Adding the grid...

The next step was to add 12" squares, like a grid, in order to create the "square foot garden." You plant one type of vegetable in each square. The idea is that you can plant more in less space using this method. Since we only have a suburban yard, and no acreage for running long rows, this idea really appealed to me. (Maximum harvest, minimum space!) There are several ways to create the 12" squares: buy thin wood strips and nail them together like a lattice, use stakes and tie twine across them, etc. Since our garden is 4' wide, as suggested in the book, we chose to buy 4' long bamboo at Lowe's (you get 25 in the package- perfect for our garden!) and tie twine onto the stakes at every foot and space the stakes 1' apart, therefore creating the 12" grid. Sure, it look a while to do (about 1.5 hours), but it only cost about $6, so it was the cheapest method I could come up with!
This first photo shows the knotted twine on the bamboo. The second photo shows a section of the completed grid, and the third photo shows our entire garden, with it's 12" grid, finally making the completed base for our seedlings that have been growing inside for the last 4-6 weeks! Next, we plant the garden!!!