Story by Fred Langemann
Photos by Carrie Olson

A disabling injury or illness need not be the end-all of life--unless we choose it to be so!

Recently I had a dream--a dream that began with an overwhelming envelopment of darkness then there appeared a tiny pinpoint of light, so tiny that I almost overlooked it. But it got larger and larger until it supplanted all of the darkness, and I guess at this point I awoke.

If there is a lesson in this dream, perhaps it is that in focusing on a small point of light, it may become something much larger, something that has a meaningful place in our lives. My Square-Foot Garden is like that small point of light--it opens the world to me.

Now how did this happen? Well, it started in the 1970s when I moved to Louisiana after my disability retirement. At that time, Mel Bartholomew had a program on public television called "Square Foot Gardening," and I just knew I had to try it. I purchased his book and began my garden, using all of the materials he suggested. I used concrete blocks to make my square, thus enabling me to transfer from my wheelchair to any one of the four corners to do the small daily tasks necessary. So successful was this experiment that I decided to start a second square. From that moment on, I was growing more vegetables than I could possibly use and began giving them away.

In 1993, I moved from Louisiana to Tucson, Arizona. After getting settled, my thoughts turned to starting a garden. Two problems arose--the first concerned space. I had very little and the second was discouraging news from some of the residents who told me that gardening was almost impossible because of the caliche, a type of rocky soil here in the desert.

I decided that the advice was crazy, and that I would begin Square Foot Gardening once again. With the help of a good neighbor and friend, I built a garden above ground so that the bed was level with my waist enabling me to tend everything from my wheelchair. The above ground garden had another advantage--no rabbits were able to reach the vegetables.

Each day, one of the first things I do is to water the garden and whatever chores are necessary to keep the plants thriving. Yes, I like to see things grow--it is that simple!

There is another blessing my Square Foot Garden provides me with the company of a constant flow of neighbors who pass by my house on their exercise jaunt. Whenever someone stops to talk, I explain how Square Foot Gardening works, and often give them some little token--a radish, a carrot or whatever is currently ready for picking.

Does Square Foot Gardening work here in the desert? You bet it does!

Recently the local newspaper took my picture in which I displayed a 2 3/4 lb. beet that I grew:

Fred Langemann, a disabled retiree, shows a 2 3/4 lb. beet he grew in his Square Foot Garden, an invention by Mel Bartholomew.* Here in Arizona where we have two growing seasons, one square (4ft. x 4ft) will provide enough vegetables theoretically for one person for an entire year. Here's how it works. #1 You start with any number of small 4' x 4' gardening boxes filled with a garden soil mixture. #2 Bartholomew suggests using a perfect soil mixture of just three ingredients: peat mass, vermiculite, and compost. Fred's compost is made up from table scraps (no seeds or bones), leaves, tree trimmings, and almost any other type of organic material. #3 Once the 4' x 4' garden is filled with that perfect soil mixture, it is then #4 divided into sixteen one-foot squares with a grid laid on top of the soil.

Seeds or transplants are then planted into these one foot squares. The numbers depend on the type and size of vegetable. For example, sixteen carrot or radish seeds may be planted in one of the squares, while nine bush bean plants may fill another square. No time is ever lost, and the garden runs 365 days a year. For example, let's say the sixteenth radish is plucked from one of the squares. Immediately, the soil is enhanced with more compost and is then replanted with another crop, thus wasting no time at all.

Should you wish to plant squash or any other plant that will grow high, vertical supports are placed for the plant to climb upon. (These larger plants are usually placed in the back squares, so as not to interfere with the care that may be exercised with the other vegetables.)

Inasmuch as the soil is usually contained within, say, cement blocks or a wooden-type box and never walked upon, the soil stays loose and weeding is quite simple. Because Fred is in a wheelchair (a friend constructed an above-ground structure that will accommodate his wheelchair), he is able to simply pluck the occasional weed by hand.)

While Fred is still experimenting, here are some of the plants he found most successful--beets, radishes, peas, parsley, chives, and all kinds of greens. He has also grown watermelons, cantaloupes, potatoes and squashes.

When Fred first moved to Arizona from Louisiana and expressed an interest in gardening, he was discouraged at first by people telling him that nothing would grow in the Arizona desert soil because of the caliche. Then, one day, I looked out of my window and everything I saw was green! The caliche, mixed with the compost works.

*To learn more about Mel Bartholomew's book Square Foot Gardening, log on www.squarefootgardening.com