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Square Foot Gardening and Free Printable Planner @ AVirtuousWoman.org

How to Plan Your Square Foot Garden + Free Printable Planner

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15

This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my disclosure policy here.

Are you planning your garden? This morning as I was thinking about planning the “grid” for my Square Foot Garden and decided to create a planner page to help me. You can download my square foot garden planner below!

How to Plan Your Square Foot Garden @ AVirtuousWoman.org

What Is Square Foot Gardening?

Square Foot Gardening is a simple method which divides a raised plant bed into smaller equal squares, each with a size of roughly one foot in length.

This method allows a gardener to produce more food with less effort while maintaining the garden size and optimizing the space.

The concept of Square Foot Gardening is very simple: to create a small garden bed with the size of 4 feet by 4 feet or 4 feet by 8 feet and dividing it into different grids of 1-foot square.

The seeds or the seedlings of each vegetable of your choice are then planted into the small squares. Since there are no paths, there is no space wasted and the soil in the bed is loose because no one is walking on it, thereby making it better for your plants roots to branch and make stronger, healthier plants.

Why Should You Try Square Foot Gardening?

Produces High Yields: Since it’s intensive planting, it means you can harvest a lot, even in a much smaller space.

Quick Set-Up: If you want to start a new garden, you’re a first timer, or you have limited room, the square foot gardening set-up is ideal for you. You can place the beds anywhere. You can build and fill the bed and start planting seeds or seedlings in just a few hours, with less time and effort.

Less Regular Maintenance: Since your garden setup is small, you only need to do a few specific tasks on a daily basis. This means you only need to invest a few minutes of your time every day for maintenance. Watering and fertilizing are easier since there’s no wasting water between the rows.

Minimal Weeding: If you use a soilless mix for your square foot gardening, this means there are practically no weeds to pull out during the first season.  A soilless potting mix is much better for your plants as it is lighter than garden soil which allows for less chance of compaction and more air flow around your plants roots helping them to grow stronger.

The Challenges Of Square Foot Gardening

Higher Initial Cost: The costs of building a small raised bed and filling it with soilless mix can add up quickly.

Insufficient Depth: The depth of the beds can be too shallow for some plants. The roots cannot extend into the soil. If you want to use plants with longer roots, make a frame with a deeper depth, at least 12 inches deep and top it with growing mix.

Cramped Plants: You can plant a limited number of vegetables, herbs, and fruits with square foot gardening. It is not ideal for crops that take too much room like asparagus, squash or corn.

How To Plan Your Square Foot Garden

Before you start creating your own garden, keep these things in mind:

Consider The Size

Consider how many vegetables, flowers, herbs, or fruits you want to grow.

A raised bed with a 4 by 4-foot size can produce enough crops for a small family but if you want to keep and freeze more of your harvest, you need to make a bigger garden bed.

Choose The Growing Medium

One of the most important components of a square foot garden is the grow medium or the soil.

The ideal mixture of the soil should contain the following ingredients:

  • 1/3 peat moss
  • 1/3 vermiculite
  • 1/3 blended compost

Building Your Square Foot Garden

Creating your own square foot garden is not difficult. You only need a few steps to have a productive garden space.

If you’re creating a 4×4 square foot garden, you can use 2×6 boards. You can build your own garden for around $20 per box.

To build a bed, you’ll need:

  • Untreated Cedar (advisable) Boards
  • Wood screws
  • Lattice strips
  • Weed barrier
  • Machine Bolts
  • Staple gun
  • Power drill
  • Nails
  • Screws

To know the process of building a garden step by step, here is a helpful video tutorial.

Prepare The Soil Mix

A 4 by 4-foot garden box needs 8 cubic feet of soil mix. To achieve the perfect soil mix, prepare the soil with the mixture of:

  • 1/3 peat moss
  • 1/3 vermiculite
  • 1/3 blended compost

You can also mix a variety of compost such as worm castings, chicken or cow manure, and mushroom compost.

Start Planting

Do you want to make salads or salsa for the family? Or maybe you want fresh fruits for snacks, or maybe even a tea garden which is growing in popularity?

There are a number of different vegetables and fruits you can place in each grid of your square garden box such as:

  • Radish
  • Beets
  • Onion
  • Carrot
  • Lettuce
  • Broccoli
  • Pepper
  • Tomato

Perform Proper Maintenance

Once you have your garden set up and the seeds or seedlings planted, it’s now time to do proper maintenance.

Square foot gardening reduces the need to use more pesticides or fertilizers.

  • Add a scoop of compost to each grid before planting.
  • Water more frequently throughout the week as the garden beds have less moisture.
  • Place the garden box in a spot in your garden where the plants can get at least six to seven hours of direct sunlight every day.

Square foot gardening is a gardening method for beginners or those who have a limited space in their garden. If this method interests you, make sure to give it a try!

