Square foot gardening is a wonderful way to introduce anyone to the first time gardening experience. It requires so little work! Once you have the right soil, there is no tilling, no weeding, and no backaches! You can also be assured of greater success in growing those delicious vegetables. Square foot gardening requires a box that can be made in many different sizes according to your needs and desires. A 4×4 size can hold enough food for one adult for the season. The soil for your box must be carefully mixed with the right ingredients. It should be a mix of three equal parts of vermiculite, peat moss, and several composts. Once you have these components for your box garden, all you have to do is water! The common mistake of novice gardeners is over watering. This will be avoided because the soil mix has natural moisture retainers. The excess water will simply run off. You can place your box garden just about anywhere as long as it has a lot of direct sunlight.

It is much more convenient than a large plot located way out in the back of the yard that seems to attract every weed imaginable. A box garden will have very few weeds because the soil consists of specific clean ingredients.

For those living in the North the March winds can do more damage to plants than the hard freezes of winter. Right now plants are moving from a dormant to an active state. Growth impulses take place, not in the roots, but in the buds, which are exposed to all changes in temperature. Azaleas, forsythia, and other early – flowering shrubs become active with the slightest rise in temperature.

Chill, drying winds can harm unprotected plants. Be careful, therefore, about uncovering plants too soon; many will have started growth. Sudden exposure at this time could be disastrous. Uncover gradually, leaving some protective covering until the new growth becomes a little more hardened.

Digging and soil preparation can begin just as soon as the frost is out of the ground. If the ground is at all workable, get your plowing or digging started. Light, sandy soils can be put into shape sooner than heavier soils.

Nearly all gardens need lime. If quantities of organic matter are used it is absolutely necessary. It neutralizes acids in the soil which result from decomposition of organic matter and other causes, thereby aiding bacterial action. Heavy clay soils are more friable (easier to break up) and their structure improved. Lime supplies plants with calcium; a lime deficiency in the plant will mean a deficiency in food value.