My first experiment in small-space gardening was in Brussels, Belgium, on a rooftop with no guardrails. While my official goal was container-grown tomatoes, my unofficial one was to avoid becoming human gazpacho on the pavement five floors below. Now, 15 years later, I’m still practicing my small-scale growing skills, this time in the safety of a 10-by-10-foot plot in the suburbs of Maine. I’ve learned that no space is too small for growing food. Whether your garden consists of a window box in the city or an acre in the country, you can still benefit from applying the techniques of small-space gardening.
Soil Is No Small Matter
All successful gardening endeavors, big or small, start with fertile soil. If you have a large plot, you can get away with having less-fertile soil by planting more and spacing out your crops. In a small space, however, that approach simply doesn’t work. When I was preparing my front yard garden back in 2008, I remember sifting my sandy soil through my fingers and realizing I had to improve it. I added lots of organic compost along with a little lime and bone meal, and I add more organic matter each year.
The ideal soil type for growing most crops is loam, the rich halfway point between clay and sandy soils. If you’re not sure which soil type you have, hold some in the palm of your hand, wet it and try to make a ball. If it forms a tight, hard wad, then you have lots of clay in your soil. If you can’t form a ball, you have sand. If the ball forms but pretty easily breaks apart, you probably have loam. No matter which type you have, you can improve both your soil’s structure and fertility by working compost into the top layer each year. Those with really limited space can take heart in knowing there are effective composting options suitable for even the smallest of spaces (see “Micro-Composting,” near the end of this article).
Get Intense
Fertile soil that retains nutrients and water is one of the keys to success with “intensive planting,” which is a fancy way of saying planting a lot in a little area. America’s intensive-growing tradition has two fathers: John Jeavons and Mel Bartholomew. In his classic 1974 book, How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine, Jeavons introduced Americans to French intensive-gardening techniques, notably deep soil preparation through double-dug beds and intensive crop-planting patterns. Seven years later, Bartholomew offered a new way to think about these patterns in a classic book of his own,Square Foot Gardening.
Instead of rows, Jeavons and Bartholomew suggest planting in tightly spaced geometric patterns that will allow the crops to create a “living mulch” of foliage as they mature. This living mulch performs two of the main tasks that regular old dead mulch does: keeping the soil moist and suppressing weeds. In order to create this effect, however, you need to know how much space to give each plant. Mel Bartholomew’s brilliantly simple tactic is to set a 1-by-1-foot grid onto a garden space and plant crops into the grid. Large crops such as broccoli, peppers and cabbage require a whole square, whereas small ones such as carrots and radishes can be planted 16 to a square.
One critical lesson the square-foot gardening technique can teach newbie small-space gardeners is that they may have to put their dreams of squash, watermelons and potatoes on hold. For some, a garden without zucchini isn’t really a garden. However, if faced with the choice of having one bush summer squash plant or one tomato plant, one cabbage, one pepper, one large basil, one broccoli, four lettuces, four chards, 16 carrots and 16 onions (i.e., the number and types of crops you could get out of the same square footage required for one squash plant), you would really have to love zucchini bread to choose the former.
Books such as Jeavons’ and Bartholomew’s can be invaluable for making planting decisions like these. For those looking for a more modern tool for deciding what to plant where and in what quantity, there are some excellent online garden planners available that allow you to sketch out your garden on your computer screen and drag and drop crops onto your layout. I think the best one so far is MOTHER’s interactive, easy-to-use Vegetable Garden Planner.
One last thing to keep in mind about an intensively planted, geometric layout versus a row layout is that you won’t walk between your crops but rather will reach into them. So, unless you happen to have the arm span of an orangutan, your beds shouldn’t be wider than 3 or 4 feet. The length depends on the space you have and the amount of food you want to grow. Mel Bartholomew recommends building wooden boxes for your beds, but you can get the same benefits by forming and planting into boxless, level mounds.
Go Vertical, Baby
One cool technique for increasing your choices and your harvests in a small-space garden is vertical growing, which some people refer to as cubed-foot gardening. As you can guess, it’s about understanding and fully exploiting the vertical space plants can occupy.
I’ve seen this technique applied — or, more accurately, misapplied — in my own garden. My family and I rented our house and garden for a year to some lovely, well-meaning tenants who were eager to scratch at the dirt and decided to plant sunflowers in the southern part of our backyard garden. The plants thrived, reaching heights up to 9 feet, but the sun-starved squash planted behind them were not nearly as happy.
