I don't understand the difficulty. You have a space, whether it be a garden, a border, a raised bed or an allotment. You know the rough footage, you know what your soil is like, you hopefully have an idea what will do well where. If you have been gardening for a while, you will know how to space your plants/crops to achieve the best results. If you are a beginner, then by all means ask for advice on a decent Garden forum. You experiment as you go along and learn what works. The weather will probably drive you mad at some point or another ( experienced and learners alike ) but that's life in general. As has been mentioned so often before, if what you do works for you, it's sorted. If it doesn't work, try another approach. Gardening, like technology, doesn't stand still. New plant varieties and extremes in weather will see to that if nothing else. It's neither a fact nor terribly helpful to claim that UK gardeners have no idea about "spacing". Together with other derogatory remarks made about UK gardeners it's hardly likely to encourage sales of the OP's future book in this country.
Ah yes The wrong spacing... indeed how can there possibly be more than one way to skin a cat? If I want small onions I plant them close together, if I want large ones they get planted further apart. Same for almost all vegetables. Maximum yield with onions is about 20 per square foot, but they are small 1 1/4 inches so not what anyone wants, therefore one sacrifices some yield for convenience.
One can also sacrifice yield for speed. (and vice versa) widely spaced carrots will mature earlier than tightly spaced carrots. given time the tightly spaced carrots will produce more however.
Commercial green beans are planted less than 1inch apart, I doubt anyone on here including myself does so. But that spacing gives the biggest yield for a single harvest. I do plant my peas 1inch apart as that gives the largest yield per ft. But not of course the largest yield per seed.
Theoretical maths isn't going to prove anything. You tell me what you are going to plant, and how many of each plant and we can both plant the same in our own ways. Then weigh the results. Just stick to cold weather plants since I can't grow tomatoes or anything that likes that amount of heat outside. We can keep it in feet and inches to make it easier for you.
You believe what you want to believe I will trust people who actually grow vegetables at scale and not those trying to sell books.
You make some good points, out of interest when you say 'green beans' you mean dwarf type like French beans? My rule for root veg is that each one should grow to it's maximum size without touching (or only just touching) it's neighbour, i'm not keen on this cram them all in together method, but that's just the way I feel, it's not mathematical.
Most instructions will say 'Sow 6" apart', but then '12" between rows' which I think is wrong. I would sow 6" apart then 6" between rows.
You make some good points, out of interest when you say 'green beans' you mean dwarf type like French beans? My rule for root veg is that each one should grow to it's maximum size without touching (or only just touching) it's neighbour, i'm not keen on this cram them all in together method, but that's just the way I feel, it's not mathematical.
Most instructions will say 'Sow 6" apart', but then '12" between rows' which I think is wrong. I would sow 6" apart then 6" between rows.
Yes I mean dwarf french beans, For single destructive harvesting that gives the largest yield.
I don't cram things together because it's wet here, cramming plants in just causes fungal issues for me, so I use more space than perhaps necessary. I also like planting in rows, because it makes it much easier to get in and weed, even if it is perhaps less space efficient.
I'm not against raised beds, and I can totally see where they are a necessity be that due to disability or soil conditions or even just aesthetics. but I feel they are pushed to much, many people really don't need to spend the resources on making them. It's the same with many other gardening advice one finds in books/magazines, they're all trying to sell something and they over complicate things. All you need to grow something is dirt, water and a seed.
I also think that chasing maximum yield is often counter productive, the inputs required for each increase become larger and larger and at some point cost more than the increase is worth, of course that doesn't hold if you're trying to grow a record breaker.
You make some good points, out of interest when you say 'green beans' you mean dwarf type like French beans? My rule for root veg is that each one should grow to it's maximum size without touching (or only just touching) it's neighbour, i'm not keen on this cram them all in together method, but that's just the way I feel, it's not mathematical.
Most instructions will say 'Sow 6" apart', but then '12" between rows' which I think is wrong. I would sow 6" apart then 6" between rows.
Yes I mean dwarf french beans, For single destructive harvesting that gives the largest yield.
I don't cram things together because it's wet here, cramming plants in just causes fungal issues for me, so I use more space than perhaps necessary. I also like planting in rows, because it makes it much easier to get in and weed, even if it is perhaps less space efficient.
I'm not against raised beds, and I can totally see where they are a necessity be that due to disability or soil conditions or even just aesthetics. but I feel they are pushed to much, many people really don't need to spend the resources on making them. It's the same with many other gardening advice one finds in books/magazines, they're all trying to sell something and they over complicate things. All you need to grow something is dirt, water and a seed.
