Downsizing garden

[Vanisle_BC]

I want to reduce the size of my garden, and the work involved. I normally grow coles, legumes, roots, peppers & tomatoes - tomatoes being the one I'd be most disappointed to do without. Maybe peas would be next. (Oh and there's garlic - lots of it.) I grow organically; mostly heirlooms from which I save seed. May be some hybrids would be more suitable?

I have on-ground raised beds and some open ground; want to avoid containers & pots except for some herbs which seem to prefer that.

What info, hints & tips do you have? I realize there are some grocery veggies which taste just about as good as my garden fresh . This post was triggered by wondering how much room a cauliflower, for instance, actually needs.

[applestar]

I think one way to reduce the surface footprint of a garden is to grow vertically on trellises as much as possible with crops that are suited for the technique.

This includes adopting space saving pruning techniques and building/using stakes and nettings. In most cases, these techniques grow good looking or individually sized = optimum potential size fruits in fewer numbers per plant.

Another way you can save space = downsize is to choose varieties that reach smaller plant size and smaller harvest size. There are cauliflowers that grow smaller, less spreading plants and smaller heads. There are also florette type cauliflower that are kind of like sprouting broccoli — small long stemmed head, then side shoots of multiple mini heads on long stalks.

Mini head varieties also touted for crowded planting exist for cabbages, savoy cabbages, chinese cabbages, etc.

Also look into shorter maturing date varieties that can be succession planted for multiple harvest in smaller spaces.

(Alternatively, some varieties willl simply grow smaller when crowded)

In many cases these specialized varieties do tend to be hybrid. I’m having a similar dilemma about heirloom and OP vs. hybrid, and having to make those kinds of choices. I’m currently starting to try the hybrids to experience first hand the perceived advantages so I can then look for and recognize heirlooms and OP’s that may have characteristics that could be considered similar/just as good.

We can talk more about tomatoes — smaller plant size vs taller bigger plants and fruit sizes.

[Vanisle_BC]

Thanks Applestar (twice )

[imafan26]

Are you downsizing because of space or because of the amount of time it takes. If it is for space you can grow vertically. You can also grow two crops in the same space. I do this with larger crops in a big container or when large plants are still small in the garden.

If you are downsizing to have less garden to take care of, then, you do have to decide which plants to keep and which ones not to. The lower maintenance plants may still be keepers. The things which are cheap to buy and don't have better value fresh, and take up a lot of space and effort to grow might be something to consider cutting. You will have to decide if high maintenance plants and space hogs are worth the extra work.

You can sometimes decide where you can cut by looking at your yields and if it has low yield, is it worth it? If it has high yields, can you grow fewer of the same thing? Can you really use everything you grow well to its fullest and best use?

[Vanisle_BC]

Applestar, I'm still working through your suggestions. Do you - or anyone here - have comments about specific named varieties that are specially suited for small-space growing. Fortunately(!?) we're old and alone, with small appetites so we have no need to harvest big plants

[applestar]

I’ve only recently started to trial them, and I’m also running into local pest issues and my own deficiencies when it comes to growing brassicas. I’ll be exploring more this fall and next season.

I search for varieties by “mini” and “container” as key words — e.g.
mini cabbage - Territorial Seed
https://territorialseed.com/pages/searc ... ni+cabbage

I can say I really liked Picolino cucumbers, and my DD’s liked how they were great snack size — no need to get out the knife and cutting board. I want to try Katrina which is supposed to be heat tolerant … if I can find seeds for better price than I have so far.

H-19 Littleleaf is a good one too.

Yaya and Minicore carrots….

I’m starting to like Aspabroc… though DiCicco has been my favorite.

Manoa lettuce… (You might need to start looking for heat tolerance, too!) but you could always harvest leaf lettuce as cut and come again to save space, rather than growing heading lettuce…

What kind of tomatoes do you like?

[digitS']

Good Advice there!

I have downsized several times. One small piece of advice that I have is to be prepared to upsize if the game doesn't meet your needs.

I have said that I'd like to grow everything we eat all within a few feet of our backsteps. Maybe yet, I will try to achieve that goal.

Sometimes I'm a little envious of a more stable environment but to gain that here requires protective growing. Environmental stress limits square foot production and it's not just cold weather. Also, wind and intense sunlight - protection can also extend to protection from pests.

Early maturing usually means small size. Not necessarily small size of what you want for the table. And, with a stable environment, early maturity doesn't need to just be for the early season.