The first rule of vertical growing is knowing the heights of plants and situating the tallest ones in the northern part of your garden so as not to shade out the pipsqueaks. A more advanced lesson is learning the vertical space a crop is willing to occupy if coaxed and supported. While sunflowers shoot skyward without any cheerleading, crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers and even melons are willing to grow upward if trellised and shown the way. Understanding these three dimensions of gardening will allow you to harvest more from each precious square foot of soil. (Learn more about vertical gardening in Vertical Gardening Techniques for Maximum Returns.)
Don’t Settle for a Short Season
Another way to get more out of your small space is so cool that it’s ice-cold: season extension. Putting season extension to work will allow you to start gardening before your neighbors have even cracked their seed catalogs and finish long after they’ve stopped growing for the year. If Jeavons and Bartholomew are the patriarchs of America’s intensive-planting movement, Maine farmer and garden writer Eliot Coleman is the father of season extension.
Casual, small-space gardeners may not be interested in reading about Coleman’s experiments with portable and minimally heated greenhouses, yet they could learn a lot from his writings on cold frames, which are essentially miniature greenhouses. Unlike a typical raised-bed container garden with sides that are all the same height, the south-facing side of a cold frame is shorter so that it lets in more of the sun’s warming rays. The angle may not look like much, but as the sun starts to sink deeper in the autumn sky, those few extra degrees of slope translate into extra degrees of heat that can keep plants alive — and thriving!
If you’re just starting a small-space garden, work a season-extension option into your design. For example, rather than building a typical raised-bed box, you may be better off with a sloping cold frame design. Other season-extension options for small-space gardens include low tunnels and cloches. (See Eliot Coleman’s article, Use Low Tunnels to Grow Veggies in Winter: Quick Hoops, for great tips on using low tunnels, and read Garden Know-how: Extend Your Growing Season for even more season-extension advice.)
Success in Succession
After you have a season-extension plan in place, you’ll discover that your growing season has increased by several weeks, which is critical for implementing the small-space gardener’s most important technique of all: succession planting. Small-space gardening is not just a voyage in space, but also time. Just as you should avoid unproductive gaps in your planting layout, you should also avoid holes in your planting calendar. Succession planting is about turning unproductive spaces into productive ones by removing a crop that has stopped producing and replacing it with a new one.
Here the challenge isn’t simply understanding how tall or wide a crop grows, but how long it takes to mature. Succession planting requires that we toss the traditional notion of “getting your garden in Memorial Day weekend” onto the compost pile of outdated ideas and replace it with a new approach in which the garden is never really “in” but always in the process of being planted. When we do this, we transform gardening from an isolated activity that we try to fit into our busy lives into a holistic lifestyle that can bring health and happiness.
Choose Your Small-Space Adventure
Here are my top suggestions for creating a productive garden within the constraints of whatever space you have to work with:
No Space. If you have a large, south-facing window, you can grow herbs and salad greens in pots, containers or a window box. You may also succeed with container-grown crops such as tomatoes and peppers depending on the amount of sun you can provide them. The key to success is picking compact varieties suited to your taste and available space (see “Compact Varieties for Small-Space Growing” near the end of this article).
Small Balcony or Patio. In addition to the options above, a person in this category can grow crops that require more sun and vertical space. For example, try growing large pots of strawberries or trellising cucumbers. The most inspiring gardener I know from this category is Mark Ridsdill Smith, who grows more than $1,000 worth of food each year on his 9-by-6-foot balcony and five south-facing window boxes in London (see photo in the Image Gallery).
Small Yard. Perhaps choose plants that go well together. For example, you could plant a salad garden (i.e., different varieties of greens and lettuce), a soup garden (i.e., carrots, onions and celery) or a salsa garden (i.e., tomatoes, peppers and cilantro). For people just starting out and those growing in shady conditions, I think a small salad garden consisting of a few varieties of “cut and come again” lettuce varieties or mesclun mixes, one to two favorite herbs and a compact tomato plant or two is a great introduction to the pleasures of the kitchen garden. Leafy greens such as spinach and chard also do well in small, shady plots. (For more on successfully growing food in shady areas, read Best Vegetables to Grow in the Shade)
Micro-Composting
As the urban and suburban homesteading movement grows in strength and numbers, those looking to convert trash to treasure through composting have more options than ever. If you have a small yard or patio, you can look to the newest generation of compact compost tumblers that do everything the big boys do, but in less space and at a lower cost.
Apartment and condominium dwellers interested in converting kitchen scraps into compost for containers and window boxes should squirm their way to the closest worm composting bin. The latest models take a lot of the guesswork out of the process and eliminate any odor via their multitiered platforms that keep the worms and finished compost separate from one another. Worm composters are easy to maintain, and they create super-rich fertilizer. (Read more about worm composting in How to Make a Worm Bin.)
