Best raised bed vegetable garden:
Square Foot Gardening( SFG) vs. Ecological Gardening (Food4Wealth)

Want to build a raised bed vegetable garden in your backyard?

Unsure of how much time and money growing your own food would take?

Worried that a significant amount of time and effort will be required to learn the “tricks of the trade”?

“Growing food is typically seen as either an art form or damned hard work. No wonder very few people do it on a serious level. But what if a technique came along that was so easy and so prolific that even the busiest corporate executive could grow a significant portion of their family’s food in less time than it takes to drive to the shops. Ecological gardening just might be the answer. In my experience, it’s the ultimate modern-day convenience veggie plot”

Jonathan White, Environmental Scientist and Horticulturalist,
creator of Food4Wealth, an ecological gardening system.

Four years ago, I selected the square foot gardening (SFG) method to grow my vegetable garden. No doubt, it was better than a traditional garden plot. Since then, a new Ecological gardening concept came along.
How does it work compared to SFG? Is there a reason for me to switch? And for those of you who are just starting this year, which system is preferrable?

These questions ran though my mind when I received the manual and started reading. Jonathan’s Ecological gardening system, Food4Wealth, claims to take away all the traditional hard work associated with gardening, so that I can continue enjoying life while my plants grow and produce. Plants are allowed to reseed and grow so close to each other that there is hardly a patch of soil exposed to the sun. This means less watering, no turning soil, and no weeds. This also means less time and money spent to control my garden.

Side-by-side comparison: SFG vs. Food4Wealth

I have created a table to compare the two methods based on the criteria that are important to me. First, I listed my criteria, then I ranked them using points, 1 point being the worst, and 5 – the best.

My score came out to 40:25 in favor of Ecological gardening.

Both SFG and Ecological gardening are better ways to grow your own food in a limited space than a traditional vegetable plot. They both provide superior weed and pest control, and maximize your harvest while minimizing work. It’s just that one of them minimizes work better.

How to use this table

You can use my table to find out your own preferred way to grow your vegetable garden. For simplicity, I did not introduce weight of each criterion to this calculation. Weight is usually used to identify the importance of each criterion to you. For example, price may be irrelevant for you, while frequent watering makes more impact on your decision than crop rotation. I assumed that all of them are equally important. I suggest that you simply remove the criteria that are unimportant to you, and assume that the remaining ones are equally important. Assign points to them, and get your total score.

Crop rotation: time and money

Square foot gardening requires crop rotation, meaning more planning, more upfront work, and more money. You need to buy new plants and seeds every year, and add more mix to your boxes. The mix includes vermiculite – an ingredient that is expensive and hard to find. I spend about $15-20 per 4x4 bed every year just on the mix. In a square foot garden, you also pull out the plants that reseeded, and either throw them away or relocate them.

Contrary to this, in the Food4Wealth system, you only need to add compost, you don’t rotate your crops, and you allow plants to reseed naturally. Do you see how using Food4Wealth cuts both the price tag and the work?

Watering your raised vegetable garden

The need for targeted watering is one of the drawbacks of the square foot gardening method. To discourage weeds from growing in-between the plants, one has to aim the water flow directly under the root of the plant. Water pressure, therefore, should be low, so that the plants are not stressed. If your hose doesn’t satisfy these requirements you might need to buy a new one. It takes longer to carefully water each vegetable and herb rather than shower the whole vegetable plot with water.

Frequent watering is another constraint that SFG puts of my life, because I like going out of the city for weekends in the summer. I water my square foot garden once or twice a day during hot weather, and once every two days during mild periods. More than once, I came back from a camping trip just to find my tomatoes close to clinical death. Since pests choose to attack stressed plants, I had to fight three different types last year, losing 20% of my tomato harvest in the battle.

Will I change my lifestyle and start babysitting my plants? Unlikely. That’s why I appreciate that Food4Wealth allows weekly watering, and the use of any garden watering system, such as a sprinkler or ‘dripping hose’, or simply watering from the hose without targeting the base of every plant. It’s simpler, less trouble, and provides more freedom for an urban gardener. It relieves stress for beginners.

Design, landscape choices, and cost

SFG requires 4x4 beds. If your organic vegetable garden is a part of your overall landscape design, you might want to use boxes of different sizes, for example 4x8, 15x6, or 2x6. Food4Wealth system allows you to grow your food on any plot size, which significantly expands your choices of vegetable garden plans and designs.

A quick calculation shows that using one bigger box requires less wood which, in turn, cuts down the price. For example, two 4x4 boxes, located next to each other in my backyard, require 2x16=32 ft of wood, while 1 4x8 box would require 25% less - only 24 ft.

Ecological gardening saves your time and money, which makes growing your own food an even more fun and sustainable choice than SFG.

Want to find out more? Go to Jonathan’s Food4Wealth website.

In his book and videos, Jonathan provides you with everything you need to start your own successful raised bed vegetable garden this year:

• Vegetable garden plans
• Project plan and maintenance checklists with step-by-step instructions
• Guidance on how to build boxes, make planting mix, and select plants
• Easy composting tips
• Recommendations on the best plants to grow
• Advice on growing tomatoes and potatoes
• … and a wealth of other useful information in a very easy-to-read and easy-to-follow format.

I am converting my square foot garden to the Food4Wealth system this year, are you?

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