Small Space Vegetable Gardening

There is absolutely nothing more rewarding as your own vegetable garden! If you do not have a large space of land to devote to your vegetables, do not let that deter you from the experience. Gardening in a small space is just delightful and rewarding as if you had a large lot. Don't let a preconceived notion of small space vegetable gardening stop you from growing your own vegetables.

Small space vegetable gardening has the same basic requirements as any other garden. You will still need the right amount of sun everyday (6-8 hours), good soil, water and nutrients. You just need to scale it down to meet your space restrictions and the growing needs of the your choice of vegetables.

No matter the size of your garden, or what plants you choose, you are going to need to water it often. Relying on the rain to water your garden isn't good enough. Rigging up a drip irrigation system is the best way to make sure your plants get just the right amount of water for your small space vegetable gardening efforts.

The most important part of your garden may actually be the dirt itself. You need soil that is moist and rich in nutrients. Be sure to put in the right organic materials and turn it over properly before planting because the kind of soil you have can have an effect not just on the size of your yield, but on the taste of it.

If you have a small garden area to work with use vegetables that won't need a lot of space to grow and won;t overcrowd each other. You will want to use vegetables labeled as pixie, dwarf, baby, patio, or tiny. Just because the name says they are small, the resulting produce that grow can still be large or normal sized.

People with limited space often utilize a technique known as succession planting. What you do is keep replanting the seeds of fast growing vegetables like lettuce, beans, or zucchini every few weeks for the duration of your growing season. If you want to have garden fresh vegetables all season long and have limited space then this is the technique for you. In fact vegetables such as beans, peppers and tomatoes will yield results all season if you maintain them in the proper way.

Companion planting is an advanced technique to use for small space vegetable gardening. With this technique you will plant two or more complementary plants next to each other. Companion planting encourages better growth and yield while helping to keep away pests. For example, tomatoes grow well alongside carrots and cucumber. Look for gardening charts that describe which plants are deemed suitable for companion planting.