Calling everyone with a small to tiny garden
by James Tebbart
http://www.bigongardening.com
People love to get their hands dirty in the garden.
Perhaps it goes back to our Neanderthal ancestors, but
certainly, in most of us, our yearning for the soil is as
strong today as it was thousands of years ago. This can,
however, cause some large problems with lifestyles in the
twenty first century. High rise blocks of apartments don't
make life easy for the keen gardener and so listed below
are a few examples of vegetables and plants that can be
grown in very small spaces. In fact, even if you only have
a window box you can achieve a tasty range of your own
vegetables through the season.
One such way is called an inter-cropping system. This
arrangement calls for careful planning and knowledge of
each crop's performance. The key to successful inter-
cropping is choosing vegetables that are singularly adapted
for use in this system. These vegetables will have a small
to medium space (4-6 inches per plant) requirement for
growth and maturity, a quicker maturity rate than the crop
in which it will be inter-cropped with, or it will have
shade tolerance. The more requirements the vegetable
meets, the better.
Vegetables that usually work well with inter-cropping
include beets, chard, kohlrabi, lettuce, carrots, parsley,
green onion, spinach, radishes and turnips for the green
and roots. Another benefit to these vegetables is that
they are typically tolerant of occasional frosts. This
means that they can be planted earlier than other
vegetables (like peppers and tomatoes). They can be
planted between 4-6 weeks before the frost-free point and
will have the quality of being able to germinate and grow
their best in cold soils.
Think about growing the plants that offer the maximum
returns as space will be so limited. Vegetables such as
spinach, pepper, tomatoes, green onions, kale, celery and
herbs (particularly parsley) are all good because you can
harvest them over and over again during the season. Think
carefully about vegetables like cabbages, cauliflowers or
lettuces that take up a lot of space and only yield a one
off harvest. You need to consider carefully if this is
something that you particularly want to grow for the
efficient running of your small garden.
When you are happy with you choice and you plant them,
make sure that you give as much space as you can to each
plant. Remember how much they'll grow and that their fruits
will be smaller and less in quantity if they are over
crowded. Most packets of seeds have the information that
you'll require; ensure that you comply for the best yields
possible.
There are some plants which sprawl with growth. If you
grow these around a circle of wire or stake them out you
will gain space and also keep the plants off the ground for
a cleaner and more abundant fruit.
With even just a small window box, it is still possible to
grow something using the inter-cropping system but remember
to think about the harvest requirements and remember to
give as much space as you can and you simply can't go
wrong!
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