One of the questions I get asked all the time is: “But Tash, how much can I actually grow in one veggie bed?” And I think sometimes we underestimate just how much food can come out of a relatively small space. So let’s take one of our 1.2 m x 3 m beds and I’ll show you exactly how I would plant it for summer.
But before we start, I need to admit something. When I grow food in the city, I don’t really follow the spacing rules on the back of the seed packet.
Growing food in the city changes the rules a little
When you’re growing food in a suburban garden, space is valuable. I want every little piece of my veggie beds working for us. Traditional spacing recommendations give plants plenty of room to grow, but in our garden I tend to plant much more intensively. I use the spaces between plants, grow upwards wherever I can and mix crops instead of having big sections of one thing.
But there is a catch.Closer planting means closer watching.
When plants are packed together, airflow can decrease. Leaves can stay damp for longer after watering or rain, humidity builds between the plants and suddenly you’ve created exactly the conditions that certain diseases love. So when I say I ignore a lot of the traditional spacing rules, I don’t mean I squeeze everything in and then hope for the best. The closer I plant, the more I actually need to watch what is happening in that bed.
Every time I walk past, I’m looking. Can I still see through the plants? Is there enough airflow moving between them? Are the bottom tomato leaves sitting on the soil? Is everything becoming one big green jungle where I can’t even see what’s happening underneath?
I’m also watching the light. One plant might have been perfectly happy when everything was small, but three weeks later that tomato has doubled in size and suddenly my poor lettuce underneath is living in permanent darkness. That’s when I’ll prune, harvest something earlier or simply take something out.
And then there are the pests. A very full bed gives little troublemakers LOTS of places to hide, which is another reason I’m constantly lifting leaves and looking underneath. If I can’t get my hands into the bed anymore to harvest, check for pests or see what’s happening around the soil, I know I’ve probably gone a little too far.
So yes, I plant closer than the packet tells me to – but that comes with a little more work. I prune, harvest often, remove old or diseased leaves, keep growth off the soil where possible and make sure I can still water at soil level rather than constantly wetting all that foliage.
It’s really about finding that sweet spot. I want my beds FULL. I don’t want them overcrowded. And there is a difference.
So what am I putting into this 3 m bed?
Let’s start at the back of the bed, because this is where I’m putting my tallest plants. Along the 3 m length, I’ll plant 10 indeterminate tomato plants. Now before you tell me that’s too many tomatoes for a 3 m bed – remember what we’ve just spoken about! This is intensive growing and it means these tomatoes will need to be managed.
Indeterminate tomatoes don’t simply grow to a certain height and stop. They keep growing and can easily reach 1.8 m and higher, so I’ll train them vertically and keep tying and managing them as they grow.
Where you put them in the bed also matters. I want my tallest crops positioned so that they’re not casting unnecessary shade over the rest of my garden beds. Those tiny tomato seedlings you’re planting now may look harmless, but think about what they’re going to look like in December!
Always plan for the plant it’s going to become – not the plant you’re putting into the soil today.
Now let’s fill those gaps
Between my tomato plants, I’ll alternate beans and basil. This is where I think small-space gardening becomes really fun. Instead of looking at the gaps between my tomatoes as wasted space, I’m thinking: What else can I grow there? Basil is a wonderful companion to have amongst tomatoes and, if you allow some of it to flower, those flowers are fantastic for bringing pollinators and beneficial insects into the bed.
Then we have the beans, bringing another harvest into exactly the same space. This is what companion planting means to me. It’s not about finding one magical plant that’s going to chase every pest out of the garden. It’s about creating diversity in the bed.
Different plants. Different heights. Different flowers. Different root systems. Different insects visiting. Instead of having a bed filled with nothing but tomatoes, we’re creating a little ecosystem.
Then comes a row of carrots
Just in front of the tomatoes, I’ll sow a row of carrots. And again, there is a reason I’ve put them there. As those tomatoes get bigger and taller, they’re going to start casting some shade across the bed, especially from that harsh late-afternoon summer sun. The carrots won’t mind that little bit of relief. They’re also using a completely different part of the growing space. My tomatoes are going UP. My carrots are going DOWN.
