Intensive Planting

Have you heard of intensive planting? Why would you want to do this in your home garden? This week we will talk about it and learn together.

Intensive Planting - 3/4/24-3/10/24

Monday, March 4, 2024

Just a small amount of orders...

Good Monday morning. I worked seven days this past week for at least six hours each day, most days ten to twelve hours. I cannot believe that night is over and it is time to get on orders again. I just printed a bunch more. David has over 400 Amazon orders to print out. I have over 100 to be filled and mailed out. The difference is that mine can be up to five pages long while the Amazon orders are normally one or two packs of seeds at a time so they tend to go faster than the website orders.

I took the dogs out in the dark and it was foggy. Now the sun is up. The fog is lifting but it is still a bit hazy at 68° at 7am. It should be a warm day.

It is now 9pm. Today was a very busy day. We pulled and mailed out orders for almost the entire day including after 5pm. When the mailman came this afternoon, we sent five mailbags with him filled with orders. There are still many hundreds that need to be printed, pulled and mailed. Of course, more orders keep coming in. We are amazed and grateful.

We had several customers today who came by for seeds and plants. We started moving some of our greenhouse plants out to our shaded area in the parking lot. The only thing we have out there so far are pepper plants.

We still have not started planting potatoes. We need to get that started tomorrow, at least a bit of them or they will never get done.

Tomorrow is election day and we have dental cleanings at lunchtime. We did early voting last week. I wish we did not have to do the cleanings. Have I ever shared with you how much I hate going to the dentist? I really do...

David smoked a turkey today and it was delicious. I just finished cutting it all up to put away. We will have some wonderful turkey sandwiches for a few days. Yum!

Intensive Planting - Definition

This bed is filled with pole beans, all close together, climbing up the tomato cages.

So what is the Intensive Planning Method? Intensive planting means squeezing as many plants as possible into your garden beds by ignoring the planting space rules. For instance, instead of planting your green beans six inches apart with three feet between rows, you plant them close together, about two inches or less apart and forget about separated rows.

You can find plant spacing instructions either on your seed packets, plant tags, or on the seed company websites but intensive planting means disregarding the planting instructions.

So why would you do this? Isn't it harmful for the plants? Actually, this method can be sustainable by using all of the soil's nutrients, yielding high production of your plants.

Intensive Planting is also known as French intensive gardening, the Chinese gardening, biodynamic gardening, Postage Stamp gardening, and Square Foot gardening.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Good morning. It is foggy again! Fog seems to be the name of the game lately. It is 6am and still dark but you can see rolls of fog out the window.

It is now light outside and I took several photos of the rolls of fog for you to see. We get this kind of fog a lot. It looks really cool.

I got dressed, went outside and started planting our chitted potatoes this morning along with Matt and Sam. By the time I was done, I was sopping wet with sweat. The sun is shining brightly and it is humid. I had to go in and change. But the potatoes are planted! If you need to know how to plant potatoes, read the article I wrote last year.

Matt won't eat them, but he can plant potatoes for sure. We planted them in pots so the gophers don't take them.

We have dental cleanings at 11:50am, a strange time for a cleaning. The housekeeper should be here soon. In fact she should have been here an hour ago. Nacho and his crew are here and four teen helpers.

The weatherman says it will be 90° Fahrenheit today so summer is officially here! I heard there is a powerful winter storm up north but here it is summertime. Crazy!

Well, I lived through my dental cleaning. Did I mention I hate going to the dentist? After that, we picked up some groceries at Walmart and when we got back to the farm, the housekeeper was here. We unloaded and put away the groceries.

We had quite a few customers, most of whom bought plants. The greenhouse plants continued to be brought up front to the parking lot. I am not sure if they were all brought up. I continued on with orders.

Then we packed up the truck and left at 5pm with people still here for the small business meeting that David has been doing once a month. No one showed up except for the owners of Farm to Familia which is where we have the meeting. David sent the reminder and no one responded that they would not make it. We buy food and supply drinks at each of these meetings. This time, we bought a catered dinner and no one showed. So the five of us sat down and ate and fellowshiped. Then we all decided not to have it anymore. Why should they provide the building with the lights on for no one to show up? Why should we keep paying for dinner for people who do not show up?

Intensive Planting - History

Radishes are planted closely on the left and onions on the right of one of our beds. This is intensive planting.

