Grow with Us - Square Foot Gardening

This program is available online only.

Wayne Schirner is a certified Texas Master Gardener from Bell County, with advance training in vegetable gardening, composting, and irrigation efficiency. Wayne is also a Square Foot Gardening Certified Instructor. Join Wayne as he discusses the All New Square Foot Gardening method that was created by Mel Bartholomew, and learn about the advantages of this method of gardening.

Wayne grew up in Iowa where his parents and grandparents both had large traditional row gardens. The thing that Wayne remembers most from that era is how much work was involved in preparing the soil every year, planting, and harvesting crops on time. In 1983, Wayne discovered the PBS series on Square Foot Gardening, based on the original method of SFG. That method involved amending native soils and was still a lot of work. Wayne successfully practiced that method in many parts of the country as he moved with the Army. He arrived in Texas in 1998 and immediately started a new SFG. He struggled with that method for 17 years before he learned that his native soil just couldn’t be successfully amended for vegetable growing. That’s when Wayne learned about the All New Square Foot Gardening method that no longer required trying to amend native soil. Wayne’s garden has been outstanding ever since, and he is a strong advocate of this easy method of gardening. Wayne likes to experiment in his garden and remains convinced that the SFG method is the easiest method of gardening for the majority of home gardeners. You too can be successfully growing vegetables in less than a week, no matter where you live.

Grow with Us is a series of online sessions from the Dallas Public Library - Seed Library and Dallas Environmental Quality and Sustainability hosting expert speakers to share practical, informative, and inspirational information about growing and urban agriculture in Dallas.