WASHINGTON — It was a sunny Saturday morning, and a dozen kids were busy planning their gardens: tomatoes in the back next to the melons, potatoes in the middle, and beans and carrots up front. They carefully counted and spaced out their vegetables, but the dirt they were using was actually squares of brown felt, and the plants were laminated pictures.

The kids were learning the basics of a simple and fun gardening technique called square-foot gardening. The workshop was being held by Big Learning, a company that teaches kids activities using the skills they learn in school.

Square-foot gardening is an easy way to start gardening, says instructor Karen Cole, who founded Big Learning. It doesn't require a lot of space or work, it uses math and organization skills from school, and it's a chance to learn new things.

"Nothing is more engaging than caring for a living thing," said Cole, who has a thriving square-foot garden in her own backyard in Garrett Park, Md. "Living things have a way of presenting problems that need to be solved; they don't just grow automatically, you have to help them. So that gives you even more motivation to learn about them."

The basic building block of square-foot gardening is just that: a square of soil that measures one foot by one foot. Guidelines tell you what you can fit in one square (for example, one tomato plant). You can create a bigger garden by putting four, nine or 16 squares together. It's hard to reach the plants in the middle of a garden bigger than that!

The finished product looks very pretty and organized, plus it can produce delicious food all summer.

Rory O'Hollaren, 8, was at the workshop at the Beauvoir School in Washington, where she's a third-grader, and it inspired her to try gardening again. She loves gardening because "you can get dirty and nobody even cares." But last summer, her efforts were not so successful.

"Only the carrots came up, and they were really bitter," she said. Square-foot gardening, she thinks, will make a big difference. "Now we have a plan and some rules to follow."

Rory's garden will be four square feet, and she, her mother and her two younger brothers will each get one square. "Maybe Liam can plant carrots, and I can plant potatoes and Seamus can plant a melon," she said. "And we can see which one comes out the fastest."

HOW TO GET IT GROWING

A traditional square-foot garden is the size of four, nine or 16 12-inch-by-12-inch squares. To create your garden, you'll need to do a little work first (and probably get a little help from an adult).

1. Build your garden on top of existing soil using planks of wood to make the sides of the box, and line the bottom with something to keep weeds from sprouting. Newspaper works well; you can use the one in your hands!

2. Fill the box with at least six inches of good-quality soil. Then use simple strips of wood or plastic cording to mark off the individual squares where you'll plant your vegetables (or herbs or flowers).

In each 12-inch square you can put one of the following: