How do I grow lots of vegetables in the garden the size of a postage stamp?
One of the great truisms of gardening is that no matter how big your garden is, there will never be enough space to fit in everything you want to grow. That’s why so many books have been devoted to teaching gardeners how to get the most out of what little space they have.
One solution is to go vertical. Growing plants up poles, walls, trellises, strings, cages or nets reduces the horizontal space required by each plant while conveniently covering a wall, the side of a shed, or an undesirable view with a veneer of lush growth. Pole beans, cucumbers, small melons, peas, and vining tomatoes can all be grown this way without sacrificing yields.
Another solution is to plant vegetables that are capable of producing significant quantities on a small footprint. Cherry tomatoes will happily grow in a bucket and produce lots of fruit as will peppers and eggplants. Potatoes can be grown successfully in (clean) garbage cans. A cabbage plant, on the other hand, will take up just as much space as a tomato plant and net you a single head. Other space hogs that should be avoided in small gardens are broccoli, squash, cauliflower, watermelon and corn. On the other hand, leafy greens like lettuce, spinach and chard can easily be grown in square foot patches and produce a surprising amount of food.
Inter-planting can maximize space by capitalizing on differing growth habits and rates. By planting alternating rows of vegetables that mature at different speeds - radishes and beets, for example - you can space them closer together, knowing that by the time the beets need to spread into the space the radishes are occupying, the radishes will have already been harvested. Lettuce and carrots can also be planted in alternating rows, since lettuce concentrates the bulk of its growth above ground while carrots focus most of theirs below it. This allows you to space the rows closer together without sacrificing the maximum potential of each vegetable.
Planting in blocks instead of in rows also helps you maximize your growing space. Rows are probably the least efficient way to grow vegetables since the gaps between the rows take up nearly as much space as the plants themselves. By planting in blocks instead, you can space plants a little closer, group together plants with complementary growth habits, and save yourself a whole lot of weeding, which is never a bad thing.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me at vanessa@gardenmuse.ca.
