Five tricks to growing large gardens in small spaces
Sacramento Organic Gardening-5 tricks to growing large gardens in smaller spaces
In this article, about gardening are five tricks that can help gardeners grow larger crops in smaller spaces. This is not a new concept, in fact, it has been around for a long time. It is sometimes referred to as a postage stamp garden, square foot gardening or even micro gardening. Regardless of what is it called, the goal is the same. That goal is to maximize crop production or crop yield while gardening in smaller spaces. This is a type of gardening that should allow almost anyone who wants to garden actually to garden successfully. The concept of small gardens works well for patio, balconies, or it can be used in shady yards where small patches of sunlight are allowed.
The five tips we will go over today are;
Trellising to save space.
How To Trellis
Trellising is a godsend in small gardens because it allows the gardener to grow crops in a vertical fashion instead of horizontally over the ground. This frees up garden space to grow other crops in the spots where plants that sprawl would normally grow.
Cucumbers are a perfect example of plants that trellis well. The plants themselves will climb anything, and the fruit is not so heavy that will pull the plant down. Water melons can also be trellised, but they require that the fruit be supported in netting until harvested. I trellis my tomato plants every year. I also trim them back so that they grow in a hedge like system as opposed to bushes which can get out of control and take over. I usually use skinny bamboo skewers which I lattice together to form a grid, but there are also really COOL wire frames that you can find at home depot in the cement working section that work really well as trellises. They are 8 feet tall by 4 feet wide, and they only cost about $8. Construction companies use them to strengthen side walks, but their garden potentially is completely underutilized. See link below.
Placement of Plants
The physical location where plants are planted is very important for several reasons.
First, plants need a certain amount of ground space in order to thrive. The root system of plants has specific needs, as such, for a plant to thrive, the roots must be able to do their job. The roots have three tasks that they perform. First, they take water from the soil and provide it throughout the plant. Second, they take nutrients form the soil and feed the plant. Third, they provide a stabilizing effect to help keep the plant in place during wind or heavy rains, etc. If roots have to compete for water, nutrients or even anchoring points, then the plant will not produce very much produce. It will spend most of its energy trying to establish a good root system. This is exactly why, plants need their space. So where you place plant and how close together they are can have a direct effect on how much you are able to harvest.
Second: Some plants do not get along and if you plant two plants next to each other that do not get along, they neither plant will do very well. This has a lot to do with Companion planting, which is Iisted later, but for this example, Fennel is not very well liked by most gardening plants. In fact, tomatoes and fennel do not do well together. Choosing which plants you plant where is important.
Third: Sunlight is needed by all plants in some amount or another. Vegetable and flowers primarily need about eight hours of plants per day to thrive and produce a healthy bounty. In the summer garden or spring garden, the sun follows a specific pattern. Plant your plants according to that pattern so that the small plants are not shaded by the larger ones. I usually plant my smaller plants where the rays of the rising sun will strike them first. I plant the taller plants where they will catch the later afternoon rays of the sun. If the sun shines in the direction that this text flows, then plant: small, small, small,- MEDIUM, MEDIUM, and TALL, TALL, TALLEST.
In this section, we have gone over how placement of plants can have an effect on harvest in three ways. Each has to do with placement, and when new gardeners master the placement of plants, than half of the battle is over in the garden.
Learning how to water
One would think that just providing water should be enough, but the reality is that it is not just enough to provide water. There is an art to watering, and it is a fairly easy art to learn. The problem that new gardeners have, is that they either water too much or not enough. This is a problem because not all plants have the same watering requirements.
If you plant seed: Seeds should be watered every day so that the top of the soil becomes saturated, but in a gentle, slow fashion so as not to displace the seeds. Use a fine mist nozzle for watering seed beds.
Root Vegetables: Once established root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and beets should be watered every two -three days or when the soil begins to dry out. Water these types of vegetables deeply either by flooding a trench along the planting bed, or by watering slowly over a longer period of time so that the water has a chance to soak deeply into the soil. The reason for this method of watering is to make the roots grow deeper, and in the case of carrots, that means nice long carrots.
