Horticulture for everyone!

Welcome to The Square Root

The Square Root has been set up to support people to grow their own, providing info as well and hints and tips to get you going. With people enjoying the outdoors more, the farm to table initiative back again and food price rises and uncertainty now is a great time to get outside and grow something you love. From a window box for fresh herbs or raised bed in the garden for salad crops why not give it a go.

On the main website you'll see loads of useful information from plant types, growing tips, dealing with pests and much more. Whether this is on your balcony or patio. Or in the garden, greenhouse, window box, poly tunnel, allotment, communal garden, repurposed disused building, small holding/homestead (...you get the idea) there will be something for you to get you started or help those of you with green fingers. There will also be videos on our YouTube channel and updates on the Facebook page so check those out too!

A little about me

My name is Chris, I also work with other people and local projects from designing and creating a community garden to looking at preserving local buildings, history and community locations. I was a lecturer at 2 colleges and occasionally a university, teaching a variety of subjects for 14 years and I loved working with the students. I usually worked with learners with learning or social needs from autism, to mental health issues to ADHD and many more. It was amazing to see the person that graduated compared to the young person that started. The journey they had been on and the distance they have traveled/changes during that time. I taught 1 students for 5 years, who then went on to undertake a masters degree after being written off by his school. What I learned from all of this was that no matter who you are you can achieve something.

In 2020 I became very ill (not COVID, but I did have that), which left me bed bound for many months and 3 years later I am still slowly recovering. In the at home with my wonderful family my son developed a great interest in veg growing. So to help him, and in an attempt to be of some use I did some courses online with a horticultural body. I learned so much, not just from the courses but also from my own research and getting stuck in. As Oscar Wilde famously said "...experience is the name we give to our mistakes" and mistakes were made from splitting tomatoes to bug infestations (on the plant not me!).

Towards the end of 2022 I found people coming to me for advice, starting a communal garden with a lovely bunch of people as well as enjoying homegrown our own fruit and veg. Someone then mentioned to me "you should put this stuff out there" (ironically that was also how I got in to teaching, when a journalist I was supporting said "you'd make a good teacher"), so here I am on another path on my journey.

In summary

Whatever you have to work with we'll find a way to get you growing and eating your own together. That's the key, a community, regardless of whether it is online or in person. As we're all different there will be amounts in metric, imperial and US customary units, a conversion page is already up and information for both hemispheres as well as USDA hardiness zones as we don't all live in the same place, so check these out now.

If there is something specific you are looking for, posts and videos will be released regularly. Despite having a plan of what I'm doing I am happy to swap around if there's massive interest in something, to put that forwards. Like and subscribe on Facebook and YouTube @TheSquareRoot and keep up to date. Wherever you are from Iceland to Florida or New Zealand to The UK, join us, and get outside, get active and be happy!