Reddit reviews All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition, Fully Updated: MORE Projects - NEW Solutions - GROW Vegetables Anywhere (All New Square Foot Gardening (9))

Square Foot Gardening. (Check your local library; you want the second or third edition.) The book will take you through all the steps. It was designed to be an easy, reliable, and complete method for growing vegetables. A few tradeoffs: Raised beds need to be filled with something, which can get expensive. (SFG uses a combination designed for consistent results called "Mel's Mix", which IIRC is equal parts vermiculite, peat, and compost.) OTOH if you're in an area where the soil might be contaminated, you'll need a raised bed anyway. Raised beds aren't great in really hot areas; they overheat and dry out too quickly in the summer. The normal SFG raised bed is only 6" deep, limiting the kinds of vegetables you can grow; 12" is more versatile but also more expensive.

Because this post hits very close to home I want to help.

Warning, just like my flair denotes, I am a novice to Gardening. I have all of three months of experience. However, my Garden is doing great and I can still show you to sources of good information, even if I am a bit daft at times.

Some of my suggestions may have already been made but I will do it again just to drive the point home.

Anything with MONTY DON in it. This one is called "Big Dreams Small Spaces".

Garden Time TV. IDK where you live but these folks are local to the PNW, so that is great for me, and have over a decade of stuff out there. Amazing source of information.

Gary Pilarchik (The Rusted Garden). Another amazing source of information. He goes into depth on many topics and makes it so simple to digest. Often will walk you through the process step by step!

Hollis and Nancy's Homestead.. Great comprehensive growing guides. They do have, at times, a religious tone to them but often they do a good job and only have that in the introduction and outro. Good source of information.

Roots and Refuge Farm.. Another good channel to check out, this lady is a fanatic of Tomato plants, much to learn from her!

MIgardener. MIgardener has some of the most down to earth and solid videos to learn from out there. This is a big go-to source for me. Years of videos!

CaliKim29 Garden and Home DIY I will be upfront and let you know this person, while a decent source of information, does ALOT of pushing of her products and what not. If you can get past that, use this channel to better help yourself!

Charles Dowding, the King of No-Dig (to me) Gardening. What a lovely channel to watch. This man is always calm and smooth. No crazy cut scenes from today's video trends or clickbait stuffs. Just a nice human trying to do nice stuff with plants and soil.

Anything from OSU Master Gardeners. This is just a sample, it is about Mason Bee's!! You really should learn about these bees.

Rainbow Gardens.. Another great source of information. Also does SFG (square foot gardening).

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. If you have read down this far good on you! If you cannot afford this shoot me a PM and I will get it for you no questions asked. While I may be a novice at Gardening, the structure from the SFG technique has made me do so much more than when I just winged it. If nothing else, please try this.

Now, I know I just linked you a ton of things, some with video catalogues that span over a decade, but I emplore you to just submerge yourself in this. Use these videos not only as a guide to help you become a better Gardener but also as some sort of escape for a few hours each day where problems are not allowed in, both mentally and physically.

I have watched probably an unhealthy amount of videos in a short timeframe (haha), but it was a nice getaway for me. I have had to rewatch almost every video at least once, most many more times than that. What I am attempting to convey is, if you have the time to watch toooooons of these videos - you will come out the other side much smarter.

I am rooting for you! Good luck in the garden friend.

<3

I’ve been thinking along the same lines of a garden to allow me a full diet with lots of variety. Good luck in your journey!

I have been considering using the [Square Foot Method](All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition, Fully Updated: MORE Projects - NEW Solutions - GROW Vegetables Anywhere https://www.amazon.com/dp/0760362858/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_p8uSCbBV7NCH2) to keep everything compact.

So far, it seems that it’ll be a slightly higher startup cost, but if I can compost effectively, building the boxes is a weekend project with some spare wood. I’m hoping it’ll allow enough nutritional variety, plus I plan on building a lot of solid companion plots to let nature do what she does best.

Haven’t started any of it yet, but I felt it was a great resource to change my perspective of how much I would really need and how much I could practically take care of.

I’m also considering aquaponics, but that’s a project for waaaaaaaaaay down the line.

You can google "how to tell your soil type" for all kinds of videos and sites to get info on this. Here's a video on how to tell your type. There's a lot of them so look for one that makes sense for you. You can also get a soil test kit to check the ph of the soil. This can help you determine how acid or alkaline the soil is. Vegetables like a more acid soil typically. Here's kits on Amazon and as you can see they vary from cheap simple on up to digital meters etc. Also universities and counties sometimes have agricultural extension services that offer soil testing and area gardening information. Check your local library for gardening books. Often they'll have books that pertain to your areas climate. If there are any local garden supply/greenhouse businesses they are a good source for local information.You might see if there are any garden clubs in your area, they can be a good resource for local info. And there are an overwhelming amount of books online of course. Something like this is good. It's a classic for small spaces.

It can be overwhelming with so much info available, but go slow and simple and experiment. You can have early successes or quick failures. It can be trial and error. By the looks of your spot plants like it there. And most of all get your hands dirty and have fun.