Since I begin gardening , I have been an intensive - planting nurseryman . Intensive planting aid to lick coarse garden trouble like soil compaction , drainage issue , and poor takings . In increase , it helps to preserve water , reduce labor , and crowd together out skunk , making garden more sustainable . If I ’m being honest , I could probably mark myself more accurately as a plant life hoarder . I pack as many plants into my diminished - blank garden because , really , how can you choose between all the beautiful plants ?
I ’ve grow over 400 perennial , 100 veggie varieties , and countless tree and bush into my small urban garden . It ’s plush , healthy , water supply - judicious , and generative . And it ’s so crowded that weeds do n’t have a chance ! I almost never have to weed my garden in the summer months when the flora have meet in all the place . Where on earth would they develop ?
My good friend Shawna Coronado is also aplant hoarder , ahem , I mean intensive - planting nurseryman like me , and she joins us today to share how to encourage yield and save up water with intensive planting . Oh , and of course , it will save you from a summer of weeding !
Shawnajoins us againtoday to share Hack # 26 from her fabulous book101 Organic Gardening Hacks . Once you read this fantastical organic garden tip , you will be hasten off to get the other 100 .
By Shawna Coronado
Intensive Planting Techniques are practiced with several goals in mind : they understate dirt compaction , allow you to plant in challenging or hard location , solve drainage issues , obviate the need for tilling , increase veggie and herb production , and conserve water .
With many part of the world suffering from drought , it is decisive to find a way to use less body of water and still grow more produce in less blank . Intensive planting technique can fulfill all of these things and more .
Preparing your land for a no - till garden situation is vitally significant to an intensive - plant garden ( see Hack 1 : “ move back Your Tiller ” ) because the basis for a garden like this is a deeply fecund and well - enfeeble territory . Using constitutional mulch , decompose manure , and rich compost as soil amendments is the creation to a mythological intensively embed garden .
There are several long - standing techniques for intensive planting that have bear witness to be very successful , including solid - invertebrate foot gardening and bio - intensive gardening .
The no - till , richly fat technique of bio - intensive gardening , combined with simply plant more plant life , creates a special environment for your veg or herb plant life that help hold water at the root word for a tenacious period of time . This , in play , make a setting whereby the plants help keep going one another . In the picture above , you see three farm beds pile full of works — collard greens , mustard greens , and celery — all grow quite successfully with minimal pee . Careful advance planning is the key to success with this water - saving proficiency .
Plant herbs and vegetables in strips 1 to 3 feet spacious using elevated or raised bed that are about 12 inches above ground floor . Leave the side of the beds spread or use a arouse layer system . Packing the plants nearer together without overplanting is of import .
Mulching and thinning the plants as necessary to prevent disease and pestis is also critical because tightly planted gardens also have reduced air circulation . Succession planting will help unfold your horticulture season .
Shawna Coronadois an author , columnist , blogger , photographer , and spokesperson for constitutive gardening , culinary cookery , and green life-style living who campaigns for social good . Shawna ’s goal in authoring gardening and fleeceable lifestyle book is to push a world initiative to encourage healthy and sustainable living . Shawna was featured as aChicago Tribune“Remarkable Woman ” and speaks internationally on work up community , simple urban garden living , and green lifestyle tips for the mundane person . Shawna lives in the western suburbs of Chicago where she has a famous front lawn vegetable garden . you may learn more about her atwww.shawnacoronado.com . Be sure get your copy of101 Organic Gardening Hacksfor more awful peak from Shawna .
