Small gardens don’t have to mean small harvests! It can be tempting to make your garden as large as possible and buy all of the seeds, but it’s easy to stretch ourselves too thin. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the weeding, watering, harvesting, and preserving for a large garden. A well-tended small garden will out-produce a large, poorly maintained garden. So whether you are short on space or short on time, there are still methods you can use to produce a big harvest. 

Here are some good options for small garden layouts and a few tips for making the most of your space. 

Small Garden Layouts

All small gardens are different, and there are no concrete rules. To create a layout that works for you, you’ll need to consider your space, your family’s tastes, and what vegetables perform best in your climate. 

For these layouts, I’ve focused on some of our most popular vegetable crops like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans, carrots, sweet corn, lettuce, and summer squash. However, you can swap these out for other crops like okra, beets, asparagus beans, sage, peanuts, or sweet potatoes.

You can get incredible production from six raised beds (four feet by twelve feet). This layout features an early-summer option. The collards may have already replaced a cool-season crop like lettuce, and the sweet corn could have been planted where snow peas were previously grown.

A couple of smaller raised beds (two feet by eight feet) can still provide an abundance. Focus on your favorites for a garden like this and work with smaller varieties of crops like peppers and tomatoes when possible to make the most of the space. Using trellises for crops like cucumbers and pole beans will help prevent them from spilling into the paths.

Round or oddly shaped gardens are a fun, whimsical option and can help your vegetable patch match the decorative features in a small backyard. As the summer continues, the cool-season crops in this bed like lettuce, broccoli, kale, and radishes can be harvested and replaced with heat-tolerant options like eggplant, cowpeas, sweet potatoes, oregano, or Swiss chard. 

Designing Permanent Beds in a Small Garden

In small spaces, permanent beds are often a good option. They reduce compaction, improve drainage, and help you build healthy soil. They’re also easy to design and accessible. I like to leave 2 foot wide paths around the exterior of my beds so I can easily move a wheelbarrow and other tools down the pathway. I also make beds a maximum of 4 feet wide so I can reach across them for weeding, planting, and harvesting, but you can decide what works best for you.

Raised Beds Versus Traditional Beds

These days, many folks are opting for raised beds, and they have a lot of benefits. Raised beds give you good soil right from the beginning. They also drain well, warm up quickly in spring, are easy to manage, and may be more accessible for some folks. 

However, raised beds have a few downsides. They dry out more quickly, especially in hot climates. They can also be costly to build and may require maintenance or replacement over time. Also, they’re tough to move, so if you decide to change your layout, it may involve quite a bit of work. There’s no one size fits all; you’ll have to decide which works best for your space.

Learn more about the Pros and Cons of Raised Beds.

The Best Crops for Small Gardens

There’s no real perfect crops for small gardens. You should aim to grow what you enjoy, so that you’ll make the most of it. However, crops that are short-season and can be planted in successions like radishes, or produce over a long period, like cherry tomatoes, will help you get the most produce from your square footage. You also want to consider each crop’s growth habit. Can it be neatly trellised to save space? Does it take up tons of room for the produce you get? Can you grow it in a container?

Here are a few of our favorite varieties for small gardens, but feel free to experiment:

• Aunt Bea’s Pole Snap Bean
• Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage
• Chantenay Red Core Carrots
• Ashworth Sweet Corn
• Marketmore 76 Cucumber
• Spacemaster Cucumber
• Arugula (Roquette)
• Champion Collards
• Vates Collards
• Premier Kale
• Salad Bowl Looseleaf Lettuce
• Red Malabar Summer Spinach
• Tom Thumb Bibb (Butterhead) Lettuce
• Wild Garden Lettuce Mix
• Deep Purple Bunching Onion
• Evergreen Hardy White Bunching Onion
• Sugar Ann Dwarf Snap Pea
• Ashe County Pimento Sweet Pepper
• Doe Hill Golden Bell Sweet Pepper
• Jalapeño Hot Pepper
• Seminole Pumpkin
• Cherry Belle Radishes
• Zipper Cream Southern Pea (Cowpea)