This publication provides recommendations and techniques for growing quality vegetables in a limited space.

Site Selection and Preparation
Choose a site that receives at least six hours of sun each day. Vegetables grown in shady locations are usually less productive and of poor quality.

Planning
Plan your garden on paper before planting. Determine the amount of space you have available, then decide what crops to grow. Consider incorporating some of these space-saving techniques.

Space Saving Techniques
Interplanting—Grow two or more vegetables in one area by planting slow (long season) and fast maturing (short season) crops.

Succession planting—As soon as one crop is fi nished,
plant another.

Use vertical space—Use a trellis or fence to support pole beans, cucumbers, and squash. Cage or stake tomatoes.

Wide row planting—Scatter seeds over an 8- to 12-inch wide band rather than in a single row.

Interplanting
Planting two or more different crops in the same row or bed without overcrowding is called interplanting. For example, mature pepper plants need a 12-inch spacing. After a pepper transplant is set into the garden, there will be space between plants that won’t be needed until the pepper plant matures. This leaves room between the peppers to plant a fast-growing crop, such as radishes, leaf lettuce or spinach. Remember that two or more of these planting methods may be combined. For instance, by combining succession planting with intercropping, beans can be sown a week or two before early cabbage is harvested and a staggered planting of broccoli would allow an interplanting of lettuce seedlings.