Peas, squash and Tomatoes: Water these types of plants very slowly over several hours so that the water sinks deep into the soil. Once the soil is saturated on a deep level, then the plants do not need to be watered again until they start to wilt which should be about every 3 days for peas and 5-10 days for squash and tomatoes. If you find that the plants are wilting sooner, than water more often. This may mean that your soil needs to be amended after harvest and more organic particles need to be added to the soil. Organics help to retain water, but they do break down quickly. Compost is a good source of organic material.
Most every other kind of plant should be watered daily or every other day. The plants themselves will give you an indication of their water needs. If you are a new gardener, then pay close attention to any plant that droops, as it needs water. I water in the evening so that the water has time to soak into the earth. I also water the ROOTS ONLY and not the entire plant. If your plants look like they are dusty, then gently hose them off as particles that accumulate on the leaves will prevent photosynthesis from occurring. I try not to water the leaves of the plants because water can wash away pollen and be an inviting host for molds and bacteria to form on the leaves. I try to avoid watering in the day time because the suns rays mixed with water droplets can burn the leaves of the plants.
Introduction to Companion planting
This section of the article is going to be a basic overview of companion planting. I say this because volumes have been written on the topic.
Plants are not simply a mass of stems, roots and leave. They are also chemical factories and they use these chemicals to communicate with each other, defend against pests, and as an open invitation to pollinators such as bees. With this being said, there are plants that get along together really well and plants that do no get along together at all. When gardening in a smaller space is it very important to pay attention to the relationships that plants have with each other. Different species of plants can help each other to grow better, or they can cause neither plant to grow at all. Here, is a short list of plants that grow well together.
Tomatoes and basil get along really, really well because the basil helps to protect the tomatoes from predators such as the tomato horn worm.
Carrots and Tomatoes grow really well together too as the tomato help to protect the carrots from the Carrot Fly which uses carrot roots as a host for its maggots. YUCK!
Corn and Beans grow really well together, and if you allow the corn to become the trellis for the beans, then both plants should be happy. These two plants work well at warding off the others pest insects while the flowers of the peas help to attract pollinators. Corn is mostly pollinated by the wind, so there is less competition for works such as bees.
Taking advantage of time
I probably repeat this message in every gardening article I write, but the concepts here are important for increasing crop yields and successful gardening in general. Time is required by all plants, and it takes time to grow, and then produce a crop. We gardeners have learned how to manipulate time to our own advantage, and when gardening in smaller places that ability has two distinct affects for crop production.
Grow short term crops over the top of long term crops. This will allow you to utilize the crop space twice in the same span of time. Short term crops are generally defined as plants that mature to harvest in less then 45 days, whereas a long term crop is made up of plants that mature in 70 days or longer. Two examples are radish, and lettuce, each can mature within 30 days. If you grow short term crops in conjunction with slower growing crops such as peas or tomatoes, (think about companion plants) then you will harvest the short term crop before the long term crop takes over that space. You have just successfully utilized the same growing space for two crops at the same time. Increased crop yield works will with this method.
Start Seeds earlier then you need them so that they have time to grow into seedlings which can be transplanted as other crops are removed. This gives you a head start on the growing your next crop. As we cross over between winter and summer gardens, I know that my cabbage will come out about April 1, so you want to grow my tomato plants from seeds Mid-February so that they are healthy seedlings that can be planted when I take out the Cabbage. What this has done is given me the time from mid February until April 1 as free time or time that I do not have to invest in growing tomatoes. The plants will still mature in their standard 85 days, but I have taken 45 days off that by starting seeds early. This allows me to maximize crop production.
Questions:
If you should have questions, then please, ask them in the comment section below. My goal is always to help other people succeed in their gardening endeavors.