Compact Varieties for Small-Space Growing
Variety selection is more crucial to small-space gardening than you may think. The amount of space that a particular crop occupies can vary greatly from one variety to another. If you’re gardening in limited space, especially containers, you should be looking for vegetable varieties listed as “compact” or, in the case of fruit trees, “dwarf.”
- ‘Alibi’ Cucumber. You’ll need an alibi to tell your family after you’ve picked this short-vine variety clean and eaten all of the cukes yourself. Matures in 50 days.
- ‘Bush Delicata’ Squash. If you absolutely must plant squash in your tiny space, ‘Bush Delicata’ is a good choice. This open-pollinated heirloom variety only spreads about 4 to 6 feet, and you can save its seeds for the next year.
- ‘Compatto’ Dill. It may not grow any taller than 20 inches, but ‘Compatto’ will deliver the dill taste you need for salads and garnishes.
- ‘Green Tiger’ Zucchini. This stout, bushy variety produces brilliant, 6- to 8-inch fruits with glossy, dark green skin and pale stripes.
- ‘Mohawk’ Pepper. Picture 4- to 5-inch, brightly colored bell peppers spilling over your deck railing or window box, and you’re picturing ‘Mohawk.’
- ‘Ophelia’ Eggplant. This one is perfect for the patio. The eggplants are small — a little more than 2 ounces each — and grow in clusters like tomatoes do.
- ‘Temptation’ Strawberry. Compact, vigorous growth makes ‘Temptation’ well suited for hanging baskets, grow bags and short-season climates.
- ‘Totem’ Tomato. Growing no taller than 2 feet high and requiring no staking, ‘Totem’ offers big tomato taste in a small package.
- ‘Tumbling Tom’ Tomato. ‘Tumbling Tom’ is a heavy yielder of beautiful, bright red cherry tomatoes. Perfect for hanging baskets, as the tomatoes really do tumble over the edges.
These varieties can be found at Pinetree Garden Seeds (207-926-3400), which specializes in meeting the needs of small-space gardeners.
Roger Doiron, founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, recently gave an inspirational speech about the powerful act of growing food (watch in The Power of Gardening: Start Your Subversive Plot Today).
Most gardeners eventually have heated encounters with unwanted wild animals. The best and kindest solution is to keep them out with the right kind of barrier. A good farm dog can be a huge help, and repellents and scare devices work sometimes for some animals, but you can’t beat well-chosen garden fences for reliable long-term, around-the-clock protection.
To help you identify which animal (or animals) is making mischief in your garden, match the evidence you see to the damage descriptions inWho’s Raiding Your Garden? Most animals leave signs of one kind or another — footprints, tooth marks, scat, or the way they dig as they forage for food. Check with your local extension service to find out which types of animals are known for damaging vegetable gardens in your area.
You can often witness damage being done by birds, squirrels, or groundhogs during daylight hours, but the night shift can be harder to track. If you can’t figure out which critters are doing the damage, station a $10 wireless motion-sensor light in your garden, and then turn off most of the lights in your house. The light might scare the animals the first few times it comes on, but after that they will accept it if doing so means getting a good meal. Have binoculars handy to get a good look at your new enemy.
You probably need a perimeter fence if you need to exclude chickens and other domestic animals, if deer are a serious problem, or if you are battling territorial critters such as pocket gophers and groundhogs. Plastic mesh fencing can be an inexpensive option to deter deer, but be aware that rabbits will quickly gnaw through the plastic, creating openings for smaller critters. You may be able to cut some of the posts you will need from your own land if you have rot-resistant woods such as cedar, locust, mulberry, or Osage orange. In locations where appearance is important, you can build an attractive wood fence and line its base and the ground surrounding it with poultry netting (chicken wire) or hardware cloth to keep animals from digging their way in. This add-on feature is necessary if any fence is to exclude rabbits, pocket gophers, and other small animals with sharp teeth. On many homesteads, the garden fence also controls the movement of goats, dogs, pigs, or chickens, so many folks start with a post-and-wire perimeter fence, and then add poultry netting or electric fencing to enhance the fence’s pest-deterrent properties. For the main fence, there are three economical choices:
Woven wire fencing must be forcibly stretched between sturdy posts, so the ends and corners require secure bracing. On the positive side, woven wire’s flexibility makes it resilient and easier to install on uneven terrain than other types of fencing.
Welded wire fencing is stiffer than woven wire and requires minimal stretching, so it is easier to install (and requires fewer deeply set, reinforced posts) compared to woven wire. Welded wire works best on relatively level ground. Welded wire products with smaller mesh along the lower edge (intended to keep horses from getting their hooves caught) also deter some animal pests.
