Our demonstration gardens illustrate a variety of alternative design concepts for food gardens. Whereas in most of the garden the crops are grown in beds, in these gardens other concepts are also used.
French Intensive Garden
It is often said that this is the most productive type of garden in terms of yield per square foot of garden space. In this garden the different types of plants are intermingled and not organized in rows or blocks. The tallest plants would be in the center of the bed or on the side if the bed is built along a wall. The smallest plants would be along the sides and ends and intermediate plants would be between the tallest and smallest plants. Also, the plants are intermingled so that there could be benefit of one type to another, both through possible companion planting effects and through intermingling of their root systems in the soil. The benefits of crop rotation are somewhat achieved by keeping members of a given plant family on one side of the bed or the other and then rotating their position with successive seasons. Of course, if there were more than one French Intensive Garden bed, this could be achieved by rotating them in different beds, but this should not be done at the expense of intermingling the different crops.
African Keyhole Garden
The origin of this garden was to teach school children in Africa how to grow a vegetable garden in a very sustainable way, with minimal purchased inputs. The garden is arranged in a circle surrounding a compost unit in the center. Kitchen scraps, animal manure and other inputs are put into the composter in the center and water from the kitchen and other sources is poured over this material to speed its decomposition and to leach the nutrients out of the compost and get them to feed the roots of the vegetables and herbs in the surrounding garden bed. The keyhole comes from the cutout area in the circle that enables one to get up to the compost structure to put the kitchens scraps, water, etc. into it. In Africa the garden would be constructed of rocks, sticks and other materials that were available. Our version has a plastic barrel with removable lid and holes cut into the bottom quarter for the water and nutrients to leave the barrel.
Square Foot Garden
This garden is based on the concept developed by Mel Bartholomew of giving each plant a precise amount of space. An 8 ft. x 8 ft. square is subdivided into four 4 ft. x 4 ft squares. Each 4 ft. x 4 ft. square can be further subdivided. In this concept of gardening the gardener does not walk on the soil, but uses a heavy board that spans from one side to the other.
Circle Garden Bed
This bed is versatile and will change from season to season. One season it may be a pizza garden, another it could be a Three Sisters garden or a Tepee garden.
Container Garden
Many food plants can be grown successfully in containers. This garden is to illustrate the cultivation of food crops in large containers of various types.
Espalier
The espalier is used to grow fruit crops in a vertical plain. Currently it is planted to two Improved Meyer Lemons and a fig tree.This type of cultivation is especially suited to production in small spaces. It can be set up so that a person who cannot bend down to the ground can tend the espaliered crops.