Cubed Foot Gardening: Growing Vegetables in Raised, Intensive Beds

As someone who cut my gardening "teeth" with Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening", I was interested in what differing suggestions Chris Bird's Cubed Foot Gardening would impart. What was he talking about? Cubed foot? 3' by 3'? NOT. 1' x 1' x 1' deep. I was using raised beds, even with the square foot method...but now I learn that my 2 x 8 boxes aren't nearly tall enough for plants with deep root systems. Next year, I'll add another level of depth to the boxes to at least 2 x 12, if not 2 x 16. I've grown the verticle pumpkins and cantilope. It DOES work. I found Mr. Bird's spacing suggestions a bit more realistic, and he's included several hilarious comments. A great supplement to "Square Foot Gardening".

Last year I used the Cubed Foot Gardening method in my "regular" garden for my corn and it worked GREAT! My next door neighbor lost ALL her corn, but mine survived and thrived. My husband LOVES Silver Queen corn and I happily provided him with fresh-from-the-stalk corn when he came back from Iraq. This season we finally had the time and money to build raised beds. They're not necessarily cheap to make and fill with GOOD garden soil, but think of it as a lifetime investment. My in-laws came to visit last week and were SO impressed with our garden. Our veggies were growing MUCH faster than theirs. We used (2) 2 x 8s stacked and braced together, roofing material on the inside (to help keep the wood from rotting) and chicken wire on the bottom to keep the critters out. We'll eventually "cap" them with 2 x 6s which will make nice "bench" height raised beds. I've got back problems and I appreciate being able to sit down while I garden. I've combined the methods in this book and "Square Foot Gardening" and EVERYTHING looks fantastic. What I especially like about Cubed Foot Gardening is that the author gives the N-P-K rating for the fertilizers that best suit each veggie.

I relocated to South Carolina in July of 2003. Our new yard contained the remnants of a vegetable garden -- skeletons of bush beans and peppers protruding from red clay as hard as concrete. I purchased Mr. Bird's book about a year ago and read it during my Christmas vacation. Having no prior experience growing vegetables,I followed the instuctions exactly. The two-tier indoor plant stand was my first effort. The materials including grow bulbs and some sturdy seed trays from Harris cost under $100. I started my spring-crop seeds a bit late, the end of February, as we are usually frost-free by April 1. About the same time, I started building the 4'x4'x12" frames, a total of six. I thought about building larger frames but was glad I didn't as my wife and I could just lift and carry one comfortably. Then we had a ton of sand and two of topsoil dumped next to the boxes. I blended it with peat moss and composted manure and filled up the boxes. This was the hardest part of the project, but the resulting soil was wonderful. My spinach, lettuce, chinese cabbage and bok choi all did well until it got hot, then bugs started to eat them up despite my best efforts to use ecologically-friendly deterents. The nine heads of broccoli I grew in one frame were particularly nice. They al ripened at the same time so I gave several away to friends. As promised, radishes are especially easy to grow. I didn't get around to building pea/bean trellises but will definitely do so next season. My bush beans gave several good harvests before it got really hot. Once the tomatoes started coming, they didn't quit until frost. Mr. Bird recommends Celebrity for the heat. I had even better luck with Juliette. It has an oval shape, is somewhat larger than a cherry tomato, and produces in abundance. I also grew several varieties of both hot and mild peppers which did very well. Only my okra was a dissappointment, and I'm still not sure why? Per instruction, I got a sweet potato from the grocery store, washed and planted it in the center of the bed where the broccoli had been. For a long time, I thought it was just going to rot. One day I decided to pull it up and discard it only to find it had taken root. Once it got going it was unstoppable. Rather than prune the vines, I just headed them back into the bed. The leaves turned black with our first frost a couple of weeks ago. On Thanksgiving, I ripped up the vines. At first I didn't think there were any potatoes attached. Then I noticed something pink-orange protruding from the dirt. I started digging and unearthed thirty pounds of sweet potatoes. One weighed three pounds. They were extremely tender compared to store-bought. My wife steamed and mashed a few that afternoon and they were much better than any I've ever eaten before. So I'm hooked. I've grown flowers before but never vegetables. I checked a bunch of gardening books out from the library but found myself returning to Cubed Foot again and agai

If you're looking for a time- and labor-saving method of growing vegetables, this is your book, whether you're a complete beginner or a more experienced gardener. Everything you need to know is clearly set out, including charts, diagrams and practical tips (e.g. why buy expensive little pots for your seedlings when you can recycle styrofoam cups from the office?). The at-a-glance guide to each vegetable from seed to harvest is especially useful, as are the more detailed sections on individual veggies. Christopher Bird writes in a refreshingly informal way that neither patronizes you nor blinds you with science, and the text is enhanced with plenty of mouthwatering full-color photos from the author's own gardens.A previous reviewer criticizes the book for not being organic enough. But it's obvious to me that Cubed Foot Gardening isn't about organics. It's about intensive, raised-bed vegetable gardening using the most effective techniques available, some of which are organic, others not. That makes perfect sense to me.