Small Vegetable Plot Competition. There is much material in the media about producing more of our food individually. There are groups forming like " Every Lawn a Garden, " Buy Food processed within a 100 miles of where you live", and others. People without growing space , can often rent plots supplied by the municipality for a nominal fee. My suggestion is to have competition to determine the amount of produce that can be grown on on a contigious plot of 100 square feet during the growing season. Periodic picture posting of growth and pictures of the produce could be presented during the season. I suggest it could be fun, and could be most revealing as to what a small plot can produce. Would there be any interest in such a competition?
I'm still mulling. First pick out the shape of the bed, 8 by 12.5 feet enclosed,would suit me. Vegetables: Four brussel sprouts, four green peppers, four tomato plants staked, row of beans, row of carrots, row of beets, row of parsnips, row of bok Choi, lettuce, radishes, green multiplier onions, five cuccumbers on a trellis, swiss chard. I still have to determine the positioning, and will work on it and add later.
This is the layout for a plot of 100 square feet. The dimensions are 8 by 12.5 feet. http://ienou.notlong.com It should feed a family of four fairly well during the growing season.
Durgan, right now I am only working with 48sq ft. 3, 4x4 boxes. I wish I could have 100st ft! :) To make things a bit more dense, I would recommend interplanting beets and kohlrabi since they could be planted a little closer together without the roots competing with each other. The other thing that I would mention is multiple plantings. You could probably get an early crops of peas in before the tomatoes, peppers and brussels sprouts.
Usually getting one planting of quality produce is a challenge, with rare exceptions. I do experiment though, bok choi, and lettuce do well in the cooler fall season, but nothing does as well as the main season crop. The reliable season extends from June to August, with a few types doing well if planted earlier. But the last two years it appears maybe a month can be added with some frost risks. The presented layout will obviously be modified a bit, when the planting begins. I have a pretty good idea of root and canopy size, which helps. For a beginner, it can be a shock to see just how large some of those little seeds or seedlings can become. Durgan.
