Intensive Gardening Practices - Growing a Lot in a Little Space

Intensive Gardening Practices
Independence Gardens
Portland, OR
Download the handout
that goes along with
this slideshow!
http://bit.ly/Af WYWo
January 2012
© Independence Gardens LLC
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Introductions
What We Do
• We help you DIY
– Building garden
infrastructure
– Classes
– Consultations
– Doo Tees!

Class Goal
• Introduce a host of resources that can
help you grow more in less space/time
Topics We’ll Cover
• Intensive vs. extensive agriculture and
gardening
• Common intensive methods: brief
intro to some well-known approaches
• Common intensive methods: focus on
combining techniques
• Inspiration for growing a lot in a little
space
What We’ll Cover TodayPreview
Got Questions?
Please ask as we go along.

Any of these look familiar?

Intensive vs. extensive agriculture
Intensive
• Required for sustaining high
population densities
• Inputs
– Design: high
– Labor: high
– Capital: high
– Water: high per area, low overall
– Soil: high fertility required
– Chemicals: used extensively
• Outputs
– High per unit of area
Extensive
• Practiced in areas of relatively
low population density
• Inputs
– Design: low
– Labor: low
– Capital: low
– Water: low per area, high overall
– Soil: low fertility required
– Chemicals: not generally used
• Outputs
– Low per unit of area

Why & whence intensive gardening?
• Intensive farming/gardening is framed a bit diﬀerently…
– The point
• Grow the most edible (for you) food in the least space possible
• Minimize wasted space and resources
• Minimize synthetic chemical inputs
• Save time and (make) money
• Feed the world
– The ancestors
• French Intensive
– Alan Chadwick
• Biodynamic
– Rudolf Steiner

• What’s in a name?
– Named approaches can be
• Systematized
• Replicated
• Sold
• Plug and played
• Your toolkit
– Techniques can be
• Mix-and-matched
• Picked from and chosen to suit
your site and lifestyle
Approach vs. technique

Choose your package
Here are some things to think
about when choosing an
approach:
• Founder(s)
• Date of inception
• The WHY behind the method
• Target audience
• Cost to implement
• Basis in…
– Science
– Experience
– Theory
– Practice
– Religion
• Source of revenue
– Book(s)
– Teaching
– Product line

Postage Stamp Garden

• Duane Newcomb (1975)

• Based on French Intensive and
biodynamic methods

biodynamic methods
• The size of the garden is the
main consideration (“postage
stamp-sized”)

biodynamic methods
stamp-sized”)
• Ease of use is also emphasized

biodynamic methods
stamp-sized”)
• Ease of use is also emphasized
• Book is readily available online

Square Foot Gardening
• Mel Bartholomew (1981)
• Focuses on residential food
production
• Simple, accessible writing style
and methods
• Easy to wrap one’s head around
• Early editions of the book easily
found online

GROW BIOINTENSIVETM
• John Jeavons (1974)
• Synthesized French
Intensive and biodynamic
approaches ( 
“biointensive”)
• Ecology Action attempts to
grow ALL needed materials
on the land being farmed
• Science-based,
experimental

GROW BIOINTENSIVETM

SPIN Farming
• Wally Satzewich, Gail Vandersteen, and Roxanne
Christensen (early 2000s)
• Targets emerging farmers in urban areas
• Puts farming within a business/entrepreneurship context
• Eliminates two major barriers to entry in farming: capital
and land
• Each publication costs money (but the idea is that by
using the method, you will get that money back...plus!)

Choose your own adventure
• Not every approach recommends all of these, but they
turn up frequently across approaches:
– Appropriate and long-term design
– Raised beds
– Vertical growing
– Interplanting or companion planting
– Succession/relay planting
– Drip irrigation
– Double digging
– Mulching (and sheet mulching)
– Season extenders (cloches and cold frames)

Appropriate design
• Permaculture is design-intensive, and designed to be less
input-intensive over time
• Take advantage of inputs that already exist
• Really KNOW your own schedule and what you have to
give a garden/
what you need it to
give you

Raised beds
• Wooden sides NOT
required
• Easy to customize
• Easy to access
• Easy way to define garden
space
• Recommended for
gardening with children
and people with disabilities

Vertical growing
• Stairstepping
– Terracing land (or
containers) to catch sun
– Height-based plantings
(short things/tall things)
• Trellising
– Grow UP on supportive
structures
• Hanging gardens
– Grow in baskets or down
from above

Interplanting
• Timing
– Early and later maturers
– WHEN does a plant use HOW
MUCH space? when is it fully
mature and harvestable?
• Structure
– Tall with short
– Sturdy with vining
• Function
– Nutrient return
– Trap crops

Succession/relay planting
• Hedge your bets
• Harvest over time
instead of all at
once
• Take maximum
advantage of
space/time

Drip irrigation
• Put the water where your
plants can use it
• Note: Don’t let the
convenience of a drip system
keep you away from your
garden space

Double digging
• Soil preparation technique
made popular by John
Jeavons
– Changes structure
– Creates raised beds (no
wooden sides!)
• Quick and dirty, hard
work with immediate
return

Mulching (& sheet mulching)
• Build, retain, and enrich
soil (your biggest asset!)
– Protects soil from
compaction and nutrient
leaching
– Increases infiltration of
water from soil surface
– Decreases need for
frequent watering
– Reduces temperature
fluctuations

Composting
• Nutrient cycling
onsite
• Waste reduction
– Turning a waste
product back into
a resource
• Organic matter
• Note: pay special
attention to
sanitation in the
intensive garden

Season extenders
• Start earlier
• Grow later
• Grow a wider variety of
plants
• Protect your plants
from extremes
(temperature,
precipitation, wind)

Other ways to grow
• Keeping animals
– For poop
– For products
• Using humanure
• Aquaculture
• Hydroponics
• Vermicomposting
• Growing mushrooms
• Sprouting sprouts

Other ways to grow

Resources
• Postage Stamp Gardening
– http://www.thebooksite.net/postagestampgardening/
• Square Foot Gardening
– http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
• GROW BIOINTENSIVETM
– http://www.growbiointensive.org/
• SPIN Farming/Gardening
– http://www.spinfarming.com

Next steps for you!
• A lot of this information is
overwhelming and abstract, so
make it manageable and concrete
– Do you want to choose an
approach or implement a
combination of techniques?
– What approach(es) or
technique(s) appeal to you?
• Find a buddy to do your project
with you

Questions?

Intensive Gardening Practices - Growing a Lot in a Little Space

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