Growing more vegetables in small spaces
Want to grow more vegetables in less space? Try intensive gardening, which allows you to put more plants in your beds and double or triple your production.
Close planting, says Contra Costa Master Gardener Janet Miller, is not about cramming as many plants in your bed as possible. It’s an organized method that produces more vegetables while protecting the soil. Here are Miller’s tips:
Intensive planting n will only work if your soil is healthy. Growing so many plants in your beds quickly depletes the soil of nutrients, so you need to start with healthy soil and feed it throughout the growing season.
How do you know if n your soil is healthy? Get a soil test that will show not only how much nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus is in your soil, but the amount of organic material and micronutrients you have.
Plant in an off-set grid n instead of rows. Row farming was developed for commercial farmers who needed room to get plows, horses and eventually tractors into the field. That leaves a lot of soil exposed and unused. By visualizing your garden bed as a checker board, you will plant in each red square.
You’ll need to consider n the size of the mature plant to know how far apart to place your plants in the grid. A good source for spacing information is “How to Grow More Vegetables” (10 Speed Press, $19.99) by John Jeavons. Also consider the height n of the mature plants. Place taller plants on the northern end of your bed so they won’t shade the smaller plants growing next to them.
Stake seedlings that n will need support as you plant them.