What Does Intensive Gardening Mean?
Intensive gardening is a more extreme form of companion planting gardening that is space saving and efficient.
There are many methods of intensive gardening that can include traditional rows, container planting or intensive mound group planting. Most incorporate some form of companion planting, however.
The advantage of intensive gardening is the amount of garden space it saves. Intensive gardening grown in containers can be a way for even the urban dweller with no garden space whatsoever to enjoy fresh produce grown on their patio or deck.
Maximum Yield Explains Intensive Gardening
Square foot gardening is a commonly used method of intensive gardening that most often uses a box divided into one-square-foot growing compartments. A tomato plant for example, may require the sole use of a compartment, while crops like carrots can be seeded over the entire area.
Intensive gardening done in containers on the patio may include a potted tomato to a variety of lettuces and spinach grown together in a container.
Intensive gardening can also be used with the vertical garden and would include vegetables grown in trays suspended in rows on the side of a house, apartment or fence.
Succession planting is another way to use intensive gardening. In this method, vegetable varieties are planted in succession as the previous crop fades by simply being planted in the spot vacated by the previous crop. Corn grown following the harvest of cold weather peas is an example succession planting.
Intensive gardening may also be used in the soilless methods of aquaponics or hydroponics. In aquaponic intensive gardening, fish waste is directed to plants grown in shallow trays.