I also think that chasing maximum yield is often counter productive, the inputs required for each increase become larger and larger and at some point cost more than the increase is worth, of course that doesn't hold if you're trying to grow a record breaker.
What do you mean when describing a green bean plant as 'single destructive harvesting'?
I agree with all that you say and (with your last paragraph) in that you can go too far. But that is what makes it enjoyable for me. It's about getting the most yield for the least amount of money. That's why I make my own compost - all the material and equipment for that costs nothing.
Raised beds help me grow things like garlic and carrots that benefit from depth in root system. I find them easier to weed than open ground as you don't have to bend right down and the weeds are not so firmly embedded.
“… Yes I mean dwarf french beans, For single destructive harvesting that gives the largest yield...”
to be saying that, for farmers who grow green beans commercially and harvest them mechanically in a ‘one pass over the field’ type of operation, dwarf French beans give the largest yield.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@MikeOxgreen Dove has it right, where the beans are harvested by pulling up/cutting the entire plant, so you only get one harvest. Not how we do it in the garden where one plant will be harvested over several weeks.
I'm a fan of sq ft gardening, it was originally designed by Mel Bartholomew to help people in overcrowded 3rd world cities to grow a few vegetables on their balconies using their own home made compost and their own fertiliser (urine). It's like intensive gardening using sacks and plastic containers.
you statement absolutely false.
Mel created square foot gardening, after see all bad techniques,
wasted of space and other delicacies in the community garden
he and others started in late 1970's. the full reason behind his
creation can be found in the introduction the 1981 version his
book.
here is link to the original square foot gardening book.
I'm a fan of sq ft gardening, it was originally designed by Mel Bartholomew to help people in overcrowded 3rd world cities to grow a few vegetables on their balconies using their own home made compost and their own fertiliser (urine). It's like intensive gardening using sacks and plastic containers.
you statement absolutely false.
Mel created square foot gardening, after see all bad techniques,
wasted of space and other delicacies in the community garden
he and others started in late 1970's. the full reason behind his
creation can be found in the introduction the 1981 version his
book.
here is link to the original square foot gardening book.
We could probably split hairs all day long. I was under the impression this was a forum for discussing gardening practices and not a court of law. I stand by what I understand and wrote.
with hand harvested beans with dwarf/bush varieties of bean you can get 2-3 flushes of 10-30 bean pods per plant. At end of season you can can let pobs dry on plant and you can either save the beans for seed or cook the bean seeds for dinner. those dried beans they sell in store depending on variety could be the same dwarf bean seeds you eat young as bean pods.
Posts
I don't understand the difficulty. You have a space, whether it be a garden, a border, a raised bed or an allotment. You know the rough footage, you know what your soil is like, you hopefully have an idea what will do well where. If you have been gardening for a while, you will know how to space your plants/crops to achieve the best results. If you are a beginner, then by all means ask for advice on a decent Garden forum. You experiment as you go along and learn what works. The weather will probably drive you mad at some point or another ( experienced and learners alike ) but that's life in general. As has been mentioned so often before, if what you do works for you, it's sorted. If it doesn't work, try another approach. Gardening, like technology, doesn't stand still. New plant varieties and extremes in weather will see to that if nothing else. It's neither a fact nor terribly helpful to claim that UK gardeners have no idea about "spacing". Together with other derogatory remarks made about UK gardeners it's hardly likely to encourage sales of the OP's future book in this country.
My rule for root veg is that each one should grow to it's maximum size without touching (or only just touching) it's neighbour, i'm not keen on this cram them all in together method, but that's just the way I feel, it's not mathematical.
Most instructions will say 'Sow 6" apart', but then '12" between rows' which I think is wrong. I would sow 6" apart then 6" between rows.
I agree with all that you say and (with your last paragraph) in that you can go too far. But that is what makes it enjoyable for me. It's about getting the most yield for the least amount of money. That's why I make my own compost - all the material and equipment for that costs nothing.
“… Yes I mean dwarf french beans, For single destructive harvesting that gives the largest yield...”
to be saying that, for farmers who grow green beans commercially and harvest them mechanically in a ‘one pass over the field’ type of operation, dwarf French beans give the largest yield.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Jenny_Aster
you statement absolutely false.
Mel created square foot gardening, after see all bad techniques,
wasted of space and other delicacies in the community garden
he and others started in late 1970's. the full reason behind his
creation can be found in the introduction the 1981 version his
book.
here is link to the original square foot gardening book.
https://archive.org/details/squarefootgarden00bart
https://squarefootgardening.org/humanitarian-global-success/
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.