Every gardener, from the resident to the farmer, has limited space for planting. Whatever you want to plant needs to fit into the space, so planning is important. When planning, you can think carefully about when different crops are ready to be harvested and can be used in the crop rotation. Your plants will benefit from being close to some plants and keeping others at a distance. Most importantly, you'll avoid the age-old problem of endlessly walking through the middle of your garden, getting stuck with several plants you don't know where to plant.
Block landing
We all grew up with the idea of farms, long rows or entire fields growing just one crop. This is effective for farmers. Put down the seeds, plant them all at once, apply special fertilizers, harvest them all at once and move on to the next harvest. This is less practical in garden plots where space is limited. A smaller version of this method, block planting, allows you to visualize your plants in the squares needed for planting and rearrange them like LEGOs in your garden. Block planting is great for those who love straight lines and blocks of color. This looks pretty neat and means you can plan out the trellis and any other support your plants might need.
The main proponent of this approach that I researched was Meg Cowden, author of Plant, Grow, Harvest, Repeat. Although his garden was very large, over time he realized how large the cabbage "block" was compared to kale. Tomatoes versus corn. He can use the shape of these blocks to make it easier to place these items in his garden, allowing for crop rotation. He then moved the cage to a suitable location. The effect is amazing and clearly effective. This means you can harvest the entire block at once and efficiently ship it to the next growing season. Early planted lettuce plants are replaced with other, smaller plants later in the season. Although growers may be more restrictive, Cowden can still be mixed to some extent - its flowers appear at the end of the row; Root crops are planted with plants above ground to make efficient use of space. But overall, Cowden's garden is an excellent example of very clever block planting.
Meg Cowden's 2023 garden uses block planting from Instagram @seedtofork. Photo: Meg Cowden, @seedtofork
The disadvantage of block planting is that it takes up more space. Moreover, you will make your plants more vulnerable if you keep them in one place in case of disease or pests. Since the conditions are the same, it is likely that they will all be ready for harvest at once. Do you want 12 heads of broccoli at once?
To plan your garden using this method, first make a list of all the plants you want to grow and then divide them into types. Consider how much space each plant needs and how many you want to grow. This will give you space for blocks. A tedious but very useful task is to accurately determine the area of your garden using a tape measure. I digitized it so that I could print the blanks at any time. Once you do this, you can start placing blocks around the map. For soil health and to avoid viruses, try to alternate plantings from last year. Try to think about sight lines: you don't want the corn to block sunlight from surrounding plants, and you want your beans to be in an area that is easily accessible to everyone. Let's look at what networks are needed.
A large-scale map of your garden will make planning easier. Photo: Amanda Bloom
Companion planting
Some animals are naturally social, while others are not. Some animals actually benefit from living in the same place. This symbiotic relationship is also evident in the garden. Tomatoes and onions grow well together, as do cabbage, nasturtiums, cucumbers and beans. But there are no tomatoes and broccoli, no cabbage and eggplants, and no dill - because of it, everything else in the garden disappears. This concept is known as companion planting and was born from the idea that planting between plants helps prevent pests, encourages more growth, and makes the most of growing space. Although this is a very popular concept today, as far as we know, it has deep roots. The indigenous people grew crops using a system known as the Three Sisters. Corn, known as a source of nitrogen, is grown next to beans, which fix nitrogen (they return nitrogen to the soil as they grow). Pumpkins grew around them. Beans grow larger than corn and serve as a canopy, and squash cover the corn plants, especially at the base where the corn's shallow roots are susceptible to drying out, burns and pests. Kitchen Potagere, a French vegetable garden concept, uses the same concept. Plant flowers, herbs and vegetables to make the space feel more cohesive and for the plants to benefit each other.
The downside is that you tend to crowd plants together—a “crowd show,” as small-space gardeners know. In addition, you need to patrol the garden to remember where everything is and not miss harvest time. Perhaps the head of lettuce is hidden or part of the cucumber is missing. However, you usually have a much more resilient garden.
To start using this method, you still need to design your garden. Also, get a map of companion plantings. You'll learn this over time and won't have to mention it, but it will be helpful in the beginning. This is by far the most comprehensive chart I have ever seen and is the one I use.
It's helpful to think of most vegetables as belonging to one of two families: the cruciferous family and the nightshade family. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts are cruciferous plants and grow well together. The nightshade family includes tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and potatoes. Because the two groups did not mesh well with each other, they had to be separated. However, there are plants of concern such as lettuce, carrots, radishes, beans, corn, cucumbers and peas that can be grown with both. Remember that you can grow both above-ground plants, such as eggplants, and below-ground plants, such as carrots and radishes.
First, I plant peas in most of my garden beds because they fix nitrogen in the soil. Next, I think about where to plant certain plants together. Tomato and corn gardens are given ample space as they only grow effectively in blocks and can therefore be wind pollinated. I have a small dill garden that cannot be planted with other vegetables. I then looked at the grid and started placing cucumbers, pumpkin and coyote in the middle. Then I started figuring out which beds had nightshades, which ones typically needed more heat, and where my broccoli and cauliflower would go. Then I cut everything: lettuce, radishes, beets, onions, carrots today.
Finally, I take great care to ensure that the entire garden is filled with marigolds, dill, alyssum and natura, which act as pest fighters and attract pollinators.
In 2022, the author will use companion plantings in his garden.
You can break the rules
As I mentioned above, there are no park rangers in either system - you can keep what you want and keep the rest. You can continue to mist flowers or crops between planting blocks. By using companion planting, you can still create your own space. What these two systems offer is a starting point, as planning a garden can be a daunting task.
