Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

not finding that same thing with our research

4 foot wide beds are just as easy for most healthy families to use as for commercial growers (I am one of each of those 2 categories). In addition, I have been researching handicapped access boxes and find that 4 feet is about right raised up off the ground for those in wheelchairs. Most people can comfortably weed 2 feet wide from each side. Although some with orthopedic, balance, etc. issues and the very young might want a 3 foot wide box and an 18 inch reach from each side.

We did a study from thousands of home gardeners in my EPAC group and almost everyone prefers the 4 foot width for comfort and space savings (They do not like Square Foot Gardening soil mixes however and would never put a solid bottom on a 6 inch high bed...). Many of these folks also use flexible width bed gardening plans.

When space is a huge issue, like in urban gardening, every inch counts.

Some plants need more sun and more space, others don't. Some do better in a little indirect sunlight.

No one has to be so rigid as to have just 18 inch wide beds or 30 inch beds or anything else.

Our back yard family garden is now 38 feet by 98 feet (our main bed 4 feet clearance all the way around), we have other smaller beds and also grow vertically around our home and yard and fit edible landscaping in fairly easily).

If I were to only use 18 inch beds and then put a lot of space between these I would lose a huge amount of grow space, as is pointed out here. But another factor is that I am in a sun poor area (second least amount of sunlight per year of any area in the USA behind Seattle Washington, etc..) so I need to know which plants need best light and airflow.

In my garden journal I keep a grid of particular plant needs along a set of factors I developed. It is from these notes that I decide how, why and where to place particular plants.

My best yields have come from using smart plant placement and not from using rigid bed widths. In fact I often change the dimensions of my bed widths to accommodate different plants even along the 30 foot rows.

With self made drip irrigation systems you can determine that every plant is well-watered. With Mittleider formula feeding of microbes in soil, etc., you can be assured that your plants are well-metabolized.

I can't see where pruning should be any more of an issue for the commercial grower as the home grower. I am both of these.

It seems to me that getting the information needed to learn which plants like what and how to gauge and manipulate your own environment is the best method for successful home gardening. For this, garden journals are so important. Dr Mittleiders texts provide information.

Personally, I really like a 6 foot wide raised bed in my back yard for all greens, onions, carrots, (things that can be planted close together and do not grow so tall that they shade each other too much (the taller the plant, the longer the shadow cast). Short grow life and short plants make a difference here. I have an 8 inch to foot wide walk path in the middle of these 6 foot beds. Its not a formal path, just a little dirt walkway...or a walk over plastic mulch....That gives me 30 inches on each side or more. My distance between beds in these greens beds are more than 1 foot. I don't need any more than this!!!! Its a waste of space. For these particular plants and how I use them I don't need 3-4 feet in-between rows.

My drip system in these beds have little irrigation holes along the pipe so that each plant gets exactly what it needs (just add more pipes and holes per bed and carefully select holes where it will do each plant the greatest good! (I have a little hole for each plant...what is the big deal about doing this???? so simple...) just drill a PVC pipe full of the right spaced water holes and cut it in half and then clamp it over the top of the pipes you are going to use and it will cut your time it takes to drill holes, etc...)).

And you do not just have to push water in from one direction only. If you have a complex lattice gridwork of irrigation drip (like in a 6 foot wide bed where one is walking in the middle of the bed) just bring water in from both sides or even more. You control your water pressure even at garden side so it is only a matter of seeing how the pressure pushes your water and then regulate it.

this is how I process through greens in a 6 foot bed:

And in some cases I use a particular colored mulch plastic roll spread over the bed and irrigation pipes so that it is also weed free (Yes I cover my pipes in this case(it also warms cold water, which is important in the cold times.)...the holes are placed where pressure maximizes delivery) if water holes get plugged (seldom happens) then I take a little pipe cleaner wire and poke it through as I make the slits in the mulch plastic large enough to watch the lines for trouble. This helps to warm the soil in early and late plantings and can be removed and rolled up in middle of summer plantings if desired.

For greens, which we go through quickly and succession plant from seedlings grown on grow racks, this works perfectly.

I uproot all of my greens when they are at optimal size and nutrient load. I don't cut and then let them grow back. Then I succession plant at the same time. With Mittleider formulas you don't need to have any concern whatsoever that the soil has everything it needs to keep right on ticking. So in these 6 foot wide beds where I walk down the middle :) I pull my greens, root and all, for the day and carry along a dibble in a belt holster, a greens bag on my hip, and a bucket of seedlings and I pull the plant, push the dibble with the other hand and place the seedling in one motion.

