I think I have always been a natural vegetable gardener. When I was small in my grandparents farm, there was lots of space out there… but I was little. The quantity of space I used for pole beans and these amounted to a few rows out in the kitchen garden. I do not remember exactly, but I do not remember using fertilizer and pesticides. I believe we might have been organic back in the early seventies. Go figure!
Raised Garden Beds, a Good Option
Now I have owned a few houses and grown to a new vegetable enthusiast and semi tree hugger, I have had to find out the best way to grow the most organic vegetables in a limited amount of space. I guess I got lucky because I was constantly drawn to raised beds. It just appeared to me that when the dirt I was suspicious, the best way to develop good food quickly was with top quality soil in a raised bed. Little did I know that elevated beds and wide rows are demonstrated to allow closer crop planting and vastly enhanced output of vegetables grown this way. The main reason is in the roots.
How far do you believe a carrot root will expand from the carrot? Up to three feet and one and a half feet !!! You need to give’em room to cultivate!! Plants are much more rapid growing in loose heavy soil. You also get fewer weeds and pests as soon as your plants are happy making organic vegetable growing even simpler. The plants have room to stretch out. Aren’t you happier when you’ve got space to stretch? Who enjoys being crammed into a plane with no room? Your garden feels the exact same way.
The Good Spot for a Double Digging Bed
So, how do you create your plants content and give them space to grow? First, select a great spot to cultivate your organic vegetables. Full sun and good drainage are significant. Remember, do not tie yourself to squares and rectangles, your mattress can be any shape – try a circle, a parallel-o-gram, or a star. You can even plant your vegetables intermixed with a few flowering annuals cottage garden design.
After you select your location and shape, you will need to make friends with double digging. Lay out your mattress with twine, lime, baking soda, or bets. Then across one end of your bed (the shorter way), dig a trench the width of your spade and about a foot deep. Put that grime in a wheel barrow – you will fill in the last row with that dirt. After you’ve removed the soil, have a garden fork and loosen the dirt in the bottom of the hole by working it with the fork. Move to the area directly adjacent to a dug out trench and dig another trench across your mattress. The trench is the width of your spade and about a foot deep. Put the dirt from this trench back into the first trench which you dug. Loosen the soil in the bottom of the next trench with the garden fork. Rinse and repeat until you reach the end of your mattress. Fill in the previous trench with the dirt from you wheelbarrow.
Composting
Hooray! You have a bed. But now you most likely need to work some compost into the soil as you refill your trenches. This will boost your soil quality and, handily, your vegetable output.
How big should you make your pops on your organic vegetable garden? I make mine four feet broad. Yours should be as broad as you can make them comfortably have the ability to work in the center of the beds/rows. The paths are narrow. Thus maximizing your growing areas and minimizing your wasted space. So, get out there and backyard!
Grow your own organic vegetables. Feed your family good food and, most of all, have fun!
