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Re: square foot gardening, plant spacing

Thanks, Kurt, it's always nice to find a little good old common
sense show up in these threads. I really think it is easy to get
a little anal about this `# per square' concept. Apparently, many
of you are not flexible enough to deviate from the `equal spacing,
integer number per sqft' mold. If 1 per square is too few, and
4 per square is too many, then by all means plant 2, 3, or even
2.5 per square!

If you want 2 plants per square, that represents 72 square inches
per plant, or 8.485" plant spacing. Most of us could live with either
8 or 9 inches. Three per square yields 6.93", or 7" for the more
imprecise among us. 2.5 per square requires 7.59", which can perhaps
be rounded to 8.

It is this kind of reasoning that tells me it is foolish to put
physical dividers every 12" in the beds. If I want 16 corn plants
with a spacing that represents 2.5 plants per sqft, I can actually
use a square 30" X 30" in my 4 foot wide bed. No lightning bolts
will strike, no SQFT police will show up. (really! I promise.)

That's my recommendation, take it or leave it - loosen up! Go wild!
Let a few of those planting straddle the magic 12" boundaries!
In the long run, you'll feel better for having done it.

><< A  short time ago (maybe 2 weeks) someone mentioned planting corn 4
><<  per sq. foot. but most on this list said it was incorrect and should
><<  be one per sq. foot. Did you actually have good results with this
><<  close spacing?
>
><< I'll be planting my corn in the next month, and I had mapped out
><<  one per sq. foot. I'd love to get more in my space if possible.
>
>This is my first year planting corn and I used the 4 per sqft method. Since I
>live in a warm part of the country (Southern California) I was able to start
>them in mid-late Feb. I selected a dwarf variety (Hookers sweet corn) which
>reaches 4-5 feet in height. As of Sunday my corn is over 3 feet tall and
>there are three to four ears starting to peek out of each plant. The spacing
>is a little tight but I think having a drawf variety will help a lot. I may
>try to hand polinate my second planing if the first doesn't turn out well.
>
>If you are unsure of the 4 per sqft spacing you may try something in between.
>You could space them every 8-10 inches apart instead of 6 inches. You could
>do this by planing 9 seeds in a 2ft by 2ft square. This places them 8 inches
>apart. Good luck

--------------
Don Gross                     gross@ims.com
The "No Boundaries" SQFT'er

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