I have an area that is 35' x 45' that I plan to devote to my wife for her garden. I plan to begin tilling this weekend and working the compost into the soil. I might put an early crop of turnips or something in to get things moving before spring. I am looking for suggestions for crops and lay-out to provide optimal return for the limited space and any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Always before, I have had really large gardens where space wasn't such an issue but I have read that small gardens, when properly planned, can provide a substantial return. I have absolutely no experience at something this small and would like suggestions before I start this venture.
Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. I can't recommend it enough! It has great tips for pest-deterrent companion planting, how to space and different layouts for great results. It even lists different types of gardens (kid, wheelchair, vertical).
I'm going to employ the Square Foot Garden this year. I have an area that was terraced last summer, and now its going to be ready for planting in the spring. Its an odd shape, but I was able to get the maximum amount of sun, in an otherwise shady area. I'm going to get 144 sq feet of planted space in an area that is only about 220 sq feet total. That should go a long way for our family of five. We'll see.
I guess I'm a bit late, because I wanted to recommend the Square Foot Garden. I implemented a few principles last year after seeing my father-in-law use one, but this winter I drank the Kool Aid. From now on, square foot gardening it is. The system is well thought out, and is an excellent utilization of space if you are limited. _________________________________________ "Civilize the mind, but make savage the body."
I'm going to try this one more time. Yesterday I wrote a long post (long for me that is), it is drifting out in cyber space somewhere. We garden with beds that have grass paths between them. We cut the grass on the paths and use it for mulch. The paths will let you get in there and work the beds even when the ground is wet without compacting the soil. We never step on the beds so the soil is easy to work from year to year. After we have tilled the bed with the tiller a couple of years it is really easy to turn the soil with a push plow. As far as what crops to grow. That is something that you will have to play with, because what works for one person may or may not work for someone else. Even if something works for your neighbor a mile down the road is doing well with a plant/veggie it doesn't mean that you will. Your soil and micro climate will determine what you do well with. OGM
Tomatoes will grow in bales of straw and if you plant potatoes in tires then add tires as they grow you will not have to dig the just knock over the stack.
Some of the stuff we have had high yields/space from are grenbeans, cucumbers, tomatoes (tied up on cattle pannels as they grow) and potatoes in stacked tires filled with straw. We had an area last year about 6'x50' in cucumbers but we probably goat about 3 bushels a week for a good part of the summer. Some of the stuff we have pretty much abandoned due to the lower yield (at least for us) for the space used is corn, pumpkins, and squash.
Most years we don't do that good with pumpkins and squash either. Our summers are hot and dry, two things that squash and pumpkins(which is a squash) don't like. OGM
I also am going to expand my garden this year, the last few years have been devoted to deck planters. This year I'm moving to an area behind my garage about 27' x 40' my thoughts were to make long planters like OGM described with space between them to move around. Sea keep us posted on how it goes for you, living in the south you can get started now, I'm at -15 right now so there isn't much growing outside I'm just now starting to look through my seed magazines to see what I want plant this year.
I picked this book up last week at the librarys book sale for $1. I'm in the process of reading it. It's definately a good read, changed my views on gardening and I plan on utilizing this method this year. This method, to only mention a few, allows one to maximize growing area, minimizes need to thin out rows and time working in garden, allows you to rotate crops easier and get harvests throughout your growing season. Basically you do 4' x4' plots each divided in to 1'x1' plots. Vine plants are grown upwards in your northernmost row of squares. attached are some pages from the book.
