Have you ever visited another persons garden?

[Gary350]

Today I visited another persons garden, family of 8 people. It was interesting for several reasons, they plant many things I don't grow and never even though about growing. NO raised bed but everything was planted in 4 feet wide beds in 30 foot long rows. About 30 long beds were all 2 feet apart. This is a very efficient way to maximize their garden soil with 66% of the entire surface area is being planted. Minimum space between beds just enough for 1 person to harvest both sides of each row. They sprinkle seeds my the 100s, many different types of lettuce, broccoli, carrots, onions, garlic, Bok Choy, mustard, many things I don't know what they are. 4'x40 ft row of yellow onions, 4'x40 ft row of white onions, 4'x40 ft row of red onions, 4'x40 ft row of garlic, 4'x40 ft row of lettuce, 4'x40 ft row of Bok Choy, 4'x40 ft row of turnip greens, 4'x40 ft row of mustard greens. No summer crops planted yet but they plant a 4x40 ft rows of bush beans. 4'x40 ft row of potatoes, 4x40 ft rows 2 types of cabbage. I saw another section of the garden that is not planted yet where, tomatoes, corn, beans, bell peppers, etc will be planted. Just think about how much food these people get by not planting single rows. They have chickens, goats, rabbits, pigs. They get a dozen eggs every day, 2 gallon goat milk every day, rabbits and pigs to eat. Their rabbit poop and chicken poop is their garden fertilizer. They also have 1 small green house and 1 larger green house. There is a section that is all herbs. They have all this on a 1/2 acre back yard in a subdivision. They can much of their food in mason jars but alot goes into the freezer too. Only thing they buy at the grocery store is, salt, pepper, flour, sugar, etc. Husband & wife are both about 40 yrs old they do not work a job they both work the garden, sell garden plants and garden produce. They sell, port, eggs, milk, lye soap, butter, cream, herbs, rabbits. Wife said she makes, spaghetti sauce and cans it in mason jars, pickles, bread, and more. Amazing!

I have done some of these wide row planting in the past, 2 weeks ago I started another 3 foot wide row 30 feet long in my garden. My 3 ft wide row starts out with 4 ft of garlic about 100 plants, then 3 ft of beets about 75 plants, then 5 ft of onions about 120 plants, 3 ft of broccoli, 5 ft of onions, 4 ft of swiss chard, 3 ft if different onions, 3 ft of lettuce. I like to plant bush beans in 2 ft wide row 30 ft long I sprinkle the beans like grass seed then till them in this is about = to a row of beans 150 ft long. I plant, peppers, potatoes, melons, corn in a square patch. This year I will do tomatoes in a square patch too.

[Asica]

I wish you took a picture of their garden. I live in LA so my garden is super small. I mean, my space is about 20'x20' and that is large for my neighborhood. So I pack as much as possible in two keyhole gardens.

[sweetiepie]

I also plant a double row of almost all things, except onions are about 4 rows across. They end up being about 3 ft across. I love it for pollination and saves space of course. But also helps with keeping the wind from knocking plants over and when it gets later in the summer it helps the ground from not being dried out so quickly because more plants provide shade. I put my soaker hose right down the middle of the two rows, that's why I don't randomly sprinkle in a patch but it's the same theory.

Last year was the first year ever that I had any problems with to much humidity and rain causing fungal issues. Other wise for our climate the technique works great.

[imafan26]

I like to broadcast seed rather than plant them in rows. I don't have the space for rows but I do plant most of the available space in the garden. I saw this video on youtube about an urban homestead where a family lives mostly off the land.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IbODJiEM5A