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Biointensive Gardening
http://www.sturmsoft.com/Writing/market_garden/biointensive.htm
This piece was written in 1991 and the remarks about cadmium are no longer applicable.

The Ecology Action Group in California has been developing a system of gardening based on selected aspects of the French-Intensive and Biodynamic gardening methods for 30 years. It consists of raised beds 1-1.5 metres wide and as long as required. The soil is very heavily composted, about 25 mm being added per crop, to allow much closer planting than is usual, without sacrificing yield. The high humus levels created reduce watering needs, due to the much higher water retention by the organic matter. As the beds are raised about 100- 150 mm, drainage Is never a problem.

The footpaths between the beds are about 300-450 mm wide and allow cultivation and weeding to take place without walking on the beds, reducing the amount of cultivation required. In conventional gardens, much of the cultivation is repairing the damage due to soil compaction caused by trampling the soil. Plants are grown in evenly spaced blocks rather than rows. While this barely affects the yield per unit area of large plants, such as brassicas, the yields of carrots, onions, and lettuce can be dramatically greater.

The increase in yield per unit area reduces the amount of time required for many garden operations, such as cultivating, weeding, watering and composting, since a smaller garden is required to satisfy a family's needs. The advantages of the system are so great that many commercial vegetable growers have adapted it to a mechanised system. The tractor tyres are confined to running in the between bed 'footpaths' and the grower benefits from the reduced amount of expensive cultivation, as well as the higher yields.
Added: 2007/11/15 Hits: 48

Gardening advice & help
http://www.gardenseeker.com
Gardening information, help and advice.
Gardening advice, gardening help and gardening information. If you can't find the help, information or advice on the site, please let us know. We aim to bring you the best in gardening advice, information and help on the internet.
Added: 2004/12/19 Hits: 146

GrowVeg.com - The Smart Way To Plan Your Garden
http://www.growveg.com
GrowVeg.com is an innovative garden planning tool which helps you grow fruit and vegetables to the best of their ability, whatever the size or shape of your garden or plot.

With GrowVeg.com it is easy to draw out your garden plan and decide how best to plant it. The GrowVeg.com planning tool clearly shows how much space plants require and how to group them for maximum success, removing the need to look up planting distances and crop families.

Growing advice is just one click away as you select the plants that you wish to include, enabling you to solve problems and maximise your harvest from the space you have. An annual subscription costs just £xx see GrowVeg.com for more details.
Added: 2008/01/04 Hits: 48

Homely Capers
http://www.homelycapers.com
Ideas for home owners to overcome challenges of gardening and maintaining your home while keeping a realistic view on your time and budget.
Added: 2007/11/15 Hits: 57

Small-Scale Market Gardening
http://www.sturmsoft.com/Writing/market_garden/small-scale-market-gardening01.htm
It is popularly supposed that the small-scale market garden can no longer be economically viable since it cannot compete with the economies of scale of the larger growers. While it is true that many of the old market gardens have disappeared, there are several that I know of that are very successful. This and succeeding articles will look at the techniques and strategies used by these growers to make a living from small acreages.
First, Identify Your Market

There are certain characteristics that the successful person has in any business, not just the ones to which this publication is devoted. The primary characteristic is being market oriented. In the last issue of Organic Update, we read a letter from a grower lamenting the lack of sales for his product. In this issue, there is a letter from a potential customer lamenting the lack of product.

This gulf is caused by poor planning on the growers' part, a common failing in Australian agriculture and horticulture. You must first and foremost identify who is going to buy your crop. It is not good enough to grow a crop and then try to sell it. The successful grower not only has his/her primary market identified, but also spends time identifying alternative markets in the event that the primary market fails to come up to expectations.

My friend Ian Cairns is a case in point. He commenced growing for the passing retail trade and Chinese restaurants. He later identified a supermarket that would take everything he could produce, at a higher price than the Chinese were willing to pay. The retail trade brought a higher price still, but was too time consuming, so it has been dropped.
Added: 2007/11/15 Hits: 52

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