garden. The last third of the book discusses each vegetable individually.
This is an extremely interesting book for anyone who wants to grow a successful vegetable garden. The methods are time tested and definitely worth giving it a read.

For me, this is a little novel way of growing vegetables, but it makes sense. As our back yards are getting smaller, this is certainly a very sensible way of growing vegetables, without waste and constant weeding, for our families.
With great pictures and workable plans, plant and soil information, this garden is very easy to achieve and very rewarding for the gardener. There are instruction on how to make the beds, how to mix the special soil and information about the veggies that would be suitable to grow in the square foot garden.
There is lots of other information and about use and yield, as well as practical advise on watering, shielding and on- planting. A great concept.

It's been years since I first read "Square Foot Gardening". I've put it's lessons into practice for the past 30 years. When I saw that the author had written a new, updated edition, I jumped at the chance to read it. And I'm not sorry that I did! Very easily understood, the new edition is an excellent book for beginning gardeners to learn the "secret" of square foot gardening. Chock full of pictures and instructions. And it has much to offer to older, more experienced gardeners, too!

I have the second edition of this book and I was so excited to see that it has been fully updated in this fabulous 3rd edition. I am a relatively new and inexperienced gardener and this book is a trove of information. Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening technique is genius and saves so much important space, especially for us city gardeners. His special soil mix is all I will ever use for growing my veggies. This book has all you will ever need to know to grow a champion garden and get a maximum harvest throughout the growing season instead of all at once.. I love the information on each veggie at the end of the book. Indispensable resource. I received an arc copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Nonfiction
Adult
Gardening is one of those passions that develops in fits and starts – it germinates (sorry!) in a sunny backyard; loses momentum when your apartment balcony faces north; and emerges again when time and space permit. In our corner of British Columbia, the summer sun is long and hot; tomatoes and peppers are much easier to grow than lettuce, which tends to bolt. I’ve had a couple of successful seasons, but I’m ready to move the garden to a better spot. This gardening classic first published in 1981 makes the crucial point that vegetable garden boxes save water while generating more produce. It’s also organic, uses no fertilizer and once planted requires minimal weeding or other work. I’m in!
The snow is on the ground here, and we are already planning our boxes, laying out the location and the plantings to meet most of our fresh produce needs for the summer and fall. One of the benefits of new editions is that the good stuff stays, some improvements are made, and new information is added. That’s what you’ll find in this latest iteration of Bartholomew’s groundbreaking (sorry – I just can’t resist!) gardening theory – limit weeds and waste by growing more in a smaller space. The book includes the formula for Mel’s mix, tips on building your boxes and where to put them, and a guide to calculating your garden space needs. If you are growing taller plants such as peas and beans, you’ll find guides to building trellises or other accessories, including watering systems. You’ll find natural solutions for dealing with insects and diseases, and how to avoid them in the first place. And if you are inundated with success, the book includes a chapter on how to store the harvest and putting the garden to bed for winter or continue growing in milder climates. In a nod to the Square Foot Gardening Foundation, there is a section on community garden initiatives. A full fifth of the book is devoted to detailed entries on common garden vegetables and how to grow them. The appendices offer size and growing charts, planting charts, seed starting and planting schedules, as well as a god quality index that spans three pages for a 250-page book . Loaded with full-colour photos, this one is already on order for my garden shelf. My thanks to Cool Springs Press for the advance reading copy provided digitally through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39088656

All New Square Foot Gardening is a revamp and re-release of the classic gardening book by Mel Bartholomew. The first edition was released in 1981 and changed the face of home gardening forever. This third edition, published 15th Nov 2018 by Quarto on their Cool Springs imprint is 272 pages and available in paperback and ebook format.

The concept of square foot gardening will be familiar to most home gardeners by now. Mel Bartholomew changed the paradigm when he combined biointensive methods with the innovation to use containers and raised beds set up in grids instead of the (at the time) traditional parallel row method of growing vegetables in the home garden. The yields can be significantly higher, the plants shade one another so weeds are not nearly as much of a problem and pests can be hand picked so they generally don't get out of hand. Succession planting makes maximum use of the space and spreads yields out so that nothing goes to waste.

This edition is well illustrated and full of color photography. It's a valuable reference also, full of planting schedules, charts, germination tables, lists of growables along with 'all about' entries which give more in-depth information about the most popular veggies and flowers.

If I had to choose ONE gardening book to recommend to new and experienced gardeners, Square Foot Gardening would be the one. This edition includes some new projects and new photographs along with some new container and accessibility gardening solutions. I am not 100% sure that there's a lot of new content for owners of the other editions, though I adore the SFG foundation's mission statement: "End World Hunger" and buying the book supports their efforts for education and international gardening. <3

Five stars for all the editions. I have been influenced a great deal in my lifelong gardening journey by SFG and would definitely not be the gardener I am today without Mr. Bartholomew's influence.

I’m not really a gardener and I don’t have much space to put a vegetable plot in but this book gave me the inspiration and knowledge to make a start. I found the book well written and easy to follow. A definite for those who want to grow some of their own vegetables. Who knows we may need it following Brexit!