Maximize Your Garden: Growing Food in Small Spaces

I LOVE to garden. I LOVE to grow food, I LOVE to put up food.

We have quite a big garden space–because we have lots of room for a big garden space. Not everyone has, or even WANTS a big garden space. BUT…if you want the thrill of growing your own food, and even if you have only a little bit of space, I’m here to tell you that you can!! Don’t let your tiny yard discourage you! Tiny doesn’t mean that you can’t grow a lot of food!

---

This Book….

Here is my FAVORITE gardening book! Garden Way’s Joy of Gardening. This is where I learned most of what I know about growing our own food. (Well, this book, my man, and my mother-in-law.) It’s not a new book, but it IS a goody! It is a treasure trove of gardening information, in simple, clear form–anyone can learn from it!

Whether you are a seasoned gardener or a just starting on your journey, it has everything you need to garden: how much you need to plant per person and how to store each vegetable, which varieties work for what storage. I LOVE it!

This book shows you how to cram LOTS of food into small spaces, and in doing that, it saves on weeding and watering. Because you are covering your ground with food instead of weeds!

---

Wide Row Technique

The wide row technique that he shows in this book has served us WELL. Even in our big garden I use it all the time. I need to save space for our corn! We LOVE sweet corn, and you can’t really squish corn into a small space, so we want to use most of our space for that.

I’ve tried planting my corn thick, so that we get MORE, but guess what? Planting corn too close makes for tiny ears, and way less of a harvest! Interesting, yes? All those big leaves are there for a reason-to gather sunshine, and nutrients!

---

The idea behind wide row planting is that instead of just planting several long rows, with space in between, you USE the space in between. Why waste garden space? Why invite the weeds? Unless, of course, you love to weed!

My wide rows are usually about a garden rake width wide–about 12-15 inches. But, depending on your garden size you can make them however wide, or not wide that you’d like.

You can even make BIG wide rows–blocks–for some veggies. Keep in mind, though, that you need to be able to reach into the center of the row for harvest!

Here are photos of the “wide” rows that I planted in my cold frame, way early.

---

The Basics of Wide Rows

• First, prepare your soil.
• Then, simply drag the back of your rake down the row, to make a nice indentation for your seeds. Optionally, you can also just push the dirt away with your hands to make the desired size of your seed bed.
• The next step depends on how dry your soil is. Unless it is very damp, I usually water my bed so my seeds have a good start without me having to water them until they start coming up! That is another step that makes my life easier.
• Now, just sprinkle your seeds into the nice, prepared area. Sprinkle them thicker than you think necessary, without wasting seed, of course.
• Mark the edges of your row, cover with the proper amount of dirt, tamp it firmly, and then stand back and watch it grow!
• Note–the board on the photo below: I planted carrots, and they take a LONG time to germinate, so I put the board on there for a few days just to help them not dry out so soon, because they are planted so shallow. I don’t use the board on every seed!

---

Some things to keep in mind when you plant in wide rows:

• Beans need to to be completely dry before you pick them, so wide rows don’t really work for them. Rust forms on the leaves and beans if you mess with them when they are wet, and they just rub on each other, and don’t dry out very well when they are too close!
• Vine crops, of course, don’t work in wide rows, although a trellis can save lots of space with these “ground hogs!”
• Tomatoes also don’t work in wide rows…

Here is my wide row of pepper plants. Zig-zagging gives them the space they need and yet, the closeness keeps the weeds down between them.

---

After I get things planted, the next step is to mulch.

Right or wrong, I use grass clippings, because we have LOTS of those. Although, I have read that grass clippings aren’t optimal, so far, I have never had any negative effects…..may that continue! In the past I have used straw, but that isn’t as easy to come by.

And now, let the waiting begin!

Sometimes, it seems to take forever, and sometimes it seems to happen in a flash, but before you know it, you’ll be swamped with all the produce rolling in from your garden! And I love that feeling!

Now you know….. Tell us, do you plant in wide rows? What do you do to control the weeds? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Gardening!

---

GoodThoughts

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Lao Tzu

Or my version: “Give a man a vegetable, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to garden and you feed him for a lifetime.” Me-Julie of the High Plains.