How to Grow a Vegetable Garden with Limited Space

Dense planting improves productivity in limited spaces.

You don't have to miss out on growing your own vegetables just because you have limited space. Correct crop selection, rich soil and a bit of creativity allow a gardener to produce a variety of fresh vegetables in a small space. Using succession planting, row covers and hot caps (a cloche made of tubes filled with water that heats during the day and radiates at night) help the small-space gardener make the most productive use of their limited gardening space.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Soil analysis
• Vertical support
• Raised bed
• Row covers
• Hot caps
• Garden plan
• Soil
• Irrigation system
• Plants
• Trowel
• Weeder
• Mulch

1. Find out the amount of sunlight per day that your limited gardening space receives. Cool season vegetables can grow successfully in a few hours of sunlight per day. However, warm season crops, such as tomatoes and peppers, require six to eight hours each day. Select a location that receives enough sun for the types of plants in your garden.

2. Request a soil analysis of the area by a professional testing lab. Your county extension agent can provide you with the contact information and procedures. If you know that your native soil has productivity issues, building raised gardening beds and using an organically rich potting soil ensures your vegetable crops get the nutrition they need.

3. Build or purchase a vertical support for one end of your vegetable garden. The support should reach at least 6 feet tall to accommodate peas and pole beans in cool weather and cucumbers when warm weather arrives. A vertical growing location requires less space from your limited area that horizontal plant placement.

4. Draw a garden plan for each part of the growing season using the mature size of plants as a guide to the amount of space each requires. You can place cool weather plants closer together than the recommended distance and harvest leaves from the outside of salad greens, such as lettuce and spinach, leaving space for more growth. Quickly maturing vegetables, such as radishes, can be inter-planted with salad greens because you will remove them for eating before the greens need the space. Leave at least 2 inches of space around tomato plants to allow their leaves to dry in order to avoid fungal diseases.

5. Add fertilizer and other amendments recommended in your soil analysis report. If using organically rich potting soil, add nitrogen to facilitate breakdown of organic materials in the soil.

6. Add a system to water the plants, such as drip irrigation or soaker hoses. Place drippers at each plant location or cover the area by placing drippers on an S-shaped tube about 12 inches apart. Place soaker hoses 12 inches apart. Raised beds dry out faster than a traditional garden and require more frequent watering during dry periods.

7. Add plants or seeds at the time recommended on the package for your area. You can extend the growing season by using row covers to protect plants from frost and hot caps to warm the soil. After the soil warms, adding mulch around the plants moderates soil temperatures, reduces weeds and helps maintain moisture.

8. Keep the vegetable garden free of weeds that compete with plants for moisture and nutrients. Harvest vegetables as soon as they are ready.

References

• Colorado State University Extension: Small Space Gardening
• Colorado State University Extension: Block Style Layout in Raised Bed Vegetable Gardens
• North Carolina State University: Drip or Trickle Irrigation Systems
• Oregon State University Extension Service: Growing Your Own