How to Grow More Vegetables

The bible of biointensive gardening is John Jeavon's book How to Grow More Vegetables (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine.It is absolutely the best gardening book you could own if you are serious about growing your own food.

It includes instructions on how to double dig your garden beds, sample garden plans, and companion planting guides, among other things. But by far the most useful and amazing part of the book is the section devoted to detailed planting charts. These tell you everything you need to know about spacing, planting and expected yields.

I know, for instance, that in my house we go through about 3 pounds of carrots per month, so next year I'd like to produce roughly 36 pounds of carrots. The charts tell me to space my seeds 3 inches apart and that I can expect a yield of at least 100 pounds of carrots per 100 square feet of garden. (This is the yield expected for beginning gardeners--it's 150 pounds for intermediate gardeners, and possibly over 400 for advanced gardeners.) Since I'll be planting in a newly dug bed next year, I'll use the lowest figure. I will need to devote 36 square feet of space to grow my carrots next year. Since carrots mature fairly quickly, I can plant two successive crops at 18 square feet each.

I was recently reading the reviews of this book on Amazon.com. Most people, like me, found the book to be an absolute godsend. But there were quite a few people with complaints that the book was "too technical". For a hobbyist, growing a few tomatoes--maybe. For anyone serious about providing for their family--no way. I wouldn't call the charts "technical", just highly detailed. And with each new edition of the book (now in its seventh), Jeavons adds more information to the charts. He's learning as he goes, just as we all do, and his dedication to this very important work is amazing.

Gardening Goals

This past season I planted a small garden. It was the first garden I've put in at this location, so it was an experiment. I didn't know what to expect from the local soil, a light sand I've never encountered before (being originally from Pennsylvania, and later living near Denver where the soils were heavy clay).

My garden was a tiny 4 foot by 25 foot plot, but I used a biointensive, organic method that allowed me to grow tons (okay, not quite tons, but a lot) of food in a very small space. Plus, I succession-planted several things to get two or more crops in the growing season (carrots, beets, and spinach). Altogether the garden produced: beets, chard, lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, green beans, lima beans, sweet corn, pickling cucumbers, zucchini, butternut squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, sugar snap peas, basil and parsley. There were many smashing successes (chard, zucchini--of course!, cantaloupe, butternut squash, spinach, carrots, beets, basil) and some near failures (sweet corn--although I knew we didn't have a big enough block from the start, limas and green beans).

Altogether, it was far more productive than I ever imagined it would be and I am totally hooked on biointensive gardening.

My goal now is to grow the bulk of our produce myself, so I will be expanding next year. I aim to have roughly 400 square feet of beds, plus some additional space for herbs along the side of the house. (I tried to get herbs going this year too, but some little critters kept eating everything when they had only a few leaves each--there will have to be a new strategy next year). Four hundred square feet won't allow me to grow our grains, nor many of our dried beans, but it should allow me to grow most everything else. We're a small household--just me and a son who's here half of the time. Granted, by the next growing season he'll be a teenager, so that might mean he eats like two of me...but I still think we'll do very well.