In addition to using permanent beds with small aisles and copious trellises, Mel Bartholomew gets more vegetables in a smaller space because he brings in a lot of soil amendments.  I'm of two minds about this part of his gardening strategy.

On the one hand, it's clearly expensive (and not very sustainable) to buy bags of peat moss, potting soil, and vermiculite to give your soil good drainage and then add chemical fertilizers to boost the plants' growth.  Mel Bartholemew is basically creating a large container garden, which means that he isn't tapping into the strength of a diverse soil food web.

On the other hand, Bartholomew might be able to get many of the same results by doubling down on compost and manure.  His point is well taken that if you divide the size of your garden in half, you can double the amount of soil amendments on each square foot, possibly resulting in a doubled (or at least larger) crop in the smaller space.

However, I don't grow vegetables just to get the largest fruits from the smallest tract of land.  I've discovered that the tastiest (and, I think, most healthful) fruits and vegetables have to struggle a little to find nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.  The fruits are often smaller, but they're jam-packed with flavor, and I suspect have more micronutrients from their roots' elongated journey through the soil.  I'm not willing to give up that quality in favor of quantity; otherwise, I might as well just buy my produce at the grocery store.

A permaculture approach to soil is completely different.  Instead of focusing on the plants' output per unit space, a permaculturalist would focus on maintaining a healthy soil ecosystem and on adding varied soil amendments that would boost micronutrient levels.  I would love to see a study comparing the vitamins and minerals in a leaf of lettuce grown in my type of garden versus one grown in Mel Bartholomew's.  Could science tell a difference?

This post is part of our Square Foot Gardening lunchtime series.  Read all of the entries: Square Foot Gardening Beds and aisles in square foot gardening Less unique aspects of square foot gardening Soil health in square foot gardening Square foot gardening rebuttal Winter sowing vs. cold frames

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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