Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia

Over 40 Years of Growing Gardens and Gardeners

Snow covered branches
Photo © Mary Free

All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition

The Master Gardener’s Bookshelf

All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition, Fully Updated by Mel Bartholomew with the Square Foot Gardening Foundation

Review by Susan Wilhelm, Extension Master Gardener

Since Mel Bartholomew first developed the Square Foot Gardening™ method over 40 years ago, his Square Foot Gardening books have gone through multiple editions. All New Square Foot Gardening: More Projects, New Solutions, Grow Vegetables Anywhere, 3rd edition, is the most recent. It was updated by the Square Foot Gardening Foundation and published by Cool Springs Press in 2018. (Bartholomew died in 2016.) It has everything you need to know to build and grow a square foot garden, with helpful general gardening information plus a few things that might surprise you.

Square Foot Gardening™ is a method of intensive gardening where vegetables, flowers, and herbs grow in raised bed boxes divided into square foot sections by a grid that lies on top of the box. Each square foot grid is planted with 1 ,4, 9, or 16 plants, depending on the ultimate size of the full-grown plant. Generally, a different kind of plant is grown in each square foot space. The goal is to enable anyone, no matter how small their space, or how bad their soil, to grow high quality produce in a small space and in amounts geared toward individual or family needs.

Square Foot Garden
Square Foot Garden
Photo © 2017 Madeleine Faust

As the title suggests, the 3rd edition significantly expands and updates many topics found in earlier editions. For example, the chapter on building garden boxes describes alternatives to using natural lumber such as stone, brick, and block. Likewise, the grids that delineate planting areas can be made of wood strips, metal rebar, or PVC pipe. Expanded DIY instructions show how to add automatic watering systems and how to build various vertical support structures to maximize growing space. The vegetable guide includes new varieties such as collards, okra, melons, and cilantro, and the instructions for making “Mel’s mix”—the recommended square foot gardening growing medium—discusses alternatives to peat moss, which is a non-sustainable product. The 3rd edition also has more and larger photos, modified color-coding that makes its tables easier to use, and sample garden designs.

One fun fact is that square foot gardens do not have to be square. The traditional square foot garden box is 4 feet by 4 feet. The 3rd edition contains alternate box designs such as L-shaped, long and narrow, or extra-deep for growing deep-rooted vegetables. There is even an example of a square foot gardening box with triangular planting areas. Further, square foot garden boxes may be built on legs for easier access by persons with disabilities or older gardeners. Keeping with square foot gardening’s fundamental principles, all these configurations can be divided into twelve-inch squares (or similar sized triangles) for planting.

square foot garden
Square foot garden.
Photo © Elaine Mills

Like its predecessors, the 3rd edition introduces gardeners to strategies for dealing with garden pests. However, it is always a good idea to consult local cooperative extension service resources, such as the 2024 Pest Management Guide – Home Grounds and Animals (Virginia Cooperative Extension) before addressing the problem.

All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd edition, by Mel Bartholomew with the Square Foot Gardening Foundation (Cool Springs Press, 2018) is available at the Alexandria Library, the Arlington Public Library, and the Fairfax County Public Library, and national booksellers.  A Spanish-language version is available from the Square Foot Gardening Foundation.

Want to learn more about square foot gardening or other intensive gardening techniques?

Visit the Square Foot Garden at the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia’s demonstration Organic Vegetable Garden at Potomac Overlook Park and check out the following resources:

Note: Click on images to see enlarged photos, captions, and photo attributions.
On a mobile phone, click on the information symbol (circle with a letter ℹ︎ symbol).