Mel Bartholomew, inventor of square foot gardening was not a horticulturist by trade, he was a civil engineer who sold his company and retired to his garden at the age of 42.
When Mel started gardening, conventional gardens were single row gardens, averaging a 20’x30′ ft. His very first disappointment was that tending this type of garden was really hard work. You tilled and dug and amended and weeded… and weeded, then weeded some more. It was just plain hard. So much work! all summer long.
Gardeners know, by July, your energy is spent and guess what, your garden is full of weeds. And who would blame you, its too stinkin hot to be out there doing the worst gardening task to ever exist, weeding.
But Mel went along with it, after all, he wanted to garden and he was up for the challenge. So he learned, and worked hard, but his acute engineer mind griped as each new ‘conventional method’ posed another question… and he had to know why…
Read more here.