Stock panels are rigid fencing panels sold in standard 16-foot lengths. They range in price from $20 (for a 34-inch-high panel) to $45 (for a 5-foot-high panel). Installation is a simple matter of attaching them to metal posts with clips — no stretching required. And they are easy to relocate if necessary.
If you have never handled poultry netting or hardware “cloth” (which is made of metal), allow yourself time to learn which materials best suit your needs. Buy small rolls to experiment with before choosing a fencing product for a big project. You also will need heavy gloves and wire snips strong enough to cut your fencing of choice. If you are working alone, have secure weights handy (stones, bricks, buckets of dirt) to hold the fencing to the ground as you unroll it and bend it flat.
Where deer pressure is severe and losses cannot be tolerated (such as new fruit orchards), you can deter deer effectively with a 3-D electric fence. You can use strand-type electric fencing if you like, but it’s even better (and cheaper) to use electrified tape because it’s easier for deer to see. You will need a minimum of three lines: Two of them form the inner fence (about 2 and 4 feet from the ground, varying slightly with the size of local deer), and the third hot line (about 3 feet from the ground) creates the outer fence, 3 feet away from the inner one. Most deer leave after getting zapped while eating grass and weeds beneath the single strand outer fence. If they attempt a jump based on the more visually prominent inner fence, their front hooves will likely connect with the outer fence before their rear hooves leave the ground — a critical detail for a successful zap. This electric fence can be integrated into a wire fence quite easily.
Not everyone likes to use electric shock to get the attention of animals, but sometimes difficult choices must be made. When you install a critter-proof fence, you can keep your food garden and local wildlife peacefully separated.
Contributing editor Barbara Pleasant gardens in southwest Virginia. She dares any vole to make it through the new underground, hardware-cloth barrier that protects her fingerling potatoes.
Gardeners know that the key to beautiful, bountiful beds is to nourish them with compost. This rich “super soil” can defend plants against disease and drought, help supply them with essential nutrients, balance soil pH and more.
According to a recent survey of our Gardening Advisory Group, more than 95 percent of nearly 2,000 respondents already make compost, and 70 percent have at least two piles going. While big, open heaps are the most popular method, more than a third of our readers prepare some of their “black gold” in store-bought composting bins to keep out animals or tidy up their yards. To help you choose the best compost bin for your home, we talked with readers who have tried one or more models. To find the perfect compost bin for your needs view our Comparing Composters chart or read Composting Bins on the Market: Tumblers, Worm Bins and More.
How quickly you get compost will depend on your climate, the season, and how involved you choose to be with the composting process. Turning the contents of composting bins can be tough — one downside mentioned by several readers. That isn’t a problem if you skip the turning and can wait a little longer for your compost. Even without fussing, most readers report they get a bin full of finished compost within four months of adding the last fresh compostables.
Kitty Werner, a master composter in rural Waitsfield, Vt., accumulates gallons of kitchen waste in large paper shopping bags she keeps on her deck during winter. “The freezing helps it break down faster. By the time we get it into the bins in spring, it goes crazy! Within a month we have compost.” Werner doesn’t mind mixing and turning with a garden fork to speed things up.
Donna Bates in Raleigh, N.C., loves the design of her FreeGarden Earth compost containers. “The lids screw on, which makes it tough for animals to get in and scatter half-decayed compost all over,” she says. “I also have the option of either removing a small amount of finished product from the door at the bottom, or — because the composter is reasonably lightweight — lifting the bin off the finished contents, shoveling the pile into the wheelbarrow and moving it into the garden.” Bates’ busy schedule doesn’t give her time to actively manage her compost, but by keeping two bins going she always has some that’s ready to go. Like many readers, she bought her composting bins for a reduced cost from her city’s solid waste department. (Bates paid only $45 for each bin!)
Readers who love their compost tumblers appreciate their speed and ease of use. Of all the methods Joyce McNally has tried — including worm composters and open heaps — she says her 5-year-old Compost Wizard tumbler is the best compost bin. Although she doesn’t always turn it daily, or even weekly, she still gets finished compost in a few months. “The compost seems more uniform than what I get from my stationary bins. The tumbler has ‘fins’ inside that help stir and mix,” she says. McNally, who lives in a rural area near Erie, Pa., also appreciates the tumbler’s secure lid, which threads on and off so raccoons and other animals can’t get inside.
René Hall in Topeka, Kan., says her Mantis tumbler will make three full wheelbarrows of finished compost in each of its two barrels in about a month if she turns it daily and waters properly. “When both of those bins are full, it’s hard to turn the contents, but it beats using a fork to turn a pile. The older I get, the more I’m willing to pay for convenience,” she says.
