GROWING TECHNIQUES
To anyone new to growing their own it's easy to imagine neat rows of crops, evenly spaced like a mini farm field or that we typically see on TV. However, there are so many different techniques and methods for growing and protecting your plants. This ranges from the 3 sisters (sometimes 4), to square foot gardening, raised beds, pots, arch ways and vertical gardening to maximize productivity in a small space. Due to the amount of techniques around you will probably notice some crossovers, for example, pots and companion planting.
The seed packet tells me to...
You are probably familiar with the brands such as Morgan and Thompson, Suttons, Kings and many more. The packets provide info on a suitable sowing, harvest window and ideal spacing between plants or rows but the latter is a suggestion based on tradition methods, which are spaced to reduce disease spread. Plus, many of these companies sell seeds in much bigger batches, for example, 10,000, which you probably don't need to small holders (home steaders), farms and nurseries will use. The sowing dates should be relevant to the climate zone it is printed in (UK, Italy, Australia etc.), the relevant hemisphere and 'ideal' conditions that seeds should be grown in.
Much like the USDA zone system, there are various loop holes, so the instructions will not always consider, wind exposure, altitude, rainfall, soil types, sun intensity and pests. You may also find that spacing plants widely allows for many weeds to get a hold in between your home grown wonders. Other techniques may be beneficial if you are not using harvesting machinery.
Experienced gardeners will also find some useful information below, so have a scroll and see what techniques and methods you like the sound of and that may be suitable for your own spaces! If you are still unsure, why not use multiple methods and compare your results as nothing here is completely exclusive (I also do this too) so you can carryout your own exciting veg experiments.
Composting
This is such a wide section but regarding growing techniques only, we are looking at the bale, core, hugelkulture and lasagna methods.
The bale method uses bales of hay (or other grasses), that are kept wet and will start to decompose. Space plants out, make a hole with a trowel and add some soil as you insert the plants. Depending on your style you can cover the bale with a growing medium, so you cannot tell it is a bale or open it up a little and insert some soil with a plant, where plants will stick out of the bale. If you cannot buy small bales you can either use a large one or cut through and clump hay/straw together to form your own bale. As the hay/straw decomposes the structural integrity will start to weaken so support is recommended.
For an alternate version of the bale technique, fill an empty raised bed or make a trench and fill it with hay and cover with your growing medium. Water well, planting on top as the hay decomposes adding some warmth and nutrients. Hugelkultur is similar, where a raised bed is filled half way with logs, branches, leaves etc. Soil goes on top and the idea is the same as the bale technique.
Lastly, the lasagna method requires digging down deep (the deeper the better up to 1 m/ just over 3 ft) and creating layers. The first layer is a brown one, consisting of twigs, branches, paper, card, followed by a green layer, such as grass, leaves and soft organics matter. Repeat the process until the final layer of soil can be put on top. Ideally the brown layers should be up to twice the thickness of the green layers.
To grow salad crops in colder climates the ancient Romans used horse manure underneath the soil layer to provide heat as well as nutrients, which boost plant productivity. For more detailed info on composting or soil types, see our blog or videos coming soon.
Companion (mixed) planting
This technique in various forms goes back thousands of years. The idea is to pair plants together that benefit each other. Low level plants provide ground cover and suppress weeds for taller plants such as sweetcorn or tomatoes. Some plants repel pests, fix nitrogen, attract pollinators and predator insects that feed off the various harmful pest insects.
An old companion planting technique is the 3 sisters from Central America and the southern US. Squashes provide ground cover for sweetcorn, the corn acts as supports for beans, which in turn fix nitrogen in to the soil. A fourth sister would be a plant like Marigold to draw in pollinators and predator insects. Be sure to keep an eye out for future blog articles and videos that give other companion ideas.
Containers and pots
This technique is very versatile and can be used in a range of styles from Mediterranean, alpine, patios, a rockery, English country garden and small spaces such as windowsills or balconies. Having plants in pots is a good idea if you need to move them under cover in winter.
Plants in pots and containers will need drainage to avoid root rot, regular watering, weeding as weeds can root quickly taking up the room of your flowers or veggies under the soil. Also watch out for ants that can take over pots from beneath.
Raised containers can also absorb heat quicker than the ground meaning that it gives warm loving plants such as tomatoes, basil and cucurbits a good start. Small plant pots can be slotted in to pockets if using vertical gardening (see below). Similar results can be achieved with a window box or pots with a dip on the underneath, designed to sit on to metal balcony rails or metal railings.
Edible boarders and landscapes
Much like flowers and shrubs, edible boarders can be used to add colour, texture or to suit a certain type of garden design. Edibles such as amaranth, tomatillos, pineapple plants or miniature fruiting trees can all add colour and height. Low lying herbs or strawberries can provide ground cover , suppressing weds as well as dashes of colour. Chives and other alliums will shoot up brightly coloured flowers along with their spiky leaves to add another layer of texture or colour to a boarder.
An edible landscape mixes food plants with ornamentals, but across a much bigger area. Depending on the size of your space it can involve fruit trees, vine plants (cucumbers, cucamelons, squashes etc.) over trellising that flow between parts of a garden providing a link. You may decide to use colourful salad leaves in boarders around a patio or fruit or botanic bushes as hedging.
