Plant Like a Gardener, Harvest Like a Farmer
0
0
0
Urban and residential gardening can be intimidating, due to the lack of space available in which to plant. I have run into the same problem where I live in Michigan. I have planted only a few garden vegetables in the past because of lack of space, not realizing how many planting options exist to harvest plenty from a single square foot. Space saving concepts such as succession planting, intercropping, and vertical gardening are just a few of the options I’ve learned about while working at Wellfield.
Vegetable gardening has gone into full swing here at Wellfield, where we just sowed our first vegetable seeds indoors. If you are familiar with the Gardens, you know we don’t have unlimited space in which to plant our vegetables (like the picture above shows, with our Sensory Garden in full bloom), so knowing about these space saving alternatives has been key to our success.
Succession planting is a useful way to get more daily use out of your garden. A lot of gardeners plant all of their vegetables at one time, which results in one massive harvest. For a farmer, this is ideal, but for a family, it can be a burden. The sudden influx of produce either has to be used, preserved, given away, or wasted. With succession planting, a steady, usable amount of food is produced throughout the growing season. It ends up being less waste, and the labor of planting and harvesting is spread out.
Wellfield staff utilize intercropping, which is the idea that it is possible to plant different types of crops close together. With careful planning, plants can be planted in non-competitive, and often mutually beneficial, ways. Plants with differing root depths share the same soil locations, allowing everyone to play nicely, and using one plant to benefit another one. An example of intercropping is planting a large, sun loving plant next to a shorter, shade loving plant. Different crops planted together save space and also tend to have lower pest and disease issues.
Using shelves, climbing plants, and espalier are great ways to save room in smaller yards. Shelves or steps can hold potted herbs or vegetables in an area that has no soil to even plant in. This is a great way to grow a small garden, even if all you have is an apartment balcony. Vines and other climbing plants are another space saver, as long as vertical space is available. A convenient solution is to plant them on already existing fences, netting, or lattices. Espalier, and its variants, are more complicated, but rewarding space savers. Fruit trees are pruned and trained into a flat shape against a fence or a wall. Growing fruit trees in this way will give them a two dimensional shape and take up far less space.
Wellfield staff utilize all these practices in some capacity, and I think you can see the results work! The Children’s Garden vegetable patch is an example of square foot gardening, as well as some of the concepts discussed above. There are also apples and pears being grown as a fence in the Sensory Garden. All of these design/growing techniques save space and grow more food with smaller space. I will definitely be trying these out this coming spring, and I hope you do too!
Cody Hoff, Lead Horticulturist
Miss a post? Click the links below to get caught up!
Navigating through the Prairie with the Compass Plant: August’s Native of the Month
The native plant of the month for August at Wellfield Botanic Gardens is the compass plant, or Silphium laciniatum. Compass plant is a member of the asteraceae family, the same family that includes sunflowers and asters. This perennial plant is native to the area and is a common prairie plant and a key food source …
Continue reading Navigating through the Prairie with the Compass Plant: August’s Native of the Month
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is an invasive species native to Europe and Asia which can be described as a perennial with a woody and square stem with purple flowers. L. salicaria can grow upwards of 6 feet and in Indiana, starts to bloom in July and into September. This wetland plant was introduced to the …
Continue reading Combatting Purple Loosestrife
Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata): July’s Native Plant
Phlox paniculata, also known as Garden Phlox or Tall Phlox, is an herbaceous perennial native to the eastern and central United States. This plant is in the Polemoniaceae family and is hardy to USDA zones 4-8. P. paniculata is a clump-forming perennial that grows 2-5 feet tall, with elliptical, opposite, 3-6 inch dark green leaves. …
Continue reading Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata): July’s Native Plant
Ailanthus altissima, more commonly known as Tree-of-Heaven, is an invasive species growing across the United States. This deciduous tree is native to Asia, originating from both China and Taiwan. Valued for its ability to thrive in poor conditions, this fast growing tree, planted extensively along the east coast of the United States in the 1700’s, …
Continue reading The Invasive Tree-of-Heaven
Nothing False about this Native!
June’s Native of the Month: Baptisia australis The perennial Baptisia australis, with the common name blue false indigo, is June’s native of the month at Wellfield Botanic Gardens. B. australis is native to most of the eastern United States. The genus name comes from the Greek word meaning “to dye” (from the prefix bapto) coming …
Continue reading Nothing False about this Native!
Want to be notified whenever we post? Leave us your email address; we promise we’ll never sell your info.