Other readers grumble that their compost tumblers are tough to empty or hold too much water. “Mine holds water like a rain barrel,” says Christi Moeller in rainy Centre, Ala. “Rain comes in through the perforations, but it doesn’t drain out.” For her, bins work far better.
“About every three months, I remove the bottom of the three tiers, and the material is pretty broken down,” says John Feeny in Burien, Wash. “I dump that in my outdoor pallet bin, and feed my plants a diluted compost tea.” Feeny overwinters the red wigglers in his basement because they won’t survive the cold in his area. Elizabeth Close of suburban Audubon, N.J., loves the quality of the compost from herUncle Jim’s Worm Farm unit. “It’s a lot richer and finer than what I get from my compost bins and tumbler,” she says. “It doesn’t make a large volume, so I’m selective about where I use it. When the worms become too plentiful, I just give them to the chickens for a snack.”
René Hall is a fan of NatureMill, despite the $250 to $400 price tag. “If it ever wears out, I’ll buy another in a heartbeat. It runs by itself about once an hour. It isn’t loud, nor does it smell when the lid is closed.” Barbara Taylor in Sparta, N.J., says keeping bears out of her outdoor bins is hopeless. With her 5-year-old NatureMill, she can transform 10 cups of kitchen waste into ready-to-use compost in about a week.
Bokashi buckets are another way to compost indoors. Based on an ancient Japanese method, bokashi composting uses a packaged blend of microorganisms, bran and molasses to break down food through fermentation. The kits usually include a compost container with a spigot and tight-fitting lid, along with the bokashi blend. You layer food scraps with the blend inside the container. Compost tea can be drained from the spigot. According to the suppliers, you can expect nearly finished compost a few weeks after the bokashi bucket is full. At that point, you can add the fermented waste to an outdoor bin or work it into your garden soil.
Wood pallet upcycling. You can get free wood shipping pallets from business loading docks and warehouses. They usually measure about 40 by 48 inches and make nice compost bins. Use several pallets to create a side-by-side, multi-bin system. Pros: sturdy; neat and attractive; free materials. Cons: not animal-proof; some assembly required.
Wired-up compost. Homemade wire bins are simple and easy to assemble using 4-foot-high fencing wire. Arrange them at the diameter you want and wire the ends together. Pros: low-cost; neater than an open pile; easy to relocate. Cons: not animal-proof; longer time to break down if you don’t turn.
Ring around the compost. Barbara Taylor in Sparta, N.J., likes to surround her 3-foot-diameter wire-enclosed compost pile with a garden bed. On the outside, she grows vining flowers or crops, then plants flowers or veggies in front of the vines. In fall, she takes down the wire and spreads the finished compost. Pros: feeds plants while it’s working; attractive; low-maintenance. Cons: not animal-proof. Sheet composting. This easy method involves spreading organic materials over garden beds or paths where they can decompose in place — think heavy mulches. In just one year, Christi Moeller of Centre, Ala., transformed dry, sandy soil into lush, productive raised beds by layering oak leaves, kitchen scraps and soilless mix. Pros: easy; no turning; great way to start new beds. Cons: waste can take up to a year to fully break down.
In the trenches. Instead of putting organic material into a container or pile, you can bury it below ground by trench composting. Beneficial microorganisms and worms will do the work for you out of sight and without taking up space aboveground. In Waitsfield, Vt., Kitty Werner sometimes puts unfinished compost at the bottom of raised beds. “It finishes composting on its own, and the plants on top love the warmth and nutrients,” she says. Pros: saves space; no turning needed. Cons: labor-intensive digging.
Vicki Mattern is a contributing editor for MOTHER EARTH NEWSmagazine, book editor and freelance magazine writer. She has edited or co-authored seven books on gardening, and lives and works from her home in northwestern Montana. You can find Vicki on Google+.
Most gardeners eventually have heated encounters with unwanted wild animals. The best and kindest solution is to keep them out with the right kind of barrier. A good farm dog can be a huge help, and repellents and scare devices work sometimes for some animals, but you can’t beat well-chosen garden fences for reliable long-term, around-the-clock protection.
Assessing Your Needs
When the primary purpose of a fence is to deter animal pests, you can't choose the best garden fence until you know what they are. The eight most prevalent wild animal pests of gardens are (in alphabetical order): deer, groundhogs (woodchucks), pocket gophers, rabbits, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, and voles. Note that opossums and moles are missing from this list. Neither species directly damages garden crops, and both eat enough insects to be considered beneficial.To help you identify which animal (or animals) is making mischief in your garden, match the evidence you see to the damage descriptions inWho’s Raiding Your Garden? Most animals leave signs of one kind or another — footprints, tooth marks, scat, or the way they dig as they forage for food. Check with your local extension service to find out which types of animals are known for damaging vegetable gardens in your area.