Hanging gardens
You may think of the hanging gardens of Babylon but there is so much you can do or incorporate from this technique. Much like with container gardening these plants will need plenty of water if you are using hanging baskets. Having plants growing over arches, or a shed/greenhouse roof can really add a dramatic affect to your growing space. In southern Italy I've seen beans and other vines growing around balcony frames across blocks of flats, which really transformed the look of the whole building as plants flowed from one floor to another.
Whether using a trellis, greenhouse, fence with pots or the stereotypical hung baskets consider what you like to eat and go from there. Beans, cucurbits and tomatoes can flow from one area to another well, whereas, small plants like strawberries, chili and tumbling cherry tomatoes look great in hanging baskets.
No dig
Over the last few years no dig gardening has really come to the forefront of horticulture and social media. Rather than tilling the soil like conventional allotments or farming, which can harm soil quality this method focuses on adding organic matter/mulching and building up the quality of soil.
As mulches and organic matter breakdown they add to the exiting nutrients, keep eco-systems intact. Whereas digging can bring weed seeds to the surface, leading them to sprout. This means that the soil structure and any left over root fragments would remain in the ground breaking up hard soils and allowing for air pockets and places for roots to grow through. In addition, there is a focus on not using chemicals, which gain can kill microorganisms in the soil. The lack of turning over soil or digging out beds is also less labour intensive. I prefer no dig (sometimes called lazy) gardening, if you would like to give it a try but are unsure, why not have one no dig bed and compare the results to another area you have tilled.
Poly tunnels and greenhouses
Growing undercover can extend your growing season as the plastic or glass structures trap heat. There are also techniques to retain heat and allow it to seep out over night as the temperature cools. Greenhouses (unless commercial) are a reasonably small structure but for a much bigger space poly tunnels are affordable options due to the cheaper and light weight materials used. In hardiness zones below 10 you may find that you need a structure to grow specific heat loving plants successfully, such as aubergines (eggplant) and watermelons.
A cold frame can be used in small spaces. Ideally a cold frame hardens off plants before they get put outside full time to avoid cold shock. Cloches also fit in to this category, which are used outdoors to protect young brassicas and low lying plants until the weather warms. If you have a very small space but want a greenhouse, you may be able to use a plastic mini greenhouse at a fraction of the cost. These will need weighing down and supporting against wind damage.
Raised beds
You may see raised beds in kitchen gardens and allotments but they can be incorporated in to any garden. Whether used in borders, to divide areas of your garden or used to form a patio boarder they can provide a manageable growing areas. Using a raised bed also allows you to utilise other methods such as lasagna/layered soil building, no dig, hanging plants that flow over the sides of a bed and square foot gardening.
Due to the popularity of raised beds, many shops sell coverings or cloches designed to fit raised beds to increase the growing season. If you are growing veg like carrots, the carrot root fly can only fly up to around 60 cm (2 ft) high so a high raised bed is good for avoiding low lying pests and reducing the spread of seeds dispersed by weeds. If you are using raised beds, consider your space and how often you may be temped to jump over a bed. A good rule of thump is no more than 3 m (10 ft) long and 1 - 1.2 m (3-4 ft) wide to avoid this. Standing on the soil leads to compaction or damaging plants. If this style of gardening appeals to you, there are many different shapes and sizes in flat packs available, alternatively you can make your own with timber or metal.
Square foot/metre gardening
This methoid started to become popular after an engineer, Mel Bartholomew started to see what he considered as the wasted spaces between individual plants and rows. Weeds can pop up in these spaces and the closer distance in square foot/metre gardening aims to remove this issue. However, pests and diseases will spread quicker due to the closer proximity of the plants, so incorporating companion planting as well is recommended.
You can get square foot seed templates if you aim to sow direct or use a measurement guide when planting out young plants. When plants are growing space can be an issue, both above and below the soil, meaning plants can complete for resources and grow smaller than plants sown at recommended distances for traditional and commercial farming. This is a great technique for small spaces, which could provide a small balcony bed with a good range of crops, albeit a limited number.
Traditional spacing
The instructions or guides on seed packets usually focus on the traditional methods, whether this is in your garden, allotment or a field. The traditional spacing of crops allows aeration, space to grow and at a specific distance reduces the spread of disease and pests, meaning that some crops will survive. Spacing also allows plants to get maximum sunlight for photosynthesis and to develop larger yields as they are not competing for space, soil and nutrients as much.
The disadvantages are that you can have a lot of wasted space and weeds will pop up all around your plants, which need to kept on top of. This method can be used with no dig gardening very well. If you do till the soil and walk over it a lot you may find it goes very hard and cracks in summer. Commercial growers will often use this method due to the harvesting equipment used. It is not suitable to use harvesters with companion planting or raised beds.
Vertical planting
Growing vertically can involve the use of hanging baskets or trailing vines, however, you will also see other uses. Green walls or buildings in cities are becoming more common, where carefully selected plants are used to absorb fumes, reduce carbon levels and to regrow urban areas. Many gardeners now use various techniques from multiple layers of guttering to grow salad leaves and peas or matting with pockets to grow flowers up a wall. You may also see hanging fruit trained up fences and walls. Pallets can also be used to create this structure should you have no solid boundaries, for example, wire fencing.
If you have metal fencing in a city, plastic pots of bottles can be used to create an affordable vertical space to provide you with small vegetables and edible flowers. This technique can also be used to transform a shed or garage wall in to a vertical landscape.