Square Foot Gardening

Square Foot Gardening is the easiest way to get started with a garden in your back {or front yard}. You can buy the All New Square Foot Gardening book on Amazon.com – I own it and love the method!

How to Video for Square Foot Gardening

And if you haven’t read the book All New Square Foot Gardening, you really should order your copy or check it out from the library!

Other books you might love:

  1. Square Foot Gardening with Kids
  2. Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening
  3. Vertical Gardening: Grow Up, Not Out, for More Vegetables and Flowers in Much Less Space
  4. The Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook: Make the Most of Your Growing Season

I hope you enjoy these planner pages!

What are you planting this year?

Printable Square Foot Garden Planner

I created two different pages, so whether you have 4 x 4 or 4 x 8 raised beds, you will find a grid to help you plan.

How to Plan Your Square Foot Garden @ AVirtuousWoman.org

How to Download

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  2. When you fill out the form below, you’ll receive an email giving you access to my entire subscriber exclusive resource library where you’ll find this and many more resources for your home and family! 
  3. You’ll find this Square Foot Garden Planner in the At Home section of the library.

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About Melissa Ringstaff

My name is Melissa Ringstaff and I've been blogging here at A Virtuous Woman since 2001. I'm a pastor's wife and homeschooling mom living in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of Southeastern KY. I believe in finding freedom from perfection and living life with purpose and I want to help you do exactly that.

I'm so glad you've stopped by to visit with me. I hope we can be friends!

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This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my disclosure policy here.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Megan

    March 13, 2013 at 7:26 am

    Thank you so much for the great planning sheets, I'm so excited to get going this year! :) This will be my second year with SFG, and I'm hoping to do a better job than I did last year!
    Reply
    • Melissa Ringstaff

      March 13, 2013 at 8:58 am

      Megan, I hope you enjoy the printables and that your garden is bountiful. Thanks for visiting with me today. Come back soon!
      Reply
  2. tara

    May 7, 2014 at 2:26 pm

    This is a great tool. I am trying spinach this year.
    Reply
    • Melissa Ringstaff

      May 7, 2014 at 9:52 pm

      Tara, we love spinach! I've never tried to grow it, though. Let me know how it works for you!
      Reply
  3. Katie

    March 7, 2015 at 8:38 pm

    Thanks for the planner pages! I live in New Zealand (yep, an ex-pat!) so our summer is just winding down. I've read several books on square foot gardening and am giving it a try next season. We only have 1/3 acre but have planted fruit and nut trees, a couple different berries and have raised beds anywhere we can stick them. This past year we have pretty much taken over the front lawn with a small greenhouse near the house and a larger poly-tunnel near the chicken run. It has been a horrible year for vegie growing with the spring being the coldest and wettest in memory and we are just coming out of a drought! These planning charts will be great to reignite my flagging interest in the garden. I love planning as much as I do the planting! Thanks again
    Reply
    • Melissa Ringstaff

      March 8, 2015 at 11:27 am

      You're welcome, Katie!
      Reply
  4. Courtney J

    April 10, 2015 at 11:03 am

    I was so excited to find these pages. We have four raised beds this year for SFG. We're planting everything from corn to kale to squash and tomatoes. Thank you for the printable!
    Reply
    • Melissa Ringstaff

      April 13, 2015 at 8:36 am

      You're very welcome!
      Reply
  5. Bianca Gerritsen

    February 25, 2017 at 4:19 pm

    Hi! Thank you very much, for this great garden sheet! Greetings from The Netherlands :-)
    Reply
    • Melissa Ringstaff

      February 26, 2017 at 8:46 am

      You're so welcome!
      Reply

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Freedom from perfection. 🪁
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Proverbs 31 for modern women. 👱‍♀️
Wife + Mama + Homemaker + Kentucky
Life: @melissa.ringstaff

