[Video] Top 5 Tips for Growing More Food In a Small Garden
Don’t have a lot of garden space? Follow these simple beginner tips for growing more food in the space you have…
Just because you have a small yard doesn’t mean you can’t grow lots of fresh, nutritious, homegrown food for your family. However, if you don’t have a lot of space to garden, it’s important to maximize every square inch to make sure you get the most out of the space you do have. There are many options for growing more food in a small garden space, from strategic companion planting to square foot gardening, succession planting, container gardening, and utilizing vertical space.
You should also be strategic about the types of crops you grow, and choose the best small garden vegetables. For example, corn is a notorious space hog that doesn’t provide a lot of food for the amount of space it needs, whereas beans can provide a bumper crop of food in a fraction of the area. Tomatoes and peppers are also high-yielding crops that are relatively easy to grow in most areas, and may even be grown in containers. If you are growing tomatoes in a bed instead of a pot, be sure to stake them properly to take advantage of vertical space and reduce disease problems.
Quick-growing crops like lettuce, radishes, and other salad greens are also quite productive and ideal for succession planting. By planting a new row every few weeks, you can have an ongoing supply of food for your family, while making the most of the same garden area. “Cut & come again” crops like leaf lettuces or celery can be harvested on an ongoing basis for quite some time by harvesting the outer leaves or stalks, and the plant will keep putting on new leaves, thus reducing the need to plant more.
How you space your plants will also make a big difference as to how much space they take up. For example, if you grow in traditional single rows, more of your available space will be taken up by walking paths, whereas if you grow multiple rows in a single bed, you can get more food out of the same amount of space.
Watch this short video for 5 helpful beginner tips for growing more food in a small garden. You’ll learn about methods of growing, intensive planting, high-yielding crops for a small space, and more.
Helpful Resources:
Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew
Square Foot Gardening & Companion Planting, by Chauncey Cruz, Jr.
How to Grow More Vegetables, by Jon Jeavons