Today, we will talk about the history of intensive planting. About 4,000 years ago in China, gardeners wanted to grow the most food possible and planted seeds close together to grow more food. Then around 2,000 years ago, there are records that this was performed in South America and in Europe.

Approximately 100 years ago, Parisian gardeners who sold produce at the markets used this method to grow as many vegetables as possible to sell to shoppers. They did not have a lot of land for huge gardens in the city of Paris so they made due with the land they had so they could feed a very large city and make more money.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Good morning. Matt brought us breakfast so that was nice. It is only 7:20am. Because of the meeting we had to go to last night (ha ha), I did not get my orders done. Now today there are many more. It will be a busy day for sure. It was not foggy at 7am.

By 8am, fog rolled in and I could not see the oak tree in many of my sunrise photos. It was crazy. It went away before 10am.

We finished bringing all of the plants up from the greenhouse so now we do not need to walk you back there.

Several customers have been by this morning.

Nacho came and cleaned out my greenhouse. The roof was completely broken up by the hailstorm we had here several weeks ago. Then he and his crew painted the floor and put shadecloth up on the roof for now.

The roof has been removed from my greenhouse.

My floor was made from particle board and was not designed to be wet. 3 coats of this oil based paint should help.

Intensive Planting - How To Do It

The first step to intensive planting is to clear your beds of all weeds and plants and fix up your soil so it has good nutrients in it.

The first step to intensive planting is to clear your soil area of all rocks, weeds, and anything else that might be there. The areas should be narrow beds so you can reach every bit of it without having to walk in rows because it will be one block of plants with no rows in between. So you should plan out blocks or beds of narrow squares or rectangles to make it easier to get to all of the plants.

Next, you should add three to four inches of compost to the area and dig or till it into the soil to enrich it as much as possible. This should be done at least one month before you plant. Cover the soil with mulch or with weed barrier so the soil does not blow away or grow weeds while you wait for the month to be over.

Once this step has been completed and a month has gone by, it is time to plant seeds. Remove the weed barrier if you used one. Plant the seeds leaving just enough space between the seeds to allow the plants to touch each other's leaves once they are fully grown. For instance, you would plant bush beans about two inches apart all the way across the narrow bed so that the soil is completely covered with seed. Cover the seed with about one inch or less of soil. Water. Then cover the entire bed with mulch to help keep the soil damp.

Thursday, March 7, 2024

It is 6pm. I just put dinner in the oven. It has been a very long day, one in which I never found the time to add anything to my blog until right now. It has been a day full of orders, customers, phone orders, and a conference call to set up MailChimp with Shopify. I still have not figured it all out.

I did send out a newsletter advertising our weekend two for one sale. Here it is:

We are having a Two For One Sale on some of your favorite spring seed packets. Buy one and get one free for every pack of the following:

Mammoth Grey Stripe Sunflower Seeds

Butterfly Hummingbird Wildflower Seeds

California Giant Zinnia Seeds

Herb Rue Seeds (Ruda aka Ruta)

Boston Pickling Cucumber Seeds

Detroit Dark Red Beet Seeds

Encore Leaf Lettuce Mix Seeds

(See photos below!)

The Two For One Sale will start on Friday morning, March 8, 2024 at 12:01am and will end on Sunday night, March 10, 2024 at 11:59pm CST.

Don't miss out!

You can find all of these seeds and more here at the David's Garden Seeds Website.

Intensive Planting

These are some marigolds we started in little pots that will be added to our raised garden beds.

A good way to do intensive planting in your garden bed is to interplant different things that do well together. For instance, plant bush beans two to three inches apart and in between the bush beans, plant carrot seeds. Make sure each carrot seed is about two inches apart from the next carrot seed so the carrots can form properly. The carrots grow under the ground while the beans grow up and both grow well together. Read this page that I wrote on companion planting before deciding what goes where in the garden. It really does make a difference.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Nacho brought us some pots given to him by customers. We will put the pots to good use.

Happy Friday. We have already had a number of customers today. Many are looking for tomato plants. We don't have many left and they are not happy with what we have left. Hey, we have been selling tomato plants for the past six weeks. We don't have too many left. First come, first served. So many have said during those six weeks that they would be back later in the season to get them. Well, guess what? They are almost gone. Yes, we actually do get customers and now that the plants are so much bigger, they cost more.