You can often witness damage being done by birds, squirrels, or groundhogs during daylight hours, but the night shift can be harder to track. If you can’t figure out which critters are doing the damage, station a $10 wireless motion-sensor light in your garden, and then turn off most of the lights in your house. The light might scare the animals the first few times it comes on, but after that they will accept it if doing so means getting a good meal. Have binoculars handy to get a good look at your new enemy.
Permanent Perimeter vs. Temporary Pop-Ons
Do you need to fence your whole garden, or are there only certain plantings in need of protection? If your only problem is protecting strawberries from birds and squirrels, making a secure cover for one bed using chicken wire, row cover or both is much less work than putting up a fence. Raccoons after your sweet corn are another problem that can be handled on a small scale with a carefully positioned two-strand electric fence, with one strand 6 inches above the ground and the other 12 inches high. See Electric Fencing for a full report on your electric fencing options.You probably need a perimeter fence if you need to exclude chickens and other domestic animals, if deer are a serious problem, or if you are battling territorial critters such as pocket gophers and groundhogs. Plastic mesh fencing can be an inexpensive option to deter deer, but be aware that rabbits will quickly gnaw through the plastic, creating openings for smaller critters. You may be able to cut some of the posts you will need from your own land if you have rot-resistant woods such as cedar, locust, mulberry, or Osage orange. In locations where appearance is important, you can build an attractive wood fence and line its base and the ground surrounding it with poultry netting (chicken wire) or hardware cloth to keep animals from digging their way in. This add-on feature is necessary if any fence is to exclude rabbits, pocket gophers, and other small animals with sharp teeth. On many homesteads, the garden fence also controls the movement of goats, dogs, pigs, or chickens, so many folks start with a post-and-wire perimeter fence, and then add poultry netting or electric fencing to enhance the fence’s pest-deterrent properties. For the main fence, there are three economical choices:
Woven wire fencing must be forcibly stretched between sturdy posts, so the ends and corners require secure bracing. On the positive side, woven wire’s flexibility makes it resilient and easier to install on uneven terrain than other types of fencing.
Welded wire fencing is stiffer than woven wire and requires minimal stretching, so it is easier to install (and requires fewer deeply set, reinforced posts) compared to woven wire. Welded wire works best on relatively level ground. Welded wire products with smaller mesh along the lower edge (intended to keep horses from getting their hooves caught) also deter some animal pests.
Stock panels are rigid fencing panels sold in standard 16-foot lengths. They range in price from $20 (for a 34-inch-high panel) to $45 (for a 5-foot-high panel). Installation is a simple matter of attaching them to metal posts with clips — no stretching required. And they are easy to relocate if necessary.
Multi-Critter Security
Any of these basic fences need more features before they can serve as barriers to smaller animal pests. To keep out pocket gophers, groundhogs, rabbits, and skunks, you will also need a buried barrier of poultry netting or hardware cloth that flares outward from the base of the fence. How deep the buried edge must be varies with the creature’s ability to dig. If you only need to deter rabbits, you can securely pin the flared section to the ground. Better diggers, such as groundhogs and pocket gophers, often require deeper deterrence.If you have never handled poultry netting or hardware “cloth” (which is made of metal), allow yourself time to learn which materials best suit your needs. Buy small rolls to experiment with before choosing a fencing product for a big project. You also will need heavy gloves and wire snips strong enough to cut your fencing of choice. If you are working alone, have secure weights handy (stones, bricks, buckets of dirt) to hold the fencing to the ground as you unroll it and bend it flat.
Fencing Out Deer
We could go on for hours discussing deer deterrence, which can include many other methods in addition to fencing (such as growing catnip and daffodils in deer access paths, or hanging dirty dog blankets from trees). But when you get to the ultimate solution — an effective fence — set aside the notion you may have that height is what counts most. Height certainly helps, but it turns out that depth (as in two fences) is the critical factor. Deer are great jumpers, but their depth perception is poor. Here are two ways to create a three-dimensional fence to keep them out of your garden. If you already have a fence that’s not keeping out deer but your kids play there so you don’t want to go electric, you could install a second fence about 3 feet inside the outer fence. The two fences — one inside the other — will deter deer from jumping in because of their limited depth perception.Where deer pressure is severe and losses cannot be tolerated (such as new fruit orchards), you can deter deer effectively with a 3-D electric fence. You can use strand-type electric fencing if you like, but it’s even better (and cheaper) to use electrified tape because it’s easier for deer to see. You will need a minimum of three lines: Two of them form the inner fence (about 2 and 4 feet from the ground, varying slightly with the size of local deer), and the third hot line (about 3 feet from the ground) creates the outer fence, 3 feet away from the inner one. Most deer leave after getting zapped while eating grass and weeds beneath the single strand outer fence. If they attempt a jump based on the more visually prominent inner fence, their front hooves will likely connect with the outer fence before their rear hooves leave the ground — a critical detail for a successful zap. This electric fence can be integrated into a wire fence quite easily.
