Mel Bartholomew, American gardener and author, Died at 84

Mel Bartholomew died on May 2, 2016.

He was a retired businessman and engineer.

He was renown for his gardening skills.

Mel sought to find the answer to the frustrations of most gardeners with his square foot gardening method, which has received worldwide acclaim.

Mel Bartholomew founded the non-profit Square Foot Gardening Foundation to promote easy gardening methods.

He took a 12’ by 12’ square with a grid that divided it into 9 squares with equal lengths of 4 feet on each side.

In each of these 4’ by 4’ squares was then invisibly divided into sixteen one foot squares that were each planted with a different species.

Using smaller square gardens the grids may simply serve as a way to divide the garden but in larger gardens the grids can be made wide enough to be used as narrow walkways.

Mel recommends carefully spacing of seeds rather than planting the entire seed packet so that fewer but stronger plants will grow.

Mel Bartholomew passed away at 84 yrs old.