Need Help! measuring garden boxes

Ange71 2/4/2015, 4:06 am

I have 3 Fixed raised garden boxes that I use to plant rows of veggies in, but now I want to try the square foot gardens. I'm not to sure how to measure each box out. The measurements are for each box is: 1655 L x 550 W x 420 D.
Any help would be great.
Thanks

Judy McConnell 2/4/2015, 7:57 am

What unit are your measurements?? cm? dm?

To find volume= L x W x H = volume

If you are wanting to convert your measurements into feet:
1 ft = 30.48cm = just divide 30.48cm into each of your measurements to give feet

OR even easier= just use 30.5cm (a side) as your sq ft measurement within the box.

Ange71 2/4/2015, 8:27 am

It was is mm I know how to convert just not sure the layout measurements as each square it's not going to be exactly a foot square. Does that matter

Judy McConnell 2/4/2015, 9:20 am

No, it shouldn't matter that much - close enough for government work!! LOL

**Kelejan** 2/4/2015, 11:51 am

I have several rulers with both metric (30cm) and imperial (12 inch) measurements.

Use the ruler as Judy says.

Mark the long edge of the bed, adjusting less or more for each square as near as you can the length of the ruler. You should get about 5 squares.

The short edge is about 18" (55cm) so make that 1 square plus 1/2 a square. Just make it near enough and don't fret over it. The plants won't know.

You should end up with 5 rectangles 33cm x 28cm
5 rectangles 33cm x 13cm

More or less.

**sanderson** 2/4/2015, 1:03 pm

Ange, Welcome to the SFG Forum from California, US. $glad you\'re here$ We love seeing AU / NZ photos while we are still in winter mode! So, please post photos of your SFG and non-SFG gardens! Very Happy

You can always use the half squares for something that doesn't require a full square. I also have half squares on one of my raised beds.

Ange71 2/4/2015, 5:41 pm

Thanks everyone for your help

Ange71 2/4/2015, 5:43 pm

Sanderson thank you. my raised garden is just dirt atm planning on planting this weekend. Once they are up and running I'll post some pic's.

Cajun Cappy 2/4/2015, 6:49 pm

I came to this post kinda late it seems but here is my story on the subject

A friend called me last year asking me to help him convert his garden into a sq ft style grid bed. I put a marks a lot and a hand full of nails in my pocket and jumped in my jeep and drove over. he ahd built some frames that looked pretty good had them filled up and leveled off. They looked to be around 3 ft wide and around 15 ft long or so. I asked him how big they were he said he didn't have a clue. He had used some wood he got from a brother who had tore down an old barn. On close inspection they were rough hand sawed cypress planks. I reached in my jeep box and came out with the Cajun stand by Cat fish twine. Its nylon string used to make cat fish lines and every country boy has a couple spools of the stuff around. We measured out a string the length of the garden and started folding it in half and again and again till we had a piece that turned out to be over 10 inches long. close enough. We used that piece to measure out lengths that I marked with a dot on the boards We repeated the process for the width of the beds putting our dots about 14 inches apart when I asked him how he decided how wide to Make the boxes he said he put the board against a knee bent over and reached comfortably out and touched the board and marked it then did it again then cut it and used it to mark the other boards. I figure he had cut them around 3.5 ft or so. Using the fold a string technique ya know it will equally divide your boards. We marked lengths drove nails theere and gridded his beds off with cat fish twine. no measuring. When he went to plant he cut card board to his shape outined by the string and made a few planting templates. When it gets going this spring I'll ride over and take pictures for yall. Nothing is square nothing is measured and he has one great garden going.

audrey.jeanne.roberts 2/4/2015, 8:23 pm

Made me laugh Cajun Cappy - sometimes we get so uptight about being incredibly technical and precise!

My new 4x8 table tops were stage risers at our church and were replaced in a remodel. The price was right ($free) and they were ready made. They're made of 2x6s and have a support piece every 2 feet. We left them in and the roughly 4, 2x4 interior cavities are very easy to plant in squares. I may not even put a grid on them as it's so easy to visualize the squares in that small of a space. After 3 years of SFG I've gotten so good at gauging how many inches apart using nothing more than my fingers.

For laughs I placed my finger planting holes and then grabbed a ruler and they're dead on!

**Turan** 2/5/2015, 1:10 pm

My foot is 12" long and my palm is 4" wide, my stride is a yard, and the last joint on my thumb is an inch. Or close enough for the garden Wink

**Kelejan** 2/5/2015, 2:45 pm

Turan wrote:My foot is 12" long and my palm is 4" wide, my stride is a yard, and the last joint on my thumb is an inch. Or close enough for the garden

So you are the perfect model, Turan. Very Happy

You can go into any dress shop and get a perfect fit every time?
Me, I have to shorten legs and arms. I really should be about four inches taller then I would be perfect.

**Turan** 2/5/2015, 11:00 pm

Kelejan wrote:
Turan wrote:My foot is 12" long and my palm is 4" wide, my stride is a yard, and the last joint on my thumb is an inch. Or close enough for the garden
So you are the perfect model, Turan. You can go into any dress shop and get a perfect fit every time?
Me, I have to shorten legs and arms. I really should be about four inches taller then I would be perfect.

Hah! I wear men's clothing mostly because I am bigger than most women. And try finding size 12 shoes..... I must be the size of the king whos foot and thumb we use for measuring. Shocked

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