How to Add More Space to Your Garden

Veggie Gardener Matt is here to talk you through how to add more space to your garden, making all the difference to your growing and harvesting.

If there’s anything that a gardener wants, it’s more space.

We could say more harvests, more flowers, more wildlife, or even more hanging baskets, but ultimately this requires the space to be able to accomplish this in the first place. If anything, you could probably speak with any avid gardener and they might even say that coming across a spare pot or an unused household item is an absolute treat. This medium has now enabled them to grow an extra crop of herbs, an extra dahlia tuber to start off, or even some dwarf french beans. Even further, that extra crop could have saved them from paying for it at the grocery store.

As a kitchen gardener myself with a focus on growing as many edibles as I can cram into my space (and now flowers as well), I plan out each growing season in plenty of detail through charts and drawings. Where do the plants go, how long will they be there, when I can flip the bed for a second harvest later in the year, can I create a catch-crop from the space, where to intercrop, etc. This is where my Harvst has really taken my growing game to a new level.

While it’s not obvious at first, this second greenhouse that I have (albeit mini) has not only enabled me to house all of my pea shoots, rocket, and seedlings throughout the year, but it has created a secondary growing space at its base for things such as salads and radishes which were going to tossed out; I simply didn’t have room in my raised beds.

You might be thinking to yourself, “Why does it matter that you were going to toss out seedlings?” or “Is it really that essential that you grow everything you sow?”. The simple way of approaching these questions is by looking at why there’s typically a surplus to begin with.

For many gardeners, to increase their chances of successfully getting their seeds to germinate they’ll often sow 2-3 seeds per cell. Even though seed packets state on their labels that they’ve tested it for quality assurance, there’s always going to be a small chance that something won’t germinate. Plus, if you’ve already waited several weeks for a single sprout to show, you may be too late to sow a back-up crop (hence why multiple sowings helps).

So now that we’ve established why gardeners have more seedlings than they can handle, the question then becomes why they don’t just throw away the extra seedlings? Why stress out about a few lettuces or radishes? Because maximizing your growing space can contribute towards a much larger sustainable and financal goal.

Let’s think about this for a second: the pea shoots seen above absorb carbon dioxide through their leaves. If I hadn’t allowed these pea shoots to develop, then that’s x amount more carbon dioxide potentially in the area and x more money that I needed to spend at the grocery store. I fully take on board that the amount that they absorb might be nominal, but how does the phrase go again: every little bit counts? In this instance, if everyone grew pea shoots, then the amount absorbed from the planet is increased exponentially.

One of the other great features about my Harvst greenhouse is the space it takes up in my yard… and by space, I mean hardly any. Dedicated to a cosy corner in my yard, you would never know it was there in the first place! Again, this is quite attractive to a gardener because not only have I gained extra growing space for more harvests, but the area in which it occupies is nominal which further increases my potential for other growing opportunities.

Going back to the title of this blog, extra space really does contribute to a much bigger sustainability, financial, and wellness goal. If you’ve been considering it, Harvst can be used to add more space to your garden to grow and the automated system is definitely worth considering. Check out Harvst’s website for more details. Happy growing!