Square Foot Gardening With Kids

A new edition of the classic gardening handbook details a simple yet highly effective gardening system, based on a grid of one-foot by one-foot squares, that produces big yields with less space and with less work than with conventional row gardens. Reissue. 30,000 first printing.

Mel Bartholomew's top-selling Square Foot Gardening books have made his revolutionary garden system available to millions of people. In Square Foot Gardening with Kids, Mel reveals his tips, tricks, and fun projects in one of his most cherished pursuits: teaching youngsters to build and grow a SFG of their own. The easy geometry of the gridded box breaks the complex world of gardening into digestible bites for enthusiastic young learners, and the sequence of tasks required to grow plants from seeds is repeatable and reassuring. Kids learn many valuable life lessons when tending their own garden -- such as the importance of following instructions and doing your chores, basic skills like counting and water conservation, and learning to appreciate the nature of food and why it is important to respect it. Most importantly though, they learn that growing your own food is both fun and rewarding.

A visual guide to vegetable ripeness helps readers decide the perfect time to pick or buy produce, along with information on storage and ripening.

Adapted from the U.S. bestseller All New Square Foot Gardening, this new edition applies the proven principles of square foot gardening to the European growing environment. The entire book has been converted to the metric system, but the adaptations go much deeper than that. We consulted the finest gardening editors in Great Britain for the conversion of author Mel Bartholomew’s classic guide, and they made sure that all of the inputs and outputs described in this book are sensible for the European market. Plant selections have been adjusted for British and Northern European climates and growing seasons; even the language has been Anglicized to communicate in a precise and natural way with European gardeners. This is the world’s most fail-safe method for growing produce at home, and now it is finally available for consumption outside of the United States. Vegetables, cutting flowers, and landscape plants can all be grown with amazing results (and virtually no weeding) using the square metre approach. There is a reason that the U.S. editions of this book have sold more than two million copies: metre or foot, the method works.

This updated third edition of the best-selling gardening book in North America continues to inspire with planting charts, growing tips, and the know-how you need to grow more veggies than ever before. Since Square Foot Gardening was first introduced by Mel Bartholomew in 1981, this revolutionary way to grow vegetables has helped millions of home gardeners enjoy their own organic, fresh produce in less space and with less work than traditional row gardens. New and experienced gardeners will love the charts, photos, illustrations, and how-to tips in All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition—including 42 veggie-specific planting, growing, and harvesting guides—that make growing your own food fun, easy, and productive. Perfect for experienced gardeners or beginners, you’ll learn the three simple steps to Square Foot Gardening: build a box; fill it with Mel’s Mix™; add a grid. No digging, no tilling, no fertilizing, no guesswork—less watering, waste, and weeding! There’s so much more packed in this 272-page instructional book—boost your organic vegetable harvest with inspiring how-tos such as: Adding trellises and archways to grow up and maximize your space Installing automatic watering systems Growing vegetables in dense urban areas with little or no yard Feeding your veggies the organic way with Mel’s Mix™ Teaching STEM to kids with Square Foot Gardening—perfect for little hands Protecting your plants with shade and frost covers Managing pests in the garden with natural methods Join the millions of gardeners around the world who grow their own organic, fresh produce with Square Foot Gardening, and make next season your best veggie harvest ever.

STANLEY® Jr. Gardening is Awesome! gets kids outside with activities and projects. Kids can jump right in with an introduction to gardening. A complete basics section on vegetables, fruits, flowers, trees, and shrubs kicks things off. You'll also learn how to make super soiland keep plants happy with the right amount of sunlight and water. A complete garden gear guide gets you ready for growing. The rest of the book is all about things to do. Chapters and projects include: Gardening How-Tos shows you how to test soil drainage and start plants in an egg carton. Great Bed Gardens sets you up for success when planting a row garden, a colorful summer flower garden, and more. Container Gardening shows you how to grow strawberries in a 5-Gallon bucket and create a beautiful bulb box. Raised Bed Plots feature a square foot garden, uplifted herb garden, and even a vertical garden! With clearly written steps and helpful photographs, the aim is for kids to lead. STEAM/STEMlearning opportunities are part of the fun as well! Fun facts and explorations accompany the projects throughout the book, highlighting everything from composting chemistry to the math behind a square foot garden. Kids are encouraged to develop a “maker” mentality, fostering creative problem-solving and open-ended exploration. Build and explore in the garden! The STANLEY® Jr. series is full of books for young makers that empower creativity. They feature wholesome inspiration, learning, and fun for everyone. Filled with easy-to-follow instructions and step-by-step photos, they are playbooks to build, grow, and create something new.

A Square Metre Garden is more than just a perfect place to grow vegetables--it is an ideal environment for sharing and teaching kids of all ages, and this book will show you how. For generations, Mel Bartholomew's top-selling Square Foot Gardening books have made his revolutionary system for growing vegetables available to millions of people. In Square Metre Gardening with Kids, Mel reveals all of the tips, tricks, and fun projects he has used over the decades in one of his most cherished pursuits: teaching youngsters to build and grow their own kid-sized SMGs. Because of its simple principles and fast payoff, Square Metre Gardening is perfect for children. The easy geometry of the gridded box breaks the complex world of gardening into digestible bites that are easy to approach and understand for enthusiastic young learners, and the sequence of tasks required to grow plants from seeds is repeatable and reassuring. Whether you're a grandparent, parent, teacher, coach, or any kind of role model to young people, Square Metre Gardening with Kids offers you the proven methods Mel has developed himself to entertain and amaze the kid in all of us. Kids can learn many valuable life lessons from creating their own garden--such as the importance of following instructions and doing your chores, basic skills like counting and water conservation, and learning to appreciate the nature of food and why it is important to respect it, but more than anything, this clever, colorful new book captures the essence of growing edibles for anyone, regardless of age: it is fun and rewarding.

Rapidly increasing in popularity, square foot gardening is the most practical, foolproof way to grow a home garden. That explains why author and gardening innovator Mel Bartholomew has sold more than two million books describing how to become a successful DIY square foot gardener. Now, with the publication of All New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition, the essential guide to his unique step-by-step method has become even better. Mel developed his techniques back in the early 1980s and has been teaching them throughout the world ever since. In the process, he has made improvements and refinements and continually adapted his practices to keep pace with modern times. In this new volume, Bartholomew furthers his discussion on one of the most popular gardening trends today: vertical gardening. He also explains how you can make gardening fun for kids by teaching them the square foot method. Finally, an expanded section on pest control helps you protect your precious produce. Rich with new full-color images and updated tips for selecting materials, this beautiful new edition is perfect for brand-new gardeners as well as the millions of square foot gardeners who are already dedicated to Mel’s industry-changing insights.