In this article, about gardening are five tricks that can help gardeners grow larger crops in smaller spaces. This is not a new concept, in fact, it has been around for a long time. It is sometimes referred to as a postage stamp garden, square foot gardening or even micro gardening. Regardless of what is it called, the goal is the same. That goal is to maximize crop production or crop yield while gardening in smaller spaces. This is a type of gardening that should allow almost anyone who wants to garden actually to garden successfully. The concept of small gardens works well for patio, balconies, or it can be used in shady yards where small patches of sunlight are allowed.
The five tips we will go over today are;
- Trellising to save space.
- Placement of plants.
- How to water.
- Introduction to Companion Plants.
- How To Take advantage of the time.
Flowers invite pollinators to your garden
Photo credit:
David Stillwell
How To Trellis
Trellising is a godsend in small gardens because it allows the gardener to grow crops in a vertical fashion instead of horizontally over the ground. This frees up garden space to grow other crops in the spots where plants that sprawl would normally grow.
Cucumbers are a perfect example of plants that trellis well. The plants themselves will climb anything, and the fruit is not so heavy that will pull the plant down. Water melons can also be trellised, but they require that the fruit be supported in netting until harvested. I trellis my tomato plants every year. I also trim them back so that they grow in a hedge like system as opposed to bushes which can get out of control and take over. I usually use skinny bamboo skewers which I lattice together to form a grid, but there are also really COOL wire frames that you can find at home depot in the cement working section that work really well as trellises. They are 8 feet tall by 4 feet wide, and they only cost about $8. Construction companies use them to strengthen side walks, but their garden potentially is completely underutilized. See link below.
Placement of Plants
The physical location where plants are planted is very important for several reasons.
First, plants need a certain amount of ground space in order to thrive. The root system of plants has specific needs, as such, for a plant to thrive, the roots must be able to do their job. The roots have three tasks that they perform. First, they take water from the soil and provide it throughout the plant. Second, they take nutrients form the soil and feed the plant. Third, they provide a stabilizing effect to help keep the plant in place during wind or heavy rains, etc. If roots have to compete for water, nutrients or even anchoring points, then the plant will not produce very much produce. It will spend most of its energy trying to establish a good root system. This is exactly why, plants need their space. So where you place plant and how close together they are can have a direct effect on how much you are able to harvest.
Second: Some plants do not get along and if you plant two plants next to each other that do not get along, they neither plant will do very well. This has a lot to do with Companion planting, which is Iisted later, but for this example, Fennel is not very well liked by most gardening plants. In fact, tomatoes and fennel do not do well together. Choosing which plants you plant where is important.
Third: Sunlight is needed by all plants in some amount or another. Vegetable and flowers primarily need about eight hours of plants per day to thrive and produce a healthy bounty. In the summer garden or spring garden, the sun follows a specific pattern. Plant your plants according to that pattern so that the small plants are not shaded by the larger ones. I usually plant my smaller plants where the rays of the rising sun will strike them first. I plant the taller plants where they will catch the later afternoon rays of the sun. If the sun shines in the direction that this text flows, then plant: small, small, small,- MEDIUM, MEDIUM, and TALL, TALL, TALLEST.
In this section, we have gone over how placement of plants can have an effect on harvest in three ways. Each has to do with placement, and when new gardeners master the placement of plants, than half of the battle is over in the garden.
Learning how to water
One would think that just providing water should be enough, but the reality is that it is not just enough to provide water. There is an art to watering, and it is a fairly easy art to learn. The problem that new gardeners have, is that they either water too much or not enough. This is a problem because not all plants have the same watering requirements.
If you plant seed: Seeds should be watered every day so that the top of the soil becomes saturated, but in a gentle, slow fashion so as not to displace the seeds. Use a fine mist nozzle for watering seed beds.
