Sunday, April 3, 2011

How Many Square Feet?

When I started tilling the soil yesterday, I was working with the garden space that the previous owner had designated. In terms of square feet, it looked something like this:

There are curves in the landscaping, so this representation is not accurate but it's close. If I were gardening all this space, I would have about 84 square feet. However, I don't know how I would reach every square foot. Accessing the garden from the north end would be difficult because of the hill. Take a look again at the landscaping.




Can you see the board and the chicken-wire fence? That's the north side of the garden. The landscaping above there is at a slope. If I decided to put climbing plants on the north side, then I definitely wouldn't be able to access the garden from the north side.

Mel suggests 4 feet wide at the most for a square foot garden because that's the depth that most people can reach into from either side. I had 6 feet with access from one side, maybe two. I wouldn't be able to reach all of the garden, and if I add a path, then I lose square footage.

I talked it over with my husband, and we agreed that I would add more garden space on the north side, so I removed the board and chicken-wire fence and started digging. Now the space looks like this:


And I can add a path and more square feet. When I get the boards in to hold back the hill and designate the path, the garden should look something like this:

The total square footage should be 93 square feet. Did I do the math right?

Now to get the boards in before it rains!

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