Gardening in Small Spaces

Long gone are the days of families having a huge garden to provide food for their families each summer and to preserve for use in the winter. This is partly due to both lack of space and time.

There are a few solutions to both of these obstacles. Container gardening, vertical gardening, raised beds and square foot gardening are a few of the buzzwords you may hear as you dive into your search.

These concepts can actually work together. Container gardening has been popular for many years, raising anything from herbs to tomatoes in different size pots on your porch. Raised beds are similar but are in a permanent location. These two options are easier to weed but you will have to water more often as the soil will dry out faster. You can even make a trellis that the plant grows up, vertical gardening, so you do not take up as much space around the base of your pot or planter.

Square foot gardening can be accomplished a couple of different ways. The main concept is instead of planting a “row” of something you plant a number of plants within a 12” by 12” space. This can be implemented in raised beds or in the ground. The planning of the planting is what makes this efficient. For some diagrams and other resources stop by the Extension office.

With all of these methods you need to consider the plants you want to raise, the type of materials you are using for your containers and raised beds, location for sunlight and access to water. Once you have those facts, then make a plan to implement.

If you have any questions, I can be reached at jlcarr@ksu.edu or 620-842-5445.