GROW YOUR OWN FOOD - 2
Choose Your Garden Style
Hey Guys,
Welcome back to The Natural Life and the GROW YOUR OWN FOOD guide. Last week we found the last frost date for our area, so we now have a target date to get our gardens started. I hope you were able find some people in your area with gardening knowledge who will maybe take you under their wing this season. Please let me know in the comments if you were able to find someone!
Different Types of Gardens
There are different methods of gardening based on the amount of available space around your house.
I’ll classify the different methods into 3 parts.
Small Space/Indoor Gardening - Very limited space to back porch or indoor space only.
Raised Bed Gardening - Small to Medium yard areas with enough room to build raised beds.
Row Style Gardening - Large yard area with plenty of room for an in-ground row style garden.
Indoor Gardening - For those of you reading this with severely limited space for a garden, please sit tight. I’m working with some other jungle members to get some ALPHA to drop for indoor gardening, including automated hydroponic setups… STAY TUNED!
Small Space Outdoor Gardening - If you have a decent back porch and maybe a small back yard, but are still somewhat limited with space, you will need to get creative for small space gardening. My buddy on twitter @bowtiedfallguy wrote up an awesome article fully detailing small space gardening, you can check it out here.
Raised Bed Gardening - This is for people with a normal size back yard with an outdoor space of at least 15’ x 15’ of flat sunny yard. For this type of garden you will build frames to put dirt in and grow your plants. They are somewhat labor intensive build, but easier to maintain throughout the season. Another good friend on twitter @bowtiedgarden wrote up a splendid article on everything you need to start a raised bed garden, check it out here.
In-Ground/Row Style Gardening - This is for people who have plenty of space to spread out a nice row style garden. You will need at least 20’ x 50’ of flat, sunny space. You will prepare the soil and plant your crops directly into the ground. It requires less material and equipment to set up compared to raised bed gardening, but it can be somewhat labor intensive getting it started and keeping it going throughout the summer. I’ve written up a few articles on my process for row style gardening, here and here.
Important Note: In ground/Row Style gardening can be done with basic hand tools. There are many methods to this style of gardening so if you are hesitant to use power tools like a tiller, do not worry. We will cover several different methods.
How Much Garden Do I Need?
Once you decide what type of gardening method you will utilize, your next step is to find your perfect garden location. Whether you plan to do raised beds or row style gardening, you will need a fair amount of space. Always leave yourself as much space as possible for future expansion and planning. The amount of space you need will depend on how much food you want to grow.
Generally speaking, 200 square feet of garden space per person will allow for a harvest that feeds everyone year-round. For an average family of four, plan for an 800 square-foot garden—a plot that's 20 feet by 40 feet in size should do the trick. If your family is larger (or smaller), scale up or down as needed.
In this guide, we are starting out with the minimum size garden to ensure you do not get overwhelmed with trying to build a large garden. Our goal now is to get everything set up properly for a small starter garden, and grow a few varieties of plants. Once you learn the basics of gardening with this smaller starter setup, you will be able to expand to meet your personal requirements.
Raised Bed Garden Planning:
Starting a small raised bed garden with three garden boxes is my recommendation. It’s not too much work to get it started, but will provide plenty of gardening space. This plan below is the best plan to maximize gardening space, while using less yard space.
If you have a little more space you can go with a raised bed plan like this one. Feel free to customize the layout as needed.
In Ground Garden Planning:
For a row style or in ground planting method, you will need an area at least 20’ x 50’. However, the more space you leave yourself the better because you never know what the future holds. You may decide to add on to your garden, you may acquire a large tiller or tractor that requires extra space to turn around, you may decide to build a fence around your garden, so it’s a good idea to find a place with plenty of room. You want to start a garden and be able to keep it there for years to come, each year building and improving your soil.
Conclusion
As you go about this next week, start to look around your yard and try to find a spot that is out of the way, where you will have easy access with a garden hose, that gets good sunlight 70% of the day and is not too waterlogged after a rain.
WAGMI,
Farmer
The location and planning of the garden are critical for success. You make a great point in trying a small starter garden first. Get the hang of it and then expand. Trust me, if you like gardening with plants, flowers and/or food your space will fill up quickly. I have friends and family constantly trying to give me plants and I have to turn them down because I'm out of room. 20 x 50 sounds like a large area but it'll fill up quickly.