- Make use of semi-shaded areas unsuitable for tomatoes or root vegetables by growing leafy vegetables like lettuce, chard, mustard, or endive.
- Make room for herbs which contribute a broad range of flavors and variety in a relatively limited growing area.
- Avoid sprawling varieties. You can plant 6 rows of carrots, beets, or onions in the same square footage occupied by one row of squash vines; choose compact, “bush” varieties of melons, squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins.
- Consider planting fast-maturing vegetables in the space between slower-maturing ones that will later spread; for instance, plant radishes or lettuce between vine plants like squash or pumpkin for a quick crop before the neighboring plants need the space.
- Give preference to continuously bearing vegetables. You can continue to harvest chard throughout the growing season long after spinach has gone to seed with the onset of hot weather. Other continuously bearing crops are beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cucumber, eggplant, kale, peppers, squash and tomatoes.
- Double cropping will give you the greatest productivity per square foot when you plant another crop as soon as you’ve harvested the previous one keeping your garden in constant production. Double cropping is most effective with a long growing season, but in most places peas, lettuce, radishes, beets, and carrots mature quickly enough that you have time for a second crop if you plant as soon as the first is harvested.
- Harvest daily to maximize your garden’s production. Many plants such as beans, broccoli, chard, cucumbers and summer squash will stop producing if the plants aren’t kept picked.
- Encourage your garden to grow up rather than out by taking advantage of vertical growing space; train vines on supports to free the space at their feet for other crops.
- Plant tall crops such as corn or sunflowers on the north end of the garden so they don’t shade other plants.
- Practice deep watering which will encourage roots to go down rather than spreading sideways allowing you to space plants closer together.
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- Train plants UP
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- Add flavor with herbs
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- Long cropping Kale
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- Ornamental & productive Chard
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- Cut-&-come-again salads
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- Double cropping
Excerpted from my latest book,
Growing Your Own Vegetables, an Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide
by Carla Emery & Lorene Edwards Forkner
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
GREAT!!!!!!! Don’t ya love the garden?
lylah ledner’s last blog post..Dinner Tonight: Hot & Sour Cabbage Soup
Yay! I was just reading your Veggie Book in bed last night…love the ten secrets. Thank you.
These are great ones, not all of them would occur to even some seasoned gardeners. I put in lettuce in my semi-renovated front bed along with the perennials, I am really enjoying that so thanks for the tip! I do try to incorporate herbs everywhere I can, especially semi-evergreens like culinary sages and thymes. Hey, glad to hear you had fun in Montana! Backyard work is proceeding verrrrry sloooooowwwwwwwly but at least a little bit has been accomplished! Thanks again for all your help. Hey, finally met your buddy Dave Perry this weekend, he is such a fun guy. Check out his blog to see our little visit to the Kruckeberg Garden! You should totally come to the next SAGBUTT if you can – Sunday, July 17 out in Carnation at Daniel Mount’s place. It’s going to be a fun one, I think. Cheers!
Karen’s last blog post..Garden Bloggers Visit Kruckeberg Garden