Yesterday we looked at how to start planning your vegetable garden space. Today a look at single row planting vs. wide row planting.
I’ve planted both single and wide row garden plots, but more commonly I plant wide because in a home garden there’s simply more benefits with few exceptions in the space that most home gardeners have. There are benefits to single rows too – just not quite as many as wide rows because you just can’t get the same food yield.
Single row planting is just like it sounds – one long row of one sort of vegetable. Wide row planting means you broadcast your vegetable seeds in a wide and long band or block (for example 1 ft by 3 ft) rather than a single row. The size of your block, or row depends on your available space. However, just because you’re broadcasting seeds is no reason to go nuts. You do need some order. Decide ahead of time how big a row both across and long you’re planting for each veggie – i.e. 1 ft, 3ft, or more wide. The measurement is up to you, your space, and the spacing required for each plant (read your seed packets!).
Benefits of wide rows…
- Wide rows save space and allow you to grow more vegetables than you might be able to using single rows. More food is the end result. Leafy crops especially will grow much more abundantly when planted in wide rows.
- Less staking is required because many crops with vines (think peas) will grow up in a nice cluster and support their buddies.
- Less work – overall wide rows require less water and weeding because the plants shade much more soil real estate thus preserving soil moisture and crowding out weeds. Plus, broadcasting is nice because you’re not dropping seeds in one by one, or three by three, whatever the case may be.
- Wide row planting helps naturally with successive harvests. There’s more competition in wide rows because all the plants are fighting over the same nutrients, water and sunshine. Some plants will come out ahead. Once you harvest the winners the plants who didn’t come out ahead will fare better and you’ll have a second harvest ready to go.
Coming up – the benefits of single row planting plus a quick look at square foot gardening and double row planting.
[image via stock.xchng]
Post from: Blisstree