The family garden, once present at virtually every home in America, is an essential element to self-reliant living. With effort and experience, one can grow good quantities of food even in small spaces. There are several popular gardening methods, dubbed “intensive gardening” by some, that maximize a garden's output. The garden structure, soil composition and care are all important to ensure a full harvest.

Raised Gardening?

Gardening is raised beds is a great way to maximize your food output while saving time and money on your garden. Raised beds may be made out of 2x12 lumber cut into four-foot sections and nailed together. The frames are then placed on the ground in a sunny area that will become the garden. Arranged with enough room between to access all parts of the beds, the frames are then filled with a mixture of topsoil, hummus, compost, composted manure and some sand. Seeds and seedlings are planted in the raised bed, spaced very closely for this gardening method. Tending and harvesting the garden is made easier by the height of the beds and the close proximity of the plants.

Square Foot Gardening

Mel Bartholomew perfected and popularized the method known as Square Foot Gardening, in which garden beds are divided into one-foot square sections and a specific number of each garden vegetable is grown in each square. This method allows the home gardener to maximize his garden yield and keep an orderly garden.

Container Gardening

For those with small yards or who just have a deck or patio, container gardening may be the best way to go. While container plants need more frequent watering in the heat because of the tendency to dry out quickly, with care container gardening is a viable way to produce food from home. Several pots each of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, carrots and onions will provide fresh salad items all summer.

Sustainable Gardening

Gardening is important for those who wish to consume less, produce less waste and lessen their overall footprint. Growing ones own food makes use of renewable resources, improves soil conditions and decreases demand on the overall food supply. To be sustainable, gardening should utilize little or no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and soil should be renewed naturally each year. Water for the garden may be collected from rain and stored for several days for use in the garden. Kitchen water, such as water used to rinse vegetables or boil pasta, may also be cooled and used to water plants. Pots and crates can be recycled into gardening containers, and kitchen scraps turned into compost for the soil. With forethought, sustainable gardening can become a way of life.

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