Summing up the Grow Biointensive method
Other aspects of
Jeavons' Grow Biointensive system are less unique. Grow
More Vegetables sums
up the method with seven techniques:
- Double-digging
- Compost use
- Close plant spacing
- Companion planting
- 60-30-10 proportions of carbon-efficient, calorie-efficient, and other crops
- Open-pollinated seeds
- Interrelated farm system
Of the techniques I haven't
discussed in earlier posts, the one I'm most on the fence about is
double-digging (which is followed by loosening up the soil between
crops with broad forks, aka U-bars). Our oldest garden plot is
ready to go into its seventh growing season since the ground was last
dug into, and the plants there seem to do better every year, so I can't
say that loosening the soil is really essential. On the other
hand, I'm very careful to keep foot traffic on the aisles, and I can
see from Grow
More Vegetables
that Grow Biontensive's wider beds are often impacted by human traffic
--- for example, the author actually pictures a board you're supposed
to sit or stand on atop the bed while loosening the soil or
planting. If you regularly put human weight on your garden soil,
you probably do need to fluff it up from time to time.
Companion planting is
another dicey topic, and one I don't really feel expert enough to delve
into in depth. I used to lap up information on companion
planting, but my limited trials have shown no improvement when mixing
multiple types of vegetables together in the same bed. Meanwhile,
companion planting seems to always make the vegetables harder to
harvest and has lowered yields in my garden. Until I see some
side-by-side scientific studies proving that specific types of
companion planting work, I'll stick to my diverse garden with each
variety segregated in its own little bed.
I know I've been pretty
critical of a book that many seem to find ground-breaking, so I thought
I'd offer the same exposure to the other side of the argument.
After a similar series about square
foot gardening, a
reader sent me a lot of photos and an explanation of why the method
worked for him.
If there's a Grow Biointensive fan out there who wants to share their
side of the story, just email
me and I'll set the
record straight.
| This post is part of our How to Grow More Vegetables lunchtime series.
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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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I'm a double digger!!! Why because it's hardcore!!! But also, I use it to create raised beds in the process. I double dig each bed (most of my beds are three feet, and my paths are three feet.) I double dig the bed and single dig the path and shovel that soil on top of the bed. This way it's like a double dose of compost amended soil on each bed.
-I have heavy clay soil (even though I am in the mid west) and last year my double dug garden survived and thrived with a month and a half of drought and long heatwaves.
** If you stay off the bed you only have to double dig maybe once or twice a decade! ----It's hard hard work! But you'll never have a clay-pan.