square foot gardening is a method of gardening made popular by mel bartholemew in 1981. it is based on the idea that wide rows, used in traditional gardening, waste time, work, water, seeds and soil. it shows that quality vegetables can be grown in less space with less work. in this method, the garden space is divided into "beds", separated by paths. each bed measures 4' × 4' ( × ), therefore covering an area of (). these beds are further divided into sixteen squares of about one square foot ( per side, ). a different type of plant is grown in each of those squares. a single large plant, like broccoli, will use one of the squares. smaller plants can be spaced more tightly; for example, four heads of lettuce together in one square, or sixteen carrots. all work (planting, removing weeds, watering and harvesting) is done from the pathways. this stops the soil from being compacted.