Vegetable Garden Styles

I’ve been thinking today about vegetable garden styles and the many ways we can use available space to our advantage. I’m currently living with a “less than ideal” yard. Last year I was so bummed about it, I only made a half-hearted attempt at growing. I planted a few zucchini and tomatoes and tended the strawberry patch. This year I’m going to GET OVER IT – and figure out how to make my small space really produce!

Growing a vegetable garden is an important part of being prepared and self reliant. In times of economic stress or for general prepper knowledge, you’ve got to include food production as part of your plan. While it might be important knowledge to have, it’s also fun, a fantastic way to teach children the wonders of nature and a great stress reliever! The biggest bonus of all, in my opinion, is knowing that your food is chemical free.

Jung Seed suggests that “Often a gardener’s true style is one that takes more than one year to develop, even a lifetime as time and food requirements change.”

I’m going to incorporate some of these techniques on my 20 x 20 foot hillside, and  see what works best. I’m aiming for a bumper crop. with enough to can or freeze leftovers. Over the next few weeks we will explore the best ways to make the most of limited garden space and look at the many vegetable garden styles around the web.

Won’t you join us for more in-depth gardening information over the next two weeks?

Raised Bed Gardening: Keeps your garden neat and easy to maintain, especially if you weed block the paths.

Vertical Gardening: My new obsession! I think the only thing you can’t grow up is maybe corn – There are many ways to use the small spaces of my yard to vertically garden. This might be the foundation of my vegetable garden style. Have you seen pallet gardening yet?

Patio & Pot Gardening: You will be amazed at the vegetables and herbs that can be grown in pots! All it takes it some planning and water management.

Square Foot Gardening: Intensively planted raised beds. I’ve had success with this in the past and plan to use it again.

Mittleider: I found this on YouTube and find it interesting.  It uses the raised bed concept and a different growing medium besides soil. He’s in Texas and seems to be having big success. It remains to be seen if I can translate this to the Pacific NW.

SPIN Gardening: Small Plot Intensive – from their website – SPIN-Gardening™ is a do-it-yourself vegetable food production system that enables you to grow a steady and dependable supply of vegetables that have all the quality of farm-grown and all the convenience of store-bought. I definitely have the small plot part so this is worth checking out.

“I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation.  It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.”  ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

Tell us your favorite vegetable garden style on our Facebook page and look for inspiration on our Pinterest board Sow What! 

Shared with: Simple Lives Thursday, , Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways