How to establish an EFFICIENT vegetable garden!

Planning out a new vegetable garden! It’s like a blank canvas for an artist, a new opportunity to bring your passion to life.

First, the planning phase. Location, size, materials needed etc. Once that has been established, It’s time to get your hands dirty and begin creating! But how can you create an EFFICIENT vegetable garden? One that could grow more and require less maintenance? Here are some inspirations and basic principles we like to follow when creating/maintaining our vegetable gardens!

I am a person who loves efficiency and because of this I try to let nature do the work for me as much as possible.

One person who has inspired us and many gardeners of the like is Ruth Stout. Ruth was at the extreme end of the efficiency spectrum and her methods have been universally recognized as the “Ruth Stout method”. The method consisted of applying a fresh thick layer of hay every fall, She would then plant her seeds into the decomposing hay in the springtime. The end. No tilling, no weeding, and if possible she wouldn’t even water. She was crowned the “Mulch Queen” and was the epitome of allowing nature to do its work and stop interfering. If you’re not familiar with this method I encourage you to look it up and read her whole story. 

Though the Ruth Stout method is so simple, there is much to learn from it. We tend to over analyze everything and attempt to develop solutions for problems that don’t exist. It is often more efficient and valuable to step back and let God’s work do the heavy lifting for you and spend more time appreciating it then trying to “fix” it. 

So why don’t more gardeners or farmers adapt Ruth’s method to their own vegetable gardens? The answer is likely due to lack of patience. The success of the Ruth Stout method is based off the rich nutrients from the decomposing materials applied in the fall. This is also the reason for her quote of “the best time to start this type of garden is last year!” Implying that time is required to establish the benefits needed in achieving a successful harvest. 

Although I plan to attempt a genuine Ruth Stout method vegetable garden, I also can be impatient. Guilty. 

In the mean time we can apply the benefits we have learned from Ruth into building ready to go garden beds. The benefits being; Rich nutrient filled compost, weed control (mulch), and raised beds.

Here is how we achieved these principles;

Rich nutrient filled compost. As stated earlier, an economical almost labour free way of achieving this is through layers of hay/compost and time. How we achieved this principle is through the balance of brining in compost (triple mix to be accurate) and applying layers of hay and leaves. We applied the latter in the fall time to start fulfilling the ongoing need of new nutrients/composting to feed the next years crop. And we will continue this every fall season to come. So, although we kickstarted the process by bringing in compost and soil to achieve a harvest in year 1, we then allowed Ruth’s method to take over from there. In a few years we will be seeing the full benefits from our own minimal efforts. 

Weed Control. Ruth’s method controls weeds by accumulating the thick layers of decomposing hay preventing sunlight from feeding the weeds growth. If or when some weeds would penetrate the surface layer, Ruth would simply add…HAY! The lesson we learned from this was to not spend so much energy removing grass and weeds where we planned a garden. Instead, kill the weeds and prevent new growth by covering the area. Block sunlight from feeding the unwanted green energy thieves. Since we had recently moved we had the perfect source to accomplish this. Cardboard boxes! Cardboard is a great way to recycle and accomplish the task of weed prevention. We applied our layer of cardboard where we marked out our new vegetable garden first, then applied the triple mix and hay mentioned above. 

The second source and ongoing weed prevention we use is mulch. Hay, wood chips, and red mulch are a few of the different materials we use to accomplish weed prevention at the surface. Again, spend less time on your hands and knees pulling weeds. Instead, cover the ground from being able to continue and/or establish new growth all the while providing more compost and nutrients over time. Let the earth work for you. 

Raised beds. Raised beds can be accomplished through built structures or simply shaping your beds into mounds above ground level. Ruth achieved the benefits of raised beds from building the ground up where she intended to plant. We have a combination of both in our garden. Creating raised beds provide the following benefits:

• Improved drainage while improving water retention
• Less weeds
• No soil compaction
• The soil warms earlier in the season and stays warm   longer at the end of the season
• Maintains quality of soil including reduced erosion    and less changes to soil pH levels.
• Easier to manage physically (planting, harvesting,    mulching, etc.)

And there you have it! Follow these basic principles in your existing and future gardens and enjoy a lower maintenance garden for years to come! If you’re creating, you’re learning.