Not everyone likes to use electric shock to get the attention of animals, but sometimes difficult choices must be made. When you install a critter-proof fence, you can keep your food garden and local wildlife peacefully separated.
Contributing editor Barbara Pleasant gardens in southwest Virginia. She dares any vole to make it through the new underground, hardware-cloth barrier that protects her fingerling potatoes.
Gardeners know that the key to beautiful, bountiful beds is to nourish them with compost. This rich “super soil” can defend plants against disease and drought, help supply them with essential nutrients, balance soil pH and more.
According to a recent survey of our Gardening Advisory Group, more than 95 percent of nearly 2,000 respondents already make compost, and 70 percent have at least two piles going. While big, open heaps are the most popular method, more than a third of our readers prepare some of their “black gold” in store-bought composting bins to keep out animals or tidy up their yards. To help you choose the best compost bin for your home, we talked with readers who have tried one or more models. To find the perfect compost bin for your needs view our Comparing Composters chart or read Composting Bins on the Market: Tumblers, Worm Bins and More.
Stationary Composting Bins
Stationary composting bins tend to have the largest capacity, typically holding between 10 and 15 cubic feet. Most are made of recycled plastic that’s darkly colored to help retain heat. Many also have lids to keep in moisture and keep out critters. Stationary bins are generally open on the bottom so that worms and beneficial microorganisms can get inside to speed up the process. Most stationary bins also have one or two doors for removing the finished compost. Or you can simply lift off the bin and relocate it, forking unfinished material from the top of the old pile back into the bin and exposing the finished compost ready to be used.How quickly you get compost will depend on your climate, the season, and how involved you choose to be with the composting process. Turning the contents of composting bins can be tough — one downside mentioned by several readers. That isn’t a problem if you skip the turning and can wait a little longer for your compost. Even without fussing, most readers report they get a bin full of finished compost within four months of adding the last fresh compostables.
Kitty Werner, a master composter in rural Waitsfield, Vt., accumulates gallons of kitchen waste in large paper shopping bags she keeps on her deck during winter. “The freezing helps it break down faster. By the time we get it into the bins in spring, it goes crazy! Within a month we have compost.” Werner doesn’t mind mixing and turning with a garden fork to speed things up.
Donna Bates in Raleigh, N.C., loves the design of her FreeGarden Earth compost containers. “The lids screw on, which makes it tough for animals to get in and scatter half-decayed compost all over,” she says. “I also have the option of either removing a small amount of finished product from the door at the bottom, or — because the composter is reasonably lightweight — lifting the bin off the finished contents, shoveling the pile into the wheelbarrow and moving it into the garden.” Bates’ busy schedule doesn’t give her time to actively manage her compost, but by keeping two bins going she always has some that’s ready to go. Like many readers, she bought her composting bins for a reduced cost from her city’s solid waste department. (Bates paid only $45 for each bin!)
Compost Tumblers
Compared with stationary bins, most compost tumblers hold less (about 5 to 12 cubic feet) and cost more per cubic foot at capacity, but they’re designed to make turning easier. Load ’em with grass clippings, leaves and other organic waste, moisten the contents, and then give the tumbler a whirl. All that turning is supposed to speed the process, but our reader reviews are mixed.Readers who love their compost tumblers appreciate their speed and ease of use. Of all the methods Joyce McNally has tried — including worm composters and open heaps — she says her 5-year-old Compost Wizard tumbler is the best compost bin. Although she doesn’t always turn it daily, or even weekly, she still gets finished compost in a few months. “The compost seems more uniform than what I get from my stationary bins. The tumbler has ‘fins’ inside that help stir and mix,” she says. McNally, who lives in a rural area near Erie, Pa., also appreciates the tumbler’s secure lid, which threads on and off so raccoons and other animals can’t get inside.
René Hall in Topeka, Kan., says her Mantis tumbler will make three full wheelbarrows of finished compost in each of its two barrels in about a month if she turns it daily and waters properly. “When both of those bins are full, it’s hard to turn the contents, but it beats using a fork to turn a pile. The older I get, the more I’m willing to pay for convenience,” she says.
Other readers grumble that their compost tumblers are tough to empty or hold too much water. “Mine holds water like a rain barrel,” says Christi Moeller in rainy Centre, Ala. “Rain comes in through the perforations, but it doesn’t drain out.” For her, bins work far better.
