Renaissance Books Column: All New Square Foot Gardening

by Louise Purfield-Coak (1950- ), graduate of Kingswood School, Cranbrook, urban escapee, Manchester native.

All New Square Foot Gardening
by Mel Bartholomew
Revised Ed. 2006

With the just concluded Memorial Day weekend, I thought I would review the book that has revolutionized vegetable gardening for the home and kitchen garden. This is a must read for any gardener interested in increasing production while using less resources and backyard space. It is attractive and very green; a solution to a planet of increasing hunger and dwindling natural resources. This has been the inspiration for my own personal evolving garden.

The author is a civil engineer who hated the labor intensive, backyard gobbling, exhaust spewing methods of traditional gardening. He decided to apply logic and engineering skills along with his gardening knowledge to the problems. This book is the result. Square Foot Gardening is a compendium of all the minute details needed to switch over and grow.

This title is available at our District Library. After reading it, you might want a copy for yourself. Copies are available from several different seed and garden catalogs. It is also available from Amazon, in ebooks.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.