Root Vegetables: Once established root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and beets should be watered every two -three days or when the soil begins to dry out. Water these types of vegetables deeply either by flooding a trench along the planting bed, or by watering slowly over a longer period of time so that the water has a chance to soak deeply into the soil. The reason for this method of watering is to make the roots grow deeper, and in the case of carrots, that means nice long carrots.
Peas, squash and Tomatoes: Water these types of plants very slowly over several hours so that the water sinks deep into the soil. Once the soil is saturated on a deep level, then the plants do not need to be watered again until they start to wilt which should be about every 3 days for peas and 5-10 days for squash and tomatoes. If you find that the plants are wilting sooner, than water more often. This may mean that your soil needs to be amended after harvest and more organic particles need to be added to the soil. Organics help to retain water, but they do break down quickly. Compost is a good source of organic material.
Most every other kind of plant should be watered daily or every other day. The plants themselves will give you an indication of their water needs. If you are a new gardener, then pay close attention to any plant that droops, as it needs water. I water in the evening so that the water has time to soak into the earth. I also water the ROOTS ONLY and not the entire plant. If your plants look like they are dusty, then gently hose them off as particles that accumulate on the leaves will prevent photosynthesis from occurring. I try not to water the leaves of the plants because water can wash away pollen and be an inviting host for molds and bacteria to form on the leaves. I try to avoid watering in the day time because the suns rays mixed with water droplets can burn the leaves of the plants.
Introduction to Companion planting
This section of the article is going to be a basic overview of companion planting. I say this because volumes have been written on the topic.
Plants are not simply a mass of stems, roots and leave. They are also chemical factories and they use these chemicals to communicate with each other, defend against pests, and as an open invitation to pollinators such as bees. With this being said, there are plants that get along together really well and plants that do no get along together at all. When gardening in a smaller space is it very important to pay attention to the relationships that plants have with each other. Different species of plants can help each other to grow better, or they can cause neither plant to grow at all. Here, is a short list of plants that grow well together.
Tomatoes and basil get along really, really well because the basil helps to protect the tomatoes from predators such as the tomato horn worm.
Carrots and Tomatoes grow really well together too as the tomato help to protect the carrots from the Carrot Fly which uses carrot roots as a host for its maggots. YUCK!
Corn and Beans grow really well together, and if you allow the corn to become the trellis for the beans, then both plants should be happy. These two plants work well at warding off the others pest insects while the flowers of the peas help to attract pollinators. Corn is mostly pollinated by the wind, so there is less competition for works such as bees.
Taking advantage of time
I probably repeat this message in every gardening article I write, but the concepts here are important for increasing crop yields and successful gardening in general. Time is required by all plants, and it takes time to grow, and then produce a crop. We gardeners have learned how to manipulate time to our own advantage, and when gardening in smaller places that ability has two distinct affects for crop production.
Grow short term crops over the top of long term crops. This will allow you to utilize the crop space twice in the same span of time. Short term crops are generally defined as plants that mature to harvest in less then 45 days, whereas a long term crop is made up of plants that mature in 70 days or longer. Two examples are radish, and lettuce, each can mature within 30 days. If you grow short term crops in conjunction with slower growing crops such as peas or tomatoes, (think about companion plants) then you will harvest the short term crop before the long term crop takes over that space. You have just successfully utilized the same growing space for two crops at the same time. Increased crop yield works will with this method.
Start Seeds earlier then you need them so that they have time to grow into seedlings which can be transplanted as other crops are removed. This gives you a head start on the growing your next crop. As we cross over between winter and summer gardens, I know that my cabbage will come out about April 1, so you want to grow my tomato plants from seeds Mid-February so that they are healthy seedlings that can be planted when I take out the Cabbage. What this has done is given me the time from mid February until April 1 as free time or time that I do not have to invest in growing tomatoes. The plants will still mature in their standard 85 days, but I have taken 45 days off that by starting seeds early. This allows me to maximize crop production.
Questions:
If you should have questions, then please, ask them in the comment section below. My goal is always to help other people succeed in their gardening endeavors.
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