Proper spacing of seed or plants in your garden is crucial to having a bountiful harvest. Seed packets do provide recommended spacing but is really based on conventional row gardening. Raised Bed Gardening and Square Foot Gardening allows you to take a little different approach. It is a mindset shift to think about how many seeds or plants I can place within each square foot.
Raised Bed Gardens vs Conventional
An important aspect of Raised Bed Gardening seeding also is the fact that with 4” wide beds, you can reach each plant from at least 2 or even 3 sides. That makes this type of gardening significantly different than conventional rows. The other assumption with more intensive spacing is that you have great soil in your raised beds. I highly recommend a mix of 1/3 sphagnum peat moss, 1/3 coarse vermiculite and 1/3 a blend of 3 – 5 different composts.
Proper Spacing of Seeds
Examples of Conventional Row versus Raised Bed Gardening include:
- Beans: Rows at 4” SFG: 9 per Square Foot
- Beets: Rows at 4” – 6” SFG: 9 per Square Foot
- Celery: Rows at 10” apart SFG: 9 per Square Foot
- Corn: Rows at 12” apart SFG: 4 per Square Foot
- Tomato: Rows at 24” apart SFG: 1 per Square Foot
Now, you can put string or wood up to show you each square foot in the garden so you can get your spacing fairly accurate. But, I found a tool that guarantees you will be precise with your seed placement according to the planting guideline of SFG.
The Seeding Square Tool
This box in my hand contains the Seeding Square. It’s a tool you can place on the raised bed’s soil, push down slightly, and you can see your each square foot. You would then decide the type of plant and the planting guide tells you which color on the square you need to plant in and the depth. Let’s go ahead and open it up and check it out.
I’m going to use it now to plant some Beets and some Head Lettuce:
So as you can see, it’s a simple but precise tool to help a gardener plant using proper spacing for vegetables in a raised bed gardening per SFG guidelines. This will help a beginner gardener for sure but would be perfect for showing your kids or grandchildren and get them excited about gardening.
Check out my Spring Garden Planning Checklist that breaks down all the steps necessary to ensure you have a Bountiful Harvest in your backyard garden this Spring. Thanks for watching the unboxing and review. Get you own Seeding Square at the link below.
You may also wish to check out the full YouTube video that demonstrated how this tool is used.
Thanks for reading the post and go grow something in your backyard! The Seeding Square is absolutely a tool that will enhance your ability to have a bountiful harvest in your backyard organic raised bed garden!!!!
Best Regards,
Darrell
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