>> which is better, squarefoot gardening or just rows.
I think that is personal preference, influenced by circumstances.
If you don't use mechanical cultivation like a roto-tiller to chop weeds in the spaces between rows, you don't NEED rows.
SFG seems better suited to small beds. Your 8x8 bed would make 64 12" squares, except for the need to have walkways.
I don't think about rows vs SFG, I think about these:
- do I have time to make a raised bed with improved soil? I hope so! if it's just a flat-topped mound with no walls, rasieing the root zone above grade assures drainage and aeration, and those are my biggest problems.
- How narrow can I afford to make my beds? It helps me reach everything if they are less than 36" wide, but then I have a 12-18" walkway for every 36" of bed (25% - 33% wasted space)
- If I wnated rows, do I have so much garden space that I can afford to waste it on a 12" walkway between EVERY row of plants? Isn't that like 40% wasted space?
- if my soil is so poor, and I don't have time/money/enenrgy/compost enoguh to make it great soil, maybe I NEED to space my plants out far enoguh to give their roots a chnacve to find enough nutirients. Then rows might make sense: leave space between rows where I can kill weeds by hoeing. But even then, I prefer not to walk ON the soil between rows.
That's my preferecne, but I would urge you to try it both ways, when you have a chance. See which you prefer. For example, corn in rows make sense, if you have enough room for corn.