Worm Composters
Surveyed readers deemed worm composters the best compost bin type for performance. Red wigglers (Eisenia fetida) are used in worm composters to digest food waste and paper. This species prefers moderate temperatures (between 55 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit). Worm composters are usually placed indoors. Most come with small (16-inch-square) stackable trays; when the worms digest food in one tray, you add another tray above it. Over time, the worms work their way upward while their manure (the finished vermicompost, also called “worm castings”) accumulates on the bottom. You’ll have usable compost in about three months. Some worm composters also include a spigot for draining off the liquid “tea.”“About every three months, I remove the bottom of the three tiers, and the material is pretty broken down,” says John Feeny in Burien, Wash. “I dump that in my outdoor pallet bin, and feed my plants a diluted compost tea.” Feeny overwinters the red wigglers in his basement because they won’t survive the cold in his area. Elizabeth Close of suburban Audubon, N.J., loves the quality of the compost from herUncle Jim’s Worm Farm unit. “It’s a lot richer and finer than what I get from my compost bins and tumbler,” she says. “It doesn’t make a large volume, so I’m selective about where I use it. When the worms become too plentiful, I just give them to the chickens for a snack.”
Indoor Composters
More than just a pretty bucket, an indoor composter actively breaks down kitchen waste. The electric NatureMill models heat and aerate food scraps. You add wood pellets, sawdust or coir as a source of carbon to help cook high-nitrogen food scraps and get finished compost in a few weeks. The electricity used is about the same as for a night light.René Hall is a fan of NatureMill, despite the $250 to $400 price tag. “If it ever wears out, I’ll buy another in a heartbeat. It runs by itself about once an hour. It isn’t loud, nor does it smell when the lid is closed.” Barbara Taylor in Sparta, N.J., says keeping bears out of her outdoor bins is hopeless. With her 5-year-old NatureMill, she can transform 10 cups of kitchen waste into ready-to-use compost in about a week.
Bokashi buckets are another way to compost indoors. Based on an ancient Japanese method, bokashi composting uses a packaged blend of microorganisms, bran and molasses to break down food through fermentation. The kits usually include a compost container with a spigot and tight-fitting lid, along with the bokashi blend. You layer food scraps with the blend inside the container. Compost tea can be drained from the spigot. According to the suppliers, you can expect nearly finished compost a few weeks after the bokashi bucket is full. At that point, you can add the fermented waste to an outdoor bin or work it into your garden soil.
DIY Composting Methods: One Heap Is Never Enough!
Making compost can be as simple as heaping organic waste and letting it rot in its own sweet time. But plenty of other methods fit with a DIY composting mentality.Wood pallet upcycling. You can get free wood shipping pallets from business loading docks and warehouses. They usually measure about 40 by 48 inches and make nice compost bins. Use several pallets to create a side-by-side, multi-bin system. Pros: sturdy; neat and attractive; free materials. Cons: not animal-proof; some assembly required.
Wired-up compost. Homemade wire bins are simple and easy to assemble using 4-foot-high fencing wire. Arrange them at the diameter you want and wire the ends together. Pros: low-cost; neater than an open pile; easy to relocate. Cons: not animal-proof; longer time to break down if you don’t turn.
Ring around the compost. Barbara Taylor in Sparta, N.J., likes to surround her 3-foot-diameter wire-enclosed compost pile with a garden bed. On the outside, she grows vining flowers or crops, then plants flowers or veggies in front of the vines. In fall, she takes down the wire and spreads the finished compost. Pros: feeds plants while it’s working; attractive; low-maintenance. Cons: not animal-proof. Sheet composting. This easy method involves spreading organic materials over garden beds or paths where they can decompose in place — think heavy mulches. In just one year, Christi Moeller of Centre, Ala., transformed dry, sandy soil into lush, productive raised beds by layering oak leaves, kitchen scraps and soilless mix. Pros: easy; no turning; great way to start new beds. Cons: waste can take up to a year to fully break down.
In the trenches. Instead of putting organic material into a container or pile, you can bury it below ground by trench composting. Beneficial microorganisms and worms will do the work for you out of sight and without taking up space aboveground. In Waitsfield, Vt., Kitty Werner sometimes puts unfinished compost at the bottom of raised beds. “It finishes composting on its own, and the plants on top love the warmth and nutrients,” she says. Pros: saves space; no turning needed. Cons: labor-intensive digging.
Vicki Mattern is a contributing editor for MOTHER EARTH NEWSmagazine, book editor and freelance magazine writer. She has edited or co-authored seven books on gardening, and lives and works from her home in northwestern Montana. You can find Vicki on Google+.
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