I talked about how excited I was to plant a garden with my kids a couple months ago. We started our plants indoors, built a square foot garden box tutorial and finally we were ready to plant our garden.
My husband definitely enjoys the building aspect more, but planting and watching my plants grow is what makes me excited!
There are many factors you need to take into consideration when you plant a square foot garden because it is different from the traditional rows that you see in gardens.
First, you’ll need to decide what you want to plant. We decided that we wanted to grow a salsa garden with a few other favorites on the side. We’re planting tomatoes, bell pepper, cilantro and jalapeno! We will also be doing some zucchini, green beans and strawberries just for fun!
Second, determine plant spacing. Each square is designated to a specific plant. Depending on what plants you choose, you can plant anywhere from 1-16 plants in one square… If you are growing tomato plants, bell peppers or other larger plants, you will only need one plant per square. However, medium sized plants, like beans you can plant 4 to a square. And smaller plants like herbs, carrots and leaf lettuce you can plant up to 16 in each square.
If you’re not sure about how much space your plants need, you can always check the seed packet. There are also tons of resources online to help you! We used this Kitchen Garden Planner to help us plan our garden. The information it provided was extremely helpful!
Third, get ready to plant!! To make your life a little easier, gather all the supplies you’ll need. If you don’t like getting your hands dirty, you’ll want some gloves! I actually love working with the dirt in my bare hands though. So it’s not required.
You’ll also need seeds or small plants that are ready to be trans-planted, a shovel and water!
Start by digging a hole. Seed packets and plants bought from the store should come with instructions on how deep to dig your hole. Place the little seeds or plants in and cover them up! Don’t forget to add water.
Make sure to take care of your plants by watching out for pests that might want to eat or destroy them. We’ve already had some kind of animal digging in our garden!! So we’ll be getting some netting to protect our plants here soon!
And of course, you don’t want to forget to water your plants. Especially once it starts warming up!
Now all you have to do is wait until your garden starts producing delicious fruits and vegetables for you and your family to enjoy!
Good luck!
