Once upon a time, I set out to garden with a friend. She was fairly insistent on using some of the techniques in “The Square Foot Garden.” However, neither of us really knew much about gardening. My experience was limited to working on corn farms, watching gardeners in various places, and putting in a half-assed vegetable garden as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
I set out to measure the space we had. I laid out grade stakes every foot around the periphery of the small garden plot. I then strung twine from each stake to form a grid, where each grid measured one foot by one foot. I thought we would list the spaces on the grid and decide what to plant in each.
Additionally, the grid would serve as a guide for planting, much as is detailed in The Square Foot Garden. For example, for plants that have a spacing of 3”, 16 will fit in a square foot, because 4 rows of 4 will fit. This is a lot more dense than planting on a row.
My friend wouldn’t go along with the scheme. She said that she would plant her own beds, and I could plant mine. Then, she set to mock me for being too fastidious. Soon, all our mutual friends started to call me “Mr. Square Foot Grid.” I never lived it down.
Today, I’m planting okra. My first step is to make a grid of 6” squares out of drip irrigation line. In searching online, I see that making a planting guide out of irrigation tubing is not uncommon. (Here’s another example, for the curious.)
My friend eventually fired me from my position as her friend for other reasons, mostly related to a new boyfriend. This boyfriend became her husband, and I didn’t like him because he worked for Corrections Corporation of America, now CoreCivic, the world’s largest operator of private prisons. I think she may have believed I didn’t like him because I saw him as competition. Either way, we moved apart.
But until the very end of that friend group, they continued to mock me for being “Mr. Square Foot Grid.” I didn’t stick to my guns and explain to them that many people would agree with me. I allowed them to mock me because I thought all of them must know more than I did.
The moral of the story is don’t be cowed. There are people who think they know better than you, but they are not always right. Even if they mock you or call you names, life may show you, ultimately, that it was you who was right.
