Learn How to Grow More Food in Less Space!
Grow more in less space with interplanting, succession planting, and other techniques. Robin has five simple gardening tips for ensuring a bountiful harvest, even if you only have a small space to work with!
5 Tips for Small-Space Gardening
1. Use Raised Beds
Forget about growing plants single file in long, parallel rows. You can grow up to 10 times the amount of produce in the same space by using raised beds and square-foot gardening.
In a raised garden bed, you keep outside weeds from your garden soil, prevent water runoff and soil compaction, and worry less about slugs, snails, and other garden pests. Also, garden boxes allow you to concentrate your energy in a small area, meaning you can work, water, weed, and fertilize as economically as possible. You can make the most of the entire growing season by using season-extending devices such as cold frames, cloches, row covers, and plastic tunnels, too.
Read Next
Here’s how to build your own raised garden bed.
2. Keep Seedlings Coming
Succession planting keeps the garden in continual production. Whenever one crop is harvested, have seedlings ready to transplant in its place. For the best results, use quick-maturing vegetables such as radishes or salad greens to fit several crops into one season and spread out the harvest. See 5 fast-growing veggies to try.
3. Interplant (Intercrop)
“Interplanting” or “intercropping” is the practice of planting small crops in between bigger ones; the small, fast-growing crops will be ready before the big ones need the extra space. If you have a small area, this lets you use your space more efficiently and for longer.
To “interplant,” plants should be placed close enough so that their leaves will touch when they’re mature, shading the ground between them. This will keep weeds down and conserve moisture, reducing the need to mulch and weed.
As the plants begin to crowd out their neighbors, harvest the early-maturing ones, leaving room for the others to develop. For example, plant lettuce around longer-season vegetables such as broccoli, peppers, or tomatoes.
Check out our video to learn more about interplanting.
4. Plant Companions, Not Competitors
Some intercropping partners thrive if their roots occupy a different depth of soil. Pairing shallow-rooted vegetables, such as bush beans, with deeply rooted beets makes good use of space without creating root competition. Similarly, planting heavy feeders such as cabbage or cucumbers with light-feeding carrots or beans reduces the competition for soil nutrients. The best intercropping partners are companion plants that have different demands and complement each other, such as the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash. Refer to our vegetable companion planting chart for more recommended pairings.
5. Grow Up, Not Out
Lay out your garden plot with the fence, trellis, or wall on the north side. By planting the tallest plants there, you will avoid shading the smaller ones. Vining plants, if left to sprawl, take up valuable space in a small garden, so help them grow up.
- Cucumbers will eagerly climb a nylon net fence, with the subsequent bonus result that the dangling fruits grow straighter and are easier to pick.
- Tomatoes produce more fruit and ripen earlier if kept off the ground on a trellis or in a wire cage.
- Peas and pole beans naturally reach for the sky and will cover a wire fence or twine around a tripod of poles.
Some heavier plants, such as cantaloupes, watermelons, and winter squashes, may need help in climbing, so tie their vines to the structure to get them going in the right direction. Support the fruit with slings to keep them from tearing off the vine too soon.
Read more about the art of vertical gardening and fit more in less space!
Plot Out Your Garden
Good soil, adequate sunshine, and sufficient drainage are the key requirements for a successful vegetable garden, but planning your garden’s layout shouldn’t be a last-minute thought. Every garden—and every gardener—is different, so create a garden tailored to your space and needs.
For example, a 100-square-foot garden (10x10 feet) can easily yield a wide variety of veggies. Bisecting it with two narrow paths forms four beds that are easy to reach into and tend. (One square = one square foot.)
To plan out your own garden, use The Old Farmer’s Almanac Garden Planner. You can try it free for 7 days—ample time to design your best garden yet!
Robin Sweetser
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Would it not be better to run them east to west? I thought that would provide the least amount of sun blockage. If I planted my beans north to south they'd block a good deal of sunlight to the rest of my garden at either end of the day (in the morning if planted on the east side, same for the evening on the west side, respectively). Maybe I'm missing something obvious? Just want to clarify. Thank you!
Hi all,
I'm planting an outside raised garden for the first time. I started seedlings a little late so they are not huge - any advice on how big they need to be before I can plant outside? Also, to what extent will I need to keep them going and swap out through the summer? I'm doing 2 4x4 beds with tomato, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, carrots, green onions and cilantro and would also love any advice on how to arrange the plots.
Two months ago I took down a mostly dead soft maple four feet in diameter. Could I use this as my base in a raised bed, underneath the soil to fill the two inch layer of shredded leaves? This is available on one of my compost piles...
We would not recommend using plain sawdust under the soil. Sawdust is low in nitrogen and is not going to help much as a fertilizer. It will instead absorb nitrogen as it decomposes and will take it away from your plants. It also encourages fungi in the soil. You can mix the sawdust with aged manure or leave it on the compost pile and use it next year when it is decomposed.
So for the very first time, we are going to try to garden. We have a small back yard that we are removing the grass from. Now do we rotatile or not? Thanks! We are planning on only growing squash, cabbage and zucchini, kale and herbs for
this first year . Good idea?
Are you asking whether you should rototill the lawn to remove the sod, or rototill after you have removed the sod? There are several strategies to removing sod, one being to rototill the grass into the soil. Advantages include: incorporating that organic matter (grass) into the soil, keeping nutrients. Disadvantages include: weeds — exposing weed seeds and perhaps chopping up underground runners of certain weeds that encourage their regrowth.
If, however, you have already removed the sod, such as using a sod cutter or digging with a spade, then you can till the soil to break it up, and then till in organic matter, such as compost or aged manure. (Removing the sod will remove those nutrients from the grass, and will remove topsoil, so it is important to replenish it with soil amendments.) It is also a good idea to test the soil pH at this time and add what is needed to balance it. Rake the soil to remove rocks and debris, then let it sit for a week or two before planting.
There are also no-till ways to smother the grass, or block out light, such as by laying down cardboard and newspaper, and then adding a thick layer of soil amendments on top. This is good for the soil, as it keeps its nutrients and topsoil, however, takes months before the bed would be ready for planting.
I am new to composting and gardening. I started a compost 6 weeks ago, it is breaking down but I am continually adding things. (spin type) do I need to off load in another space and start a new batch. I built the raised beds, and wanted to use the compost in the soil prior to planting, when can I add it in? I have not even filled the beds with soil, see really new...
I have been trying raised beds for about 3 years. I live in upstate NY and the area where I live is basically ledge rock with fill on the top. We have a short growing season so I start everything in a greenhouse then transplant it outside. My problem is everything starts out great but slows down. I often get flowers but no veggies or if they grow they become deformed. They look like they are pinched in the middle and turn yellow. This goes for most of the veggies I am trying to grow. I have changed out the soil and tried different watering techniques with no success. Any tips?
It sounds like you may have a drainage problem and your plants are getting water-logged. You could also try adding pea gravel at the bottom of the bed for better drainage or drill some holes all around the bottom. Good luck.