And that’s something I really want you to think about when planning a small veggie garden. Don’t only look at the square metres you have available. Think in layers. What’s happening above the soil? What’s growing at soil level? What’s happening underneath?
Suddenly that little 1.2 m x 3 m bed starts looking much bigger.
And then we fill the front
At the front of the bed I’ll plant a combination of spinach, lettuce and herbs. These are our lower-growing crops and many leafy greens will actually appreciate a little protection from the really harsh late-afternoon summer sun as those tomatoes grow taller. And I’m not going to plant twenty lettuces in one neat row that are all ready on exactly the same Tuesday. I’ll mix it up. A few lettuce plants. Some spinach. Parsley. Coriander. Maybe another herb we use regularly in the kitchen. Then we harvest. A space opens up. And we plant again. That’s another big part of intensive growing. This bed isn’t something I plant once at the beginning of spring and then leave alone for the rest of summer. It’s constantly changing. Something gets harvested and something else goes in.
Look how much is happening in just one bed
Now stand back and look at our little 3.6 m² bed. We’ve got 10 tomato plants growing vertically at the back. Beans and basil are filling the spaces between them. We’ve got carrots growing down into the soil and then spinach, lettuce and herbs filling the lower front section.
That’s a LOT of food coming from a relatively small space. And this is exactly why I love growing food in the city. We don’t necessarily have hectares of land available to us. So we make the space we DO have work harder.
But there is a very important difference between intensive planting and simply cramming plants into every available centimetre. Your garden still needs airflow. You still need to be able to get your hands in there. You need to be able to see pests and disease developing. You need to harvest. You need to water. And every plant still needs enough light and nutrients to actually produce.
The goal isn’t to see how many plants we can physically squeeze into 3.6 m². The goal is to see how much healthy FOOD we can produce from it.
Before you plant your next bed…
Spend some time standing next to it before you put anything into the soil. Look at where the sun comes from and, importantly, where it goes. Think about what those shadows are going to look like in the middle of summer.
Put your tallest crops where they won’t unnecessarily shade everything else and grow vertically whenever you can. Tomatoes, climbing beans, cucumbers and other climbing crops can give you an enormous amount of food without taking over the whole bed. Think about layers too. Can you have something tall, something growing underneath it and a root crop using the soil below?
And please plant what your family actually eats! There is absolutely no point squeezing twelve different vegetables into a bed simply because Pinterest told you they look beautiful together. Think about access as well. One of the reasons I like a 1.2 m-wide bed is that I can reach towards the middle from either side without climbing into the bed and compacting my soil.
And finally, remember that intensive growing asks more from your soil. If I’m expecting this little bed to produce tomatoes, beans, basil, carrots, spinach, lettuce and herbs, I need to look after what’s underneath all of them.
Feed your soil. Add compost. Mulch. Keep building organic matter. And don’t be scared to change things as the season goes. If something is struggling, move it if you can. If your tomatoes have turned into a jungle, prune them. If your lettuce is bolting, harvest it. If something simply isn’t producing, take it out and give that valuable space to something that will.
Your veggie bed doesn’t have to follow a perfect plan. It needs to work for YOU and your family. And I think that’s one of the most exciting things about growing food in the city.
Give me a 1.2 m x 3 m bed and I’ll show you just how much can happen in 3.6 square metres.
Tash en die Familie
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Looking to Start – or Better Maintain – Your Veggie Garden?
We recently hosted our New Season Open Day, where we chatted through everything you need to think about when starting a veggie garden, planning a new season and maintaining the garden you already have.
If you couldn’t join us on the day, we’ve made our 70+ pages of workshop notes available to purchase. They’re packed with practical information to help you understand your space, plan your beds, get your soil ready, manage watering, choose what to plant and keep your garden healthy as the season goes on.
A really handy guide to keep close by as you grow through the new season.
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