How to Plant the Perfect Vegetable Garden in a Small Space
The reality of indoor gardening is that you rarely have as much space as you’d like. Many people only have one 4×8 foot raised bed. While that doesn’t sound like much space, you can fit a lot of plants into 32 square feet. With less space, you just have to find new and creative ways to add more variety to your beds. In the area where I live, we call it “cramped planning.”
Take advantage of plant growth timing and patterns
Every vegetable and fruit has a recommended spacing (for example, tomatoes should be 18 inches apart), and in a perfect world, you would space them perfectly. However, you can plant closer if necessary, understanding that your plants may not be as productive as they would be if they had more room to grow to their full potential.
To make the most of limited space, use the space above and below the soil. For example, radishes and carrots are mostly underground, while tomatoes are above ground. So they grow well next to each other. Grow beets next to peas and large squashes with climbing beans.
Also keep in mind that the plants mature at different rates. Lettuce grows quickly and will be ready to harvest in just a few weeks, while eggplants take all summer to harvest. If you plant them at the same time, when they are both small, you will harvest the lettuce in time to make room for the eggplants to grow.
The garter is important
If you don’t have a lot of horizontal space, you’ll need to take advantage of the vertical space. You’ll want to keep the plants from spreading out on the ground, and the main way to do this is to train them upward. Choose indeterminate tomatoes (which are more like vines) instead of determinate (or “bush” tomatoes) so that they continue to grow upward despite being pruned. Then trim all but a few stems and train them up a tall trellis. Use an obelisk or mesh to provide structure for climbing beans, peas, or cucumbers. Yellow squash and zucchini can also be trained to grow up a trellis, as can pumpkins and melons.
Remember, however, that items on the trellis need to be within reach: If you plant a trellis of beans in the dead center of your bed, you won’t be able to reach those beans without stepping on other plants. So plants on the trellis need to be close enough to the edge of the bed to be accessible. Corners and edges make the most sense. For low trellises, like pumpkins, you can place them closer to the middle, but check your reach before you finish planting.
Start with the largest plants
Start by sketching out a grid for your bed, foot by foot, and a list of everything you’d like to plant. Put the largest plants first: in this case, the tomatoes. Since they’ll be the tallest, place them in the corners or close to the edge of the bed so they don’t shade anything. Now think about the things that require a wide trellis, like peas, cucumbers, or beans. They should go on the edge of the bed, but leave room on either side of the trellis so you can reach whatever’s on the other side. These trellises are good for the short ends of the bed so they don’t get in the way of your reach. Now start working your way down the list of plants in descending order of size. I placed the eggplants and peppers, which all require a trellis, on either side. For the hard-to-reach center, I chose plants that don’t need support and won’t grow too tall, but are larger: kale, Swiss chard, and onions.
The only crops left to plan are short crops that will grow quickly, such as lettuce, radishes, beets, and carrots. Lettuce is a great buffer between nightshades like eggplant and brassicas like chard and kale, so you can add heads of different lettuces. I’m not worried about root vegetables yet.
Next, I add some helpful flowers like nasturtium, alyssum, and marigolds throughout the bed, especially hanging down the edges. These flowers will catch aphids, keep pests at bay, and add color. Then I layer herbs like basil, dill, parsley, and cilantro. In addition to being great for the kitchen, they all help control pests. These herbs can be scattered throughout the bed, but basil and dill work best with nightshades.
Now I fill all the remaining spaces with root vegetables: rows of carrots, circles of radishes and beetroot sticks.
Plant the rooted seedlings first, then the seeds.
When it’s time to plant, work from the inside out. Start with the plants in the dead center of the bed and work your way out, placing the seedlings in the soil. Once your seedlings are planted, go back and work section by section, sowing crops like beets and radishes. Working this way, you’ll be able to see what you’ve already done, so you don’t accidentally overseed an area you’ve already worked on.
Water everything well, then just keep an eye on them. Trim the plants as needed. When the plants are ready to be harvested, replace them or allow larger plants to fill in. Keep the bed moist but not wet, watering at the base – and use fish fertilizer every two weeks, adding it to the water.
As the season progresses, some plants may grow better than others, and you may need to replace them. Because of the close spacing, eggplants may not get enough sun where they are growing, or lettuce may get too much. You will learn throughout the season where each plant can thrive, and you should map it out for next year. Each season is another opportunity to learn about your yard, sunlight profile, and soil, and each season your garden—no matter how small—will get better.