THE HOLISTIC GARDEN FOR SMALL SPACES is a carefully crafted 60 page booklet that will interest homesteaders and vegetable gardeners alike. The primary focus is the most nutritious plants that can be grown in a limited area in temperate climates. The author is also committed to the hope that we'll all agree to set aside at least a small area to preserve our precious germ plasm heritage for future generations. Once one begins to collect and grow open pollinated varieties of vegetables, an appreciation soon develops for gardening methods as ancient as the seeds themselves.
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A year passed and that itch to get my hands back into garden soil became almost overwhelming. If this was not enough, I had the added concern that a number of seeds I had spent years discovering and selecting for my local conditions were in danger of being lost in long-term storage at room temperature. Thankfully, a small corner of my patio received some afternoon sun allowing for the possibility of growing some vegetables. A multitude of garden containers were considered for growing out my seed treasures, including plastic bags of potting soil! In the final analysis, it was decided the potager table would be resurrected. In view of the fact that the potager table is little more than a 4ft. by 8ft. box on two sawhorses, nonetheless, 32 sq. ft. of gardening space immediately becomes available even where a garden was not possible before. In addition, the principles of plant spacing and companion planting are as relevant in a potager table as they are in a full-sized garden.
Upon completion, I immediately attempted to germinate my dated corn seeds and some squash seeds. These seeds were slow to germinate, but germinate they did at an average rate of 50%. With this modest success behind me, I decided to grow sweet corn, pole beans, and squash in my potager table. Granted, my only experience with growing mature plants in a potager table was shallow-rooted lettuce. However, it was hoped that heavy use of compost would compensate for the shallow depth inherent in a potager table. In addition, the goal was not food for the table, but rather preservation of scarce seed resources under nearly impossible conditions.
Each of my two children was given a 2ft. by 2ft. section which they happily planted with strawberries and wildflowers. Therefore my seed saving experiment was confined to 24 sq.ft.. I elected to intensely plant sweet corn, one per sq.ft.. When the sweet corn reached approximately 1ft. in height, I planted five pole beans per each 2ft. by 2ft. section. I planted one squash plant in a 2ft. by 2ft. section and trained its growth up a nearby fence. With the benefit of hindsight, I would plant no more than two sweet corn plants and three pole bean plants per 2ft. by 2ft. section. In spite of the obvious mistakes made, I harvested six ears of sweet corn that has guaranteed the minimal survival of this strain. Note: seeds from at least 12 plants, including a variety of seed types, is recommended to ensure genetic variation in sweet corn. Twenty pole bean seeds yielded well over six times this much, and for good measure, one mature squash was harvested.
Bolstered by this modest success, I followed these warm season plants with one of my children's all time favorites, edible pod peas, and finally what I call the winter triumvirate of broccoli, collards, and turnip greens. If I can perpetuate the seeds of just these seven important holistic garden plants, I would gladly consider the effort and cost that went into the potager table and composter well worth it. Interestingly, my biggest problem, and a new one for me, was squirrels constantly digging up the soil in the potager table and damaging the plants in the process. In the end, the cheapest and most effective solution was simply a bird net.
Before we leave the saga of the potager table, I must relate our adventures with the toads! Previously, I mentioned our problems with pill bugs, sow bugs, and slugs as garden pests. When I first moved to this area, there was an abundant toad population. Unfortunately, over the years I observed the toad population dwindle away and concomitantly the pest problem increase. Surprisingly, there seem to be some areas that are unaffected. For example, an hours drive away, my brother's condominium complex is besieged each year with so many young toads that one has a difficult time walking outside without stepping on them. One evening my children captured eight toads hardly larger than an adult's thumbnail. We got home rather late, so I simply laid the container of toads on its side on the potager table and retired for the evening. The next morning a total of five toads had fled over the side. Three stayed on to inhabit our potager table and, perhaps offer up a few lessons in natural selection. The toads have provided innumerable hours of enjoyment for my children, and Dad too! Initially, little homes were made for them from plastic film cans covered with leaves and rocks. Food for the toads was no problem. In addition to capturing flying insects hovering over the potager table, we supplemented their diets with a wealth of insect life living in our composter. At least half of their diet was freshly hatched or larvae compost fly, I believe to be Acalyptrate fly(Stenodryomyza formosa) or very similar species. This fly was the first observed inhabitant of the composter, and was originally viewed as a pest. However, like so much in Nature, they became a blessing in disguise, certainly as far as the toad's bellies were concerned! As I write this section, the toads are hibernating. No doubt they are waiting, like all of us gardeners, for the first glimmer of spring!
Copyright (c) 2015 Clinton R. Kraft
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