Biointensive planting template

By Cash Olsen,

I needed a tool to assist in planting my garden bed according to Biointensive instructions. In one of their companion planting schemes they want a hexagon with sides of 25 inches on a side. After studying the scheme I simplified the hexagon to a regular trapezoid of 25 inches on a side that can be flipped over to create the hexagon.

I made the template out of scraps that were ripped off of a 2X4. I used Guerrilla glue to assemble the template and then trimmed the excess wood to finish.

I show the trapezoid laid on the ground with soda straws marking the inside corners.

I show the entire 5 X 20 (100 sq. ft.) bed marked with soda straws. A corn seed is planted next to each soda straw. In the first placement of the template, all four corners are marked then the template is raised straight off of the straws and then moved to the right and placed over two of the straws and then the remaining corners are marked and the process is repeated. I was able to mark the bed in a matter of just a few minutes using the template.

I hope this is helpful to others.