How To Grow A Backyard Veggie Garden: 7 Lessons From Nature
It’s officially veggie garden season in the Pacific Northwest, and if you’ve ever wanted an abundant garden overflowing with produce, we’ve got some tips for you. Often, folks think they don’t have a “green” thumb or that the amount of food they can get from a garden is just not worth the effort and money. However, anyone can successfully grow an abundant garden with just a few key tips, and those tips come directly from...nature.
Instead of following the modern rules of gardening that are often meant for large row gardens or farms, let’s look to permaculture, or in other words, how nature grows things, to find strategies that work for growing abundant food in any size space.
If we look to nature for advice on growing abundant, balanced garden ecosystems, she offers us endless insights, but below are seven key lessons that can get you started. Following these strategies will allow the typical backyard gardener (even those of you who have struggled in the garden in the past!) to increase the food coming out of the garden, decrease pest and weed issues, reduce water usage, and support a buzzing habitat of pollinators.
Lesson #1: Build Soil Rather Than Break It
The health of your soil is the most important component of a successful garden. Plants grown in healthy soil are more resilient to pests and disease, take up nutrients successfully for maximum growth and production, and develop better roots so they can get enough moisture without constant watering. Nature shows us how to build soil by layering organic matter over the years as tree leaves and other plants fall and decompose each season, and animals return the plants they eat back to the soil through their manure.
In your own garden, rather than disrupting the web of life under the soil surface through tilling, follow nature by layering organic matter in the form of fall leaves, grass clippings, composted plant debris, kitchen scraps, and animal manure. Planting a cover crop of fast-growing plants captures the sun's rays to create even more organic matter for you to layer down on your soil once the crop is complete. Both cover crops and compost are magic for transforming any soil into an elixir where plants simply thrive, seemingly immune to pests, heat, and water stress, or other crop-damaging challenges you’ve experienced in your past garden attempts. There are many advanced steps to consider for soil and plant nutrient improvement, including soil testing and amendments, diluted fish or kelp emulsions, compost teas, inoculated biochar, and adding mycorrhizal fungi at planting time.
However, soil health basics are pretty straightforward:
Remember that every time you harvest a plant, you are removing nutrients from your soil, so replace those nutrients with a few handfuls of compost throughout the season (my favorites are worm castings and mushroom compost).
In the Fall, add layers of mulch in the form of leaves or cover crops to build soil and protect against nutrient loss through the rainy season.
In Spring, add a few inches of compost to your beds before planting.
Try not to till, over-dig, or walk in your garden beds to avoid disrupting your soil ecosystem.
Keep soil covered through mulch, cover crops, and/or densely planted crops (see lesson #3 below).
Lesson #2: Companion Planting
When you look around at nature’s ecosystems, you usually don’t see monocultures of one type of plant. In fact, in healthy, balanced ecosystems, you will see maximum diversity of plants mixed together so that each unique niche of sunlight, nutrients, and space is being used. When you turn to planting your own garden, you can also gain the benefit of mixed, diverse plantings. Instead of thinking of each row or bed being assigned one type of crop, think about ALL crops being in ALL beds (or at least several different plants that like being planted together, plus the list below of superhero plants to add to every bed).
In EVERY bed, row, or plant grouping, I recommend these “superhero plants”: herbs, edible flowers, chives/alliums, lettuces/greens, and beans/peas…
Herbs and alliums deter or confuse pests.
Edible flowers call in the pollinators, as well as predatory insects that eat the pests.
Lettuces and other low-growing greens act as a ground cover between all the taller crops to reduce water loss and crowd out weeds, and they enjoy a little shade from the taller plants around them.
Finally, beans and peas fix nitrogen for the plants around them and take advantage of the vertical space or edges of beds as they climb a trellis or flow outside of bed edges.
Once you have this basic framework of superhero plants, add your larger main companion crops such as a mix of tomatoes, basil, cucumber, carrots, kale, and radishes. One prime example of a companion grouping used by Native Americans includes corn (provides trellis for beans), beans (provides nitrogen for heavy feeding corn and squash), and squash (provides soil coverage and protection).
There are many companion charts available online to double-check the ideal groupings of plants, but it all starts to come naturally as you get to know how plants grow and interact together. Overall, always think about the diversity of plants, including diversity in height, root depth, harvest times, nutrient needs, common pests, size, and function within a plant grouping. These diverse plant communities will support each other, leading to pest resilience and better yields.
Lesson # 3 - No Bare Soil
Now that we are all thinking about creating all these healthy little plant communities, we can break some rules around plant spacing. The spacing outlined on seed packets is meant for a row crop of all the same type of crop. When one type of crop is planted altogether, there are more issues with pests, disease, and competition for nutrients. However, if you plant a mixture of crops, you also have a mixture of nutrient needs and root levels. Additionally, pests are confused by all their favorite plants being mixed in with plants they don’t like. Therefore, when you plant different types of plants together, you can break the spacing rules.
