Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The downside of using raised beds is that they are more costly at the start. That initial outlay of
expenses is more than just your seeds and plants, but also includes lumber to create the bed, and
soil to fill the bed. In some areas the cost of purchasing topsoil can be expensive, so take that into
account when considering using a raised bed for your garden. On the other hand, if you can collect
leaves, pine needles, and grass clippings, you can get a good start on filling the raised bed with
compost.
Over the Garden Fence
Some composting materials can change the pH level of the soil. Pine needles, for example, can create a
more acid level in the soil, especially if used in large amounts. Using a variety of materials to build your soil
can help keep things balanced. (See Chapter 6 for more about soil.)
Traditional Garden Plots with an Intensive Twist
A traditional ground-level garden plot can grow a tremendous amount of produce for your family,
if you ignore the typical growing techniques that have been shrunk down from industrial farm-
ing. The typical farm with hundreds of acres of land in production uses wide rows designed for
mechanized planting, watering, and harvesting. Instead of trying to translate the monoculture and
mechanical methods of large-scale operations into the backyard farm, grow more with less using
intensive and Earth-friendly methods.
Our vegetable garden is naturally raised a little with all the layers of compost and mulch we've
added, but we don't have it built up with timber like a raised bed, or limited to 4-foot by 4-foot
sections like the Square Foot Gardening method. We do use a lot of the techniques found in both
these methods to grow our garden with an intensive twist you just can't duplicate without the
hands-on attention and care of a small backyard farm.
For example, we plant our seeds close together not just down the row, but across multiple rows.
So if bush beans are to be planted 4 inches apart, I will plant down a single row and space the
seeds 4 inches apart. Then I step over 4 more inches and plant a second row with bush beans.
We're able to reach through the plants for harvesting without any trouble, and get a lot more
plants into our garden that way. I'll usually plant about 3 feet before leaving enough space to walk
through the garden.
We also seed the garden very carefully. I don't scatter seed and then thin the plants that sprout up.
I plant each seed individually so plants are already spaced nicely. This means I'm not only control-
ling how close together my plants grow, but I'm also saving a lot of money because I'm using all the
seeds I plant.