Back in January when we first started selling our tomato plants this year, a man was grumbling because they were $4.95 a piece. He said he wanted six for $4.95 and said he would go to Walmart. Walmart's price was definitely not that low. Now, our smaller tomatoes which are over a foot tall are $7.95 and we have some large tomato plants in buckets that are producing for $19.95. Come and get 'em. They won't get any cheaper.

It is very breezy, sunny and 82°. This morning, around 6:30am, right after I came back inside from taking the dogs out to do their morning thing, the heavens opened and we got a lot of rain in about 20 minutes. I have not looked in at my greenhouse floor. There is now no roof. Nacho painted the floor with a good oil based paint yesterday. He did two coats and then had to leave. His plan was to come back this afternoon to do the final coat. We plan to put a new roof on in the fall when there is a bit of money for it. The contractor should not have built the floor with particle board.

What is up with receiving so many seed returns from the mailman with the wrong address? I just don't understand. I got another one today. We get at least one every few days. Now, mind you, I get if you have just moved and you forgot but this happens a lot. When I was four, I had to learn my address so my mother would let me start kindergarten. How do adults not know where they live or where they receive mail? I guess it's a mystery for the ages...

We had quite a few customers buying plants. One couple was not pleased with the few tomato plants we have left so they left without buying anything. They should have come in January when we started selling them if they wanted better choices. Everyone else came then. We still have some left but the varieties are much fewer. We have a lot of peppers. There is one tray of strawberry plants left and some herbs. Come on out tomorrow to see what we have left.

Intensive Planting

All of the plants in this photo go together and should be interplanted in the same bed-tomatoes, oregano, basil, sage, pepper, and thyme. Great garden!

All of the plants in this photo go together and should be interplanted in the same bed-tomatoes, oregano, basil, sage, bell pepper, and thyme. Great garden!

Draw and write out your garden plan for intensive planting before you plant, making sure you have roots and plants that grow above the soil line together. As mentioned above in yesterday's section, check the companion planting guide to see what works best with other types of vegetables.

Another good example of intensive planting to combine above ground plants with roots is planting beets which are roots with cabbage which grows above ground. Strawberries can be interplanted with onions. When the onions are finally harvested, do not pull the strawberry plants up. If you keep them watered, they will go dormant in fall and come back in early spring to produce more berries.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Good morning. It is Saturday and it is chilly out, 47°. The high should be 66° today. It is cloudy and breezy today, probably the perfect day to do some gardening.

Don't forget that tonight is the night we set the clocks ahead and lose an hour of sleep. Here we go again. I hate this.

Well, our first customers showed up at 9am. I made a fresh pot of coffee but I could not get any takers to try it today. We did not sell any coffee bags. We have just one dozen eggs left which is great.

We had a lot of customers and sold a lot of plants and seeds as well as our pecan chocolates. It is now 2:30pm and I have been pulling orders. There are many more to pull.

I need to go in the house and bake some lemon squares for the church potluck tomorrow. We are also taking fried chicken, probably from Church's. Matt will have to pick it up during the sermon tomorrow so it will still be hot.

I made pork chops, rolls, asparagus from the garden, and corn on the cob for dinner. The Svengoolie movie was 13 Ghosts, made in 1960. It was pretty good. When it was over, I made coconut lemon squares for tomorrow.

Intensive Planting

Broccoli, carrots, spinach, chives, oregano, and Swiss chard make a nice intensive garden bed.

Now that we have come this far, it is time to try and incorporate both flowers and herbs in with intensive planting in the garden. As you probably already know, planting French style marigolds as well as nasturtiums in between your vegetable plants is a great way to control the bug population in the garden. This is another part of companion planting. Some herbs like mint, basil, rosemary, garlic, and lemongrass are good to repel rodents away from your garden.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

My roses are already blooming!

Good Sunday morning. I woke up and my left foot was having a fit of neuropathy. I put some thick coats of icy hot on it as my doctor had told me. I can still feel it a bit. It woke me up at 6:35am. It is still dark due to the time change. I hate that.

We worked all afternoon, late into the evening, around 10pm on orders.

Here is a yellow rosebud I discovered early this morning.

Intensive Planting

Nasturtium, cauliflower, onion, cucumber, lettuce and dill make a wonderful garden bed.

If you live in a place with a small yard, consider a small garden where you practice intensive planting. None of the garden soil goes to waste and you can fit a lot of different plants into a few small beds by planting this way. Give it a try.

Return from Intensive Planting to Year Five On The Farm

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