In fact, leaving soil bare in order to meet spacing recommendations leads to loss of moisture and nutrients in the soil as well as a much bigger job keeping weeds at bay. Look to nature to see that soil is never left bare, and if it is, the weeds will come quickly to fix it. Instead, you can use the space underneath a taller plant (like kale) or a trellised vining plant (like tomato or cucumber) for lower-growing crops like lettuce, spinach, or bush peas that may prefer a little shade anyway and have different pests, nutrient needs, and growth habits. In this way, these plants will support rather than compete with the taller crop. In exchange for a slightly shady microclimate, these understory or ground cover type crops provide edible mulch to keep in moisture and keep out weeds.
Moral of the story, plant densely so there is very rarely any bare soil …just like in nature.
Lesson #4: Grow with Layers & Vertical Trellising
In nature, plants fill every niche in order to maximize the capture of sunlight. There are tall canopy plants, then understory plants, then ground cover plants, and lastly vining plants that fill in all the space in between as they weave up to find the empty spots to grab some sunlight. You can recreate this in your garden through vertical trellising and being mindful to always include plants of different heights in our garden layouts.
The plants I always recommend growing on a vertical support include: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, beans, and peas. You can even grow squash on a trellis, although the fruits can be heavy. When plants are grown on a trellis, they take up much less room in your garden, opening up lots of space below to fit in other crops. Trellised crops are also less likely to get diseases or be ravaged by pests due to better airflow and not having their leaves/fruits in direct contact with the soil.
Lesson #5: Succession Seeding and Frequent Harvesting
In order to get more than a few meals' worth of veggies from a garden space, you must continue to plant, seed, and consistently harvest throughout the season. Nature never stops growing, seeding, eating, and changing, as you can see in a meadow whose dominant species change over the season, or a forest that shifts from brush to canopy trees.
In your garden, you can also use nature’s method of succession growing and ongoing harvesting. Yes, things like pumpkins have a narrow window in which you can plant them and take the full season to mature with a one-time harvest at the end, but crops like peas, beans, carrots, beets, radishes, kohlrabi, turnips, lettuces, cilantro, arugula, spinach and many others can all be seeded every few weeks to ensure a consistent harvest throughout the season. Harvesting your garden crops regularly increases the amount of production and length of harvest window before plants “bolt” or slow down production. Brassicas like cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage only have one head to harvest (although broccoli has lots of sideshoots after initial harvest!) but they can be planted multiple times in the season or in your spring planting, choose a variety of types that have different ripening times from early summer into fall for a consistent harvest. Even for plants like tomatoes that are in the ground the entire season, you can succession seed around them with faster-growing crops that will be harvested before the tomatoes get big enough to compete with them.
As you start thinking about squeezing in multiple rounds of crops wherever there’s a bit of bare soil and consistently harvesting to maximize production, you will be amazed at how much food you will get, even in a small space. This leads to a more consistent production of your favorite vegetable staples throughout the entire season.
Lesson #6: Water Deeply, Not So Often
Watering every day may be needed for seeds that need consistent moisture right at the soil surface and for young transplants that have shallow roots, but once plants are established, you want to encourage strong, deep roots and resilient plants by watering deeply less often. This forces the plants to establish bigger root systems, which makes the plant healthier, more stable, and ultimately results in bigger harvests. Watering too frequently can deplete the soil of nutrients, lead to soil-based disease, and create shallow-rooted plants that can’t handle stress well. Nature often forces plants to have some dry spells, which encourages plants to go deeper and interact with the soil microbes deeper in the soil. You want the water moisture to reach down to plant roots and to moisten all the web of soil life you are building beneath the surface. If possible, water at ground level at cooler times of day rather than sprinkling from overhead, as most of the moisture evaporates off the leaves without ever making it to the soil, and wet leaves can cause sunburn and disease.
Building your soil habitat and keeping the soil covered through dense planting and layers of compost, as previously discussed, will also greatly reduce water loss and reduce the need for watering frequency.
Here’s my general approach to watering the vegetable garden in the Pacific Northwest when it hasn’t rained recently:
Seeds are watered daily, so the soil around the seed stays consistently moist.
New transplants are watered every 1-2 days to assist with transplant stress.
Established plants, especially once the soil surface is covered by plants filling in all the spaces, are watered 2-3 times per week deeply at ground level, depending on temperatures, sun, how long since a deep rain, and morning dew moisture. If you stick your finger in the soil after watering, water should be getting down to the root level and then mostly drying out between waterings.
Pro Tip: If your plants look a little droopy on a hot day but perk up by morning, they still probably have enough moisture, and you are encouraging them to reach deep and grow an extensive root system. If they still look droopy in the morning though, they definitely need water!
