Square foot gardening is a type of gardening made popular by Mel Bartholemew. It is based on the idea that the wide rows in traditional gardening is a waste of time, work, water, and area. It shows that quality vegetables can be grown in less space with less work. In this method, the garden space is divided into "bed"s. Each bed is 4' x 4' (16 sq ft) (120 cm x 120 cm, 1.4m²). The beds are separated by paths. These beds are further divided into squares of about one square foot. Common spacing is one plant per square for larger plants such as broccoli and basil, four per square for medium large plants like lettuce, nine per square for medium -small plants like spinach, and sixteen per square for small plants such as onions and carrots. The weeds are removed from the beds and the plants are watered from the pathways. This stops the soil from being compacted.