My neighbors get a kick out of watching me do this in Sunday dress, hospital scrubs, even my nightgown and bathrobe :) in fact I have at times noticed people standing on the side of my garden who i have never met before, watching the process and taking pictures of me in my Sunday clothes gardening...I wave and give them some greens and invite them to clean them up to take home for supper....you have garden clogs by the door and a lightweight waterproof mat to put down to kneel on in your garden holster, so you don't get dirty...then you take a scissors and cut the roots and drop the roots into a bucket to go elsewhere and then wash and even dump into a salad spinner on a little set up by your outdoor water spigot or pure water filter spigots, whatever, and then they are ready to dress in salad or whatever in the house with no cleanup needed...

Almost everyone can organize themselves, creatively streamline processes in their gardens to be able to do this. This does not require a learned professional to figure this out.

My yields are running higher than for hydroponics commercial growers and for anyone from Cooperative Extension in my area, that I am aware of. Why? I am not an expert! I just figured it out using commonsense and basic plant information and observation and a really comprehensive garden journal and a huge curiosity.

For tall growing plants like corn for example; I use a different width bed and I do grow beans up my corn stalks. I also succession plant corn. I am starting corn indoors right now to go under hoop in March for an early start.)

For celery in my area an 18 inch bed seems to be crucial to get perfect beautiful celery and my 18 inch beds are Mittleider perfect. I dehydrate a lot of celery and celery leaves. Even after dehydrating it still has excellent diuretic properties (Sodium).

My tomato beds are also 6 foot wide beds and I grow 2 rows off of each 30 inch side with a foot walkway in the middle. So I easily get 4 rows of tomatoes (I dont use the one plant per foot with tomatoes in my home garden humid area. I also grow a specialty green that socks calcium (actually puts back a substance that allows better calcium uptake by tomatoes...my secret... and I am researching this formally at present...I think this is a real surprise lucky find) back into the soil along the entire length of these tomatoes.

My plants typically average about 1 bushel of tomatoes per plant, figuring in, specialty heirloom, cherry, etc...So I have 120 tomato plants off from this 6 foot wide raised bed 30 foot long bed. But....the bed is carefully managed (and anyone can learn to do this and do it well and maybe better than myself)....4 layer removable covering small hoops with tall clearance and 10-11 foot tall sterile cording for vertical growing and Mittleider formula feeding very often.....worth every effort and penny.) Warm soil and lots of air and sunlight is so important to tomato health and production.

I need this many tomatoes in my home garden for canning and dehydrating. I can and dehydrate tomato powder, tomato pastes, sauces and salsas of many kinds, catsups, and much much more. I am also supplementing other families with fresh foods. Even in production growing I am not using any special anything to get to where I get production wise. I am just manipulating the growing environment to where the tomatoes are most happy.

I grow low height greens, carrots, onions etc on rows beside tomatoes to maximize light and air current for tomatoes. There is only about 1.5 feet between the tomato beds and these low growing vegetables. That way I can minimize the aisle width and still have good insect/pathogen control that comes with overcrowding.

I dont have any weeds to worry about nor do I need to bring in any soil additives...I have been pushing the Mittleider micronutrients in liquid form through the irrigation system successfully....I am not using any prefertilizers as the microbes are super healthy for the last 2 years straight of year round production because of the micronutrients. In fact, some folks in our area have come and shoveled out some of my soil from under my plastic mulch to jumpstart their own beds with microbes....I now have a sign forbidding this and an information sheet to tell them how to get their soil in shape.

I do use insects to fight insects.

On top of that I typically have pots of different things seedlings, and what not, growing in the aisles....so some of my aisles are busy...

SO mainly, I think plant placement in regards to neighboring for nutrient compatibility, light, airflow, and other factors should be more holistically figured initially when learning to garden rather than rigid bed widths.

I think almost any thinking person can easily learn to use what space they have to maximize growing potential. I have seen people who come from horrible backgrounds, made terrible decisions, have almost no formal education, figure these things out quickly and bring themselves forward in every way through discovering their own intelligence and purpose for this life.

About learning to garden:

I think learning is best done for most people by doing and by watching and by helping and by reading and listening and looking at video clips in short visits using a well organized plan of learning along steps and these all journaled.

Everytime I see something cool in someones garden I ask questions and I follow them around and see how they do what they do.

We need to promote critical thinking in home gardening.

I think learning to think critically is an important aspect to good mental and emotional health. Gardening can provide a perfect laboratory to do this. I truely believe we can change America and the world through using gardening to feed ourselves and our neighbors and to learn to think critically and sensitively with God and mother nature (the laws put down before the Earth was created).

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