If you have only a small space to grow vegetables, try planting closer together.
Forget rows of seeds or plants with traditional distances between them. Just plant the recommended distance apart without rows.
With intensive spacing, there is more efficient use of space and water. This method can allow you to shrink your garden up to 40 percent without losing planting room.
Higher density plantings crowd out weeds and no new weed seeds are turned up, because there is no roto-tilling.
But high density, intensive plantings need more fertilizer.
High intensity beds should only be as wide as can be reached into from each side. Planting areas are only about three feet wide.
Never step on planting areas soil because weight compacts and degrades soil structure.
If the garden bed is never walked on, it can be planted edge to edge.
To save more space, design paths between the beds wide enough for a wheelbarrow at one side only. You can use grass as a ground cover in the between-bed paths. Then, keep the grass mowed or clipped close with a weed eater. Grass paths are easy to navigate, increasing the growing and maintenance efficiency of the garden.
Apply fertilizer and water to the garden beds only. Do not waste any on the grassy paths. Intensive patterns include planting carrots in 1-inch by 1-inch spaces and growing tomatoes in 3-foot by 3-foot spaces. Growing vegetables and flowers together is also efficient.
A mixed garden tends to be much healthier and encourages beneficial insects to move in and help with the pest control.
Tomatoes are a garden favorite but many people assume they require a lot of garden growing space. Actually, many types of tomatoes don't need much space to grow. Often, size differences in tomato plants are distinguished by the terms determinate and indeterminate.
Determinate tomatoes grow to a certain size, and then produce flowers and fruit. There can be varying degrees of determinate tomatoes. Those that are strongly determinate are often called patio tomatoes because they can be grown in a pot. This makes growing tomatoes possible for apartment dwellers who just have a patio or terrace. Some of these varieties grow just 1 to 2 feet tall.
Indeterminate tomatoes, on the other hand, keep growing and setting flowers and fruit throughout the growing season.
Watermelon and cantaloupe usually require a lot of space to grow. The vining nature of these plants quickly covers some real estate. Fortunately, both fruits have dwarf varieties that require less room to grow. Often these dwarf varieties are called bush or short-internode types. The vines of these varieties don't elongate like typical watermelon or cantaloupe varieties so they take up much less garden space. With proper care and water, they will produce fruit the same size as standard or long-internode types.
Beans and southern peas are also available in bush varieties that require less space and offer excellent yields.
An alternative method for growing vining crops like cantaloupe and cucumber is to grow vertically. Vining crops can be trained on a trellis or wire frame. Use a cloth or net sling to support the fruit. Cantaloupe, particularly, will slip from the vine when ripe and may be damaged if not supported while growing on a trellis.
Many vegetables grow in small spaces without gardeners having to search for special varieties or use special cultural practices. These include lettuce, mustard, onions, radish and spinach. Vegetables that are harvested as leaves, such as collards and kale, can be grown in small spaces, too. Just harvest immature leaves, before the plants become very large.
Red cabbage, rhubarb, chard, leaf lettuce and compact tomatoes are decorative as well as useful plants. Vegetables can be planted in some flower beds and borders.
Utilize space that opens up as the season progresses. Not only does this increase yield, but it also leaves no room for weeds to take hold. Plant rows of summer lettuce in the shade of larger vegetables. Plant your fall and winter garden between the summer garden plants as they finish up. For example, plant bush beans in place of the carrots we pull up in June. Or sow some seed for Oriental greens in the place of those bush peas that get starchy. I advise intensive gardeners to mulch areas that are harvested out and not planted right away. This feeds the soil and starves the weeds.