This year, bok choy starts were just too much to push into the outdoors beds so, some of them went into a greenhouse bed. It would not have surprised me in the least if they had just burned up. Not so! The greenhouse was built entirely with the idea of Winter and early Spring weather in mind. Ventilation is very limited. That little bed has grown wonderful peppers through the Summer with the door and vent fully open through the day but it's HOT in there! Cool season bok choy? It worked! Late started, those plants are every bit as large and nice as those grown early, outdoors.

Succession planting - it's a very good idea. Experiment with early season crops. Sometimes, it feels like "getting away" with something. Like sowing pea seed in what is the usual week for the highest temperatures of the year. And, Good Luck with it all!

Steve

[PaulF]

Having a relatively small garden to begin with...50 feet by 50 feet, mostly in tomatoes with a few peppers and zucchini, it is now getting less planted as my age increases. What used to have cucumbers, green beans, beets, etc. have been taken out of the in-ground garden and relegated to raised beds. Any crop without good production or that we didn't especially care for, like kale, lettuces, cabbage and some others were not planted.

To downsize we only grow what we want and like and what does well in our area. The rest of the garden still gets mulched and taken care of but is going fallow.

[imafan26]

I'm downsizing the garden a bit as well. I expanded the garden for more food security, but I have more production on tomatoes and cucumbers than I can use. So, I am cutting back on those. They are among my higher maintenance crops. I am not going to grow them organically either, that will save me money and a lot of effort, and my yields will be better. I did get another tower garden. Except for when it needs to be taken apart, it is actually easier to take care of because I don't have to bend and it only takes up a 2x2 footprint. It has a water reservoir so it is easier to water than if everything was spread out. I can grow 36 or more plants in this small footprint and water and fertilize it all at the same time very efficiently using less water.

I have a lot of things that are perennial and I don't have to worry about winter. Perennials are the easiest to care for. I grow more cut and come again crops because I can get multiple harvests and they will be productive in the garden over a longer time than a one time harvest crop. I do have some crops that take a long time to mature but things like taro and sweet potato, have edible leaves as well. I can also harvest ginger and turmeric earlier once the roots are big enough. While they are growing, they need a lot of water and weeding early on, but once they are established they only need water. I grow the root crops in containers because it is easier to harvest them from a container than from the ground.

[applestar]

I just got these seeds.

Chinese Cabbage Seeds - Mini Kisaku 50 - Hybrid

Chinese Cabbage Seeds - Mini Napa #2 - Hybrid

It’s a bit late even for the 50~55 day and they may have to overwinter, but I’m planting them to replace the summer squash inside the Sunflower Hoophouse which might be enough for the early maturing, and I’m going to experiment with maximum protection techniques including double and triple layered low tunnel during the winter months….

[imafan26]

Too late for you to plant Chinese cabbage and a little too early for me.

While, I am not exactly down sizing. I am reducing the multiple plants that I have. It will save time water and space. Since I don't have frosts to worry about, longer lived plants are easier to care for. Eggplant, papaya, basil, chard, perpetual spinach, citrus, ginger, longer lived herbs require less care and have high yields. Even tomatoes will last 6-10 months for me and if I don't grow them organically. I won't have to do all the supplementation with fish emulsion in the heavy 5 gallon buckets and I will get better yields. I am reducing the cucumber to three from five and staggering the planting so they don't all come in at once. I am reducing the tomatoes from five to two or three. One of each variety.

I am going to try to put the mother plants I have into the ground so they will be easier to care for than in the pots. I can get cuttings from them later if I need more. Except the ones that like to spread, those are staying in the pots. I am going to have a problem with a couple of them because they can become large shrubs so I don't know where to put them. Some of the plants are pot bound and they will do better if I up pot them. I just have to get bigger pots and more soil for them. I can also reduce the cuttings in the cutting boxes since I don't have any sales coming up for a couple of months, I don't need as many.

[digitS']

... I’m going to experiment with maximum protection techniques including double and triple layered low tunnel during the winter months….

I have read that each layer of glass or UV-resistant plastic reduces sunlight about 10%.

That was from a professional but I no longer remember who. Consider it as hearsay. Nevertheless, I suspect that it is true and it discouraged me somewhat at the time I was trying to do it more than just one Spring.

BTW. Trying to grow Chinese cabbage was a repeated failure until I grew it in the temporary hoophouse and left that up right into July. Of all the brassicas that I have grown, its growth seemed to be the most inhibited from cool weather. AppleStar, you may balance sunlight loss by better temperatures from extra layers of plastic film with those plants.

Steve