Deep cultivation bed

A deep cultivation bed is a modification of the classic vegetable bed . The aim is to cultivate vegetables that are particularly water and space-saving. Other terms for this cultivation method are “French intensive method” or “Chinese method”.

In the deep cultivation bed, the soil is loosened two spades deep. Ideally, a larger amount of compost or horse manure is incorporated. Once dug up , the bed may no longer be entered. In this loose soil, vegetables can send their roots deep down. This means that the roots take up less space in width and the plants can be closer together. In this way, deep-cultivated beds provide 10 to 20 kg yield per m², which is roughly four times that of a normal vegetable patch. In addition, when the leaves are touched, a kind of living mulch layer is created , which keeps the moisture in the soil and suppresses weeds.

history

Deep cultivation beds are a further development of a cultivation method that the Parisian market gardeners practiced in the late 19th century: Due to a lack of space, vegetables were grown in a 45 centimeter deep layer of horse manure, which was then plentifully available. In this extremely fertile, loose (and because of the heat of rotting, warm soil) the gardeners planted their vegetables so close together that the leaves of the fully grown plants just touched one another. So there was space for more plants on one m².

John Seymour mentions traditional Chinese vegetable growing as a further source of inspiration : beds with loose soil that are never trodden on also play a decisive role here.

The Englishman Alan Chadwick planted an experimental garden in California in the 1960s. There he experimented with deep cultivation beds as we know them today.

Creation of a deep cultivation bed

Deep cultivation beds must be worked on from the edge. To keep the earth loose, they must never be entered. For most people, the 1 meter to 1.2 meter width is suitable. The length can be chosen arbitrarily. How to proceed:

Before digging, the future bed area is covered with manure or compost.

Next, dig a row of soil a spade deep. The excavation is put aside.
The area below is loosened with the digging fork.
Now another row is digged with the spade. The excavation with the manure lying on it is thrown into the first row excavated. The lower layer of earth that is accessible through this is loosened again with the grave donations.

In this way, a deep cultivation bed is worked row by row. The deep loosening creates a slightly raised bed.

Planting a deep cultivation bed

In the deep cultivation bed, the plants are placed so close together that the leaves of the fully grown plants just touch each other. A triangle pattern is used for planting or sowing. Most of the vegetables can be 30% to 50% closer together than in a conventional vegetable patch.

literature

John Seymour: Self-sufficiency from the garden . Urania, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-6145-8
John Jeaves: How to Grow more Vegetables

Web links

Instructions with illustrations for creating a new deep culture bed

Individual evidence

↑ Seymour, John .: Self-Sufficiency from the Garden: How to Tend Your Garden Naturally and Harvest Healthy Food . Urania-Verl, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-6145-8 , p. 9 .
↑ Jeavons, John .: How to grow more vegetables and fruits, nuts, berries, grains, and other crops . Ten Speed, 2012, ISBN 978-1-60774-189-3 , pp. 7 .
↑ Seymour, John .: Self-Sufficiency from the Garden: How to Tend Your Garden Naturally and Harvest Healthy Food . Urania-Verl, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-6145-8 , p. 106 .
↑ Chan, Peter .: Better vegetable gardens the Chinese way: Peter Chan's raised bed system . Storey Communications, 1985, ISBN 0-88266-388-7 .
↑ Seymour, John .: Self-Sufficiency from the Garden: How to Tend Your Garden Naturally and Harvest Healthy Food . Urania-Verl, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-6145-8 , p. 106 .
↑ Jeavons, John .: How to grow more vegetables and fruits, nuts, berries, grains, and other crops . Ten Speed, 2012, ISBN 978-1-60774-189-3 , pp. 15th ff .
↑ Seymour, John .: Self-Sufficiency from the Garden: How to Tend Your Garden Naturally and Harvest Healthy Food . Urania-Verl, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-6145-8 , p. 108 .

[1] Seymour, John .: Self-Sufficiency from the Garden: How to Tend Your Garden Naturally and Harvest Healthy Food . Urania-Verl, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-6145-8 , p. 9 .

[2] Jeavons, John .: How to grow more vegetables and fruits, nuts, berries, grains, and other crops . Ten Speed, 2012, ISBN 978-1-60774-189-3 , pp. 7 .

[3] Seymour, John .: Self-Sufficiency from the Garden: How to Tend Your Garden Naturally and Harvest Healthy Food . Urania-Verl, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-6145-8 , p. 106 .

[4] Chan, Peter .: Better vegetable gardens the Chinese way: Peter Chan's raised bed system . Storey Communications, 1985, ISBN 0-88266-388-7 .

[5] Seymour, John .: Self-Sufficiency from the Garden: How to Tend Your Garden Naturally and Harvest Healthy Food . Urania-Verl, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-6145-8 , p. 106 .

[6] Jeavons, John .: How to grow more vegetables and fruits, nuts, berries, grains, and other crops . Ten Speed, 2012, ISBN 978-1-60774-189-3 , pp. 15th ff .

[7] Seymour, John .: Self-Sufficiency from the Garden: How to Tend Your Garden Naturally and Harvest Healthy Food . Urania-Verl, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-6145-8 , p. 108 .