Lesson #7: Soil Health Again
Yes, soil again because it is so important! Soil building is an ongoing process and sometimes takes years to fully realize. In nature, the microbial web under the soil still defies full understanding by scientists and is so much more than just the macronutrients added with modern-day fertilizers. The healthiest soil has been created by nature over many, many years. That’s why it is so devastating to our soil’s health when we scrape topsoil from large areas for development and remove the forests and native plants that work so hard to feed the soil beneath them. There’s no quick fix that we humans can do to create the true magic that is healthy soil. Therefore, as a backyard gardener, you must be patient. If you stick with a soil-building mindset using the tips from nature highlighted above, your soil will achieve its full potential over time. Your habitat and its pests will come into balance, and you will find that your plants are more abundant and resilient than ever before. Most importantly, you will be contributing to the larger health of our planet as you build the soil and habitat where you have the influence to do so.
FAQ
How do I deal with pests in the garden?
I have found that if you follow the lessons outlined here, pests will be drastically reduced. Plant-eating species will be a part of every ecosystem. Still, as you use companion planting to attract beneficial predatory insects and birds, your pest numbers will come into more balance. When your plants are resilient from proper soil building and watering, they will be less targeted and harmed by the pests that are present.
I find the most effective method of pest management includes basic things like hand removing slugs (I leave a board in the garden and check under it frequently) and cabbage moth caterpillars (look very closely on damaged leaves for green caterpillars) or spraying off aphids or flea beetles with a garden hose. Remove heavily damaged leaves to allow the plant to put its energy into new growth. Remove any weeds or grasses that are allowing pests to reach your plants upper leaves. Be sure there is nothing else stressing your plant out, which makes it more susceptible to pests (like too much shade/sun, competition from a faster-growing neighbor, or not enough water). Then give the plant some extra nourishment in the form of compost or compost tea. Other things often recommended if these initial steps don’t work fast enough: dichotomous earth, iron phosphate, homemade garlic pepper spray, soap spray, insect netting, plant collars, slug traps, or adding chickens and ducks to your system.
Overall, the most effective pest management strategy is healthy soil, habitat building, companion planting, and the continuous observation and small adjustments that come from the gardener being connected deeply into the garden ecosystem.
How do I prevent deer from eating all my harvest?
The most effective way to keep deer out of a garden or orchard is with tall fencing. Most would say 8 feet is required, but there are ways to use a shorter fence, depending on the determination of your deer. Deer have poor depth perception, so double fences, a row of thick bushes or vines, or a trellis along the top of a shorter fence can add enough depth to make the deer not sure they can make the leap. Herbs and alliums planted around the edge of gardens can be a pretty effective deterrent, especially if combined with a homemade or commercially made organic deer spray used a few times at the beginning of the season, so the deer learn early this is not a nice smelling spot to graze. You could choose to plant a meadow, food forest, or hedgerow of hardy perennial habitat plants that the deer can graze on while protecting your younger plants and important food crops with smaller barriers. In our unfenced areas, we have used hoops covered with mesh or row cover over garden beds and wire around wood stakes for vulnerable trees.
When and how often do I harvest?
This all depends on the variety of plant, but here are some key plants that are often harvested incorrectly, resulting in less production.
Greens like kale, lettuce, arugula, and spinach should have their outside leaves harvested once they have about five larger leaves, and then at least once a week for the duration of their season. Lettuce harvested this way, rather than cutting the whole head, will usually last 2 months before bolting, while kale will often last all the way until the following spring! Alternatively, for baby greens planted very close together, you can give “haircut” cuts with scissors right across the top.
Peas and beans should be harvested every other day once there are plump pods, and they will produce for about two weeks, so have your next succession planted to become ripe when the previous round is ending. Not harvesting frequently will slow down production sooner.
Broccoli and cauliflower should be harvested before they start to flower, even if it is not yet as big a head as the ones in the grocery store. Once it starts to flower, it will not grow bigger and will soon be flowers instead of a broccoli head.
Herbs like basil should be harvested at least weekly or anytime you notice the tops starting to form a flower. Harvest by snipping or pinching off the stem just above the brand-new leaf node. Cilantro should be cut frequently, like you are giving it a haircut, or it will quickly bolt. Harvest all hardy herbs frequently, especially in spring.
Root vegetables - radishes are one of the fastest crops from seed to harvest, taking only 30 days. If left too long, they can become pithy, bug-eaten, and go to flower. Eat baby carrots and beets to thin them and make space for some to become bigger for later harvest. Although roots can be stored in the ground for a while, bugs usually find them if they are left for too long.
In general, when a plant starts to “go to seed” or “bolt”, it will not continue to grow or be as tasty, so when you see signs of this process starting, harvest!
Final Words
One last lesson from nature: never give up! If you have struggled with creating the abundant garden you are dreaming of, try out these tips based on natural systems and permaculture principles. I firmly believe anyone can grow food in any size space. There are creative solutions to all challenges, and often we can look to nature for inspiration.
If you live in the pacific northwest (specifically Kitsap, Pierce, or Mason county) and are interested in learning more about growing food, how to best plan your garden, etc. you can schedule a garden coaching session with me.
