Rating
Content
Design

A few years back I remember watching a show on PBS about gardening using a square foot block at a time.  The host Mel Bartholomew walked the viewers threw the process of setting up a Square Foot Garden and gave many great tips on gardening in general.  That show is gone now, but I recently came across SquareFootGardening.com and it has renewed my intrest.
Content ()
SquareFootGardening.com is the official website of Mel Bartholomew, the author of the all time best selling gardening book “Square Foot Gardening”.  The website offers a few quick how-to articles and quite a few articles in the “Mel’s Columns” section that I found to be rather informative.The site does sell many products and is heavily weighted towards the sale.  I think this site could benefit greatly from a blog or a forum.  I can see this becoming a very popular site quickly if a best selling author would blog about his garden once or twice a week.  Having that type of interaction would entice visitors to return more often, and returning visitors equal greater sales, it is a win win!
Screen Shot
Design ()
SquareFootGardening.com has a very simple design.  While it is easy to navigate (and that is important) it is visually disappointing.  There is nothing about this sites design that I walk away remembering.  The owner of the site is not only a best selling author but was the host of a long running PBS show about Square Foot Gardening, these factors really make me long for a more appealing site, and with the large archive I am sure Mel has, I hope he decides to update the look!
Conclusion
SquareFootGardening.com presents an innovative idea in gardening and provides enough information for an inexperienced gardener to get started.  The articles are informative, but I would like to see more of them and I would like to see some sort of social addition to the site.  Overall, I think the sites rating is grater than the sum of its parts because of the innovative and interesting ideas presented.
Pros: Innovative ideas, good articles.
Cons: Poor design, lack of social networking.
Square Foot Gardening

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Read the rest