FINAL TIPS

DEEP-BED GARDENING:
The Square Plot method is ideal for deep-bed gardening which is having a resurgence and dates back to Chinese techniques of the distant past. French growers also practiced this method of double digging and not treading on the soil again. After a crop comes out of each plot dig the existing compost deep into the soil before spreading the new compost on top.

RAISING SEEDLINGS:
These days it’s certainly pays to raise your own seedlings to plant out rather than buying them. It’s quite a simple matter to purchase a seed-raising mix, fill plastic pottles, tamp down and sprinkle or preferably position the seed on the mix. Then cover with sieved mix so that the seeds are at a depth equal to their length.
Seeds need good aeration, water and the right temperature. Once they germinate they need plenty of light for sturdy growth. The earlier the seedling is planted in its permanent place the sooner it grows well and becomes established. When transplanting don’t hold by the stem but by the seed leaf.
Being an experimenter, I made a seed box under cover but at the height I could stand up and work easily without bending. I filled the box with sand which is kept slightly damp and I put the boxes and pottles of seedlings on top of the stand. It works well but is not a necessity.

CONCLUSION:
If I have wetted your interest, I hope that you will start with say three plots and I guarantee that you will eventually get hooked on Square Plot Gardening. Don’t stop there but continue to experiment with different types of vegetables, different types of manure and compost, and different planting times .