Melissa Ringstaff
Not gonna lie. 2020 was a hard year. And not just Not gonna lie. 2020 was a hard year. And not just because there was a pandemic. Our family has faced many trying times in the past but 2020 gave us some doozies.  I’m looking forward to a new year. The beginning of the new year always feels like a fresh start to me. It feels like HOPE.  But the truth is, whatever heartaches and hardships you and I were facing on Dec. 31 will most likely still be there on Jan. 1.  That’s why it’s hard to keep New Years resolutions. It’s easy to feel motivated for a few days or a couple weeks until we realize life hasn’t really changed and things are still hard.  But if we want to see real change it takes hard work and real effort. It takes showing up every day - even when it’s hard.  Whether that means working on your fractured relationships or setting healthy boundaries or cultivating self disciple... whatever that hard thing is that you need to work on ... it will only get better if you work on it.  We aren’t promised an easy life. But we are promised an “Ever Present Help in times of trouble.” Psalm 46:1  *
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We’re coming into the new year with all the same We’re coming into the new year with all the same problems we had in the last year. And that’s okay! Life doesn’t have to be perfect to still be amazing. Perfectionism is a joy stealer. Let’s determine to enjoy life right now in all its messiness.  I believe you can find freedom from perfection and the confidence to live your life with purpose. #purposenotperfection  #christian #Jesus #love #quotes #quoteslife #quotestoliveby #godisgood #votd #lifequotes #inspirationalquotes #life #motivationalquotes #inspiration #bible #bb #bestoftheday #happiness #wordofgod
🏠 Being a homemaker is such an important role. 🏠 Being a homemaker is such an important role. It’s a ministry to your family and all who enter your home.  But I want you to know: You don’t have to be perfect. ❤️  There’s a fine line between teaching your children to be neat and insisting on perfection. No one can meet that kind of standard and it can be detrimental to the emotional health of your family.  What we want for our homes is to provide a space that is neat and clean enough that your family and friends feel comfortable and well loved.  There is freedom in accepting the fact that you’re not perfect. Not to make excuses for slovenliness - but to give yourself grace.  It’s when we recognize our weakness that we find ourselves reaching out to Jesus to receive the power that comes only from him. As homemakers, when we can find grace for the moment when we accept His Gift.  “But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. Ezra 9:8  Let His Grace wash over you, cleanse your weary heart. Homemaking isn’t about creating a perfect space. It’s about creating a home where loved ones feel cared for and nurtured. 
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❤️Your attitude about homemaking matters.⠀
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A homemaker by definition is someone who manages and makes a home. 🏠⠀
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But, anyone can clean and organize a home. ⠀
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☑️ Homemaking is about more than checking off the items on your to do list.⠀
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Learning how to be a homemaker means you learn how to make your home feel like haven of peace and love. You seek out ways to make your home feel inviting. You work at it.⠀
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There is no easy button for homemaking. There are easier, more efficient ways to do chores, but the chores still have to be done. If you live in a house, you will create the need for the house to be tidied every day and cleaned on a regular basis.⠀
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Having the right attitude about homemaking is the first step in learning how to be a homemaker.⠀
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The good news is, even if you’ve been struggling with your homemaking, you can always go to God and ask Him for help. ⠀
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He sees the unseen work of your hands. And He loves you very, very much. He wants to help you succeed. ⠀
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#proverbs31 #proverbs31woman #purpose31 #10virtues #homemaking #homemakingministries #happyhomemaking #homemaking101 #cleanhome #cleanheart #fromchaostocalm #housekeeping #cleaningroutine #inspiredhome #makingahome #lovewhereyoudwell #homemaker #homebody #biblicalHomemaking  #youngwife #housewife
🙏 If you’ve found it difficult to have a regu 🙏 If you’ve found it difficult to have a regular time with Jesus every day, you’re not alone. Lots of busy Christian women struggle to find time for a daily prayer and devotion time. ⠀
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But I still want to encourage you to start your day with God! ⠀
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⏰ If it’s hard to spend 30 minutes in the morning for a quiet time, I want you to remember you can still begin your day with God – even if that means saying a short prayer before your feet hit the floor in the morning.⠀
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✝️ I also want to encourage you to memorize this verse:⠀
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“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.⠀
Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” Psalm 143:8 📖⠀
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In the morning you can recite this verse and say a prayer. It doesn’t have to take a long time. Although – if you do have time – you will be greatly blessed by spending more time in prayer and devotion.⠀
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📌 Free Printable Morning Prayer Prompts on the blog today: https://avirtuouswoman.org/morning-prayer-prompts/  #linkinbio ⠀
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🏠 As a homemaker, one of my goals is to be inte 🏠 As a homemaker, one of my goals is to be intentional with how I plan our days. I love any opportunity to create a good memories at home for my family and guests. ⠀⠀
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📌 If you're looking to make this holiday season really special, you need to be intentional. Goodness knows 2020 has had a lot of ups and downs. And maybe you feel like it's been mostly downs. ⠀⠀
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🎄 But the holiday season is a chance to focus on celebrating the life we have right now. Things don't need to be perfect for us to celebrate life right now!!⠀⠀
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☑️ Inside the pages of my Purpose 31 holiday planner, you'll find 8 weeks of planning and cleaning all laid out for you. Recipe pages, journaling pages, and more - 120 pages total. ⠀⠀
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✏️ The Purpose 31 Holiday Planner is by far one of the most popular resource I produce each year. ⠀⠀
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Thousands of women have downloaded it over the last four years I've offered it.⠀⠀
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So, even though it's early still, you can go ahead and downlaod it. Print it out and then set it up so you're ready to go.⠀⠀
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I usually take my holiday planner down to Office Depot and have them spiral bind it with a plastic cover for about $5.00. This year, though, I just bought a new 3 ring binder at Walmart, printed off extra cover pages to slip in the clear sleeve, and created a binder with it. ⠀⠀
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📌📌📌 If you use the planner this year, be sure to share and tag me in your photos! ❤️⠀  Download: https://avirtuouswoman.org/holiday-planner/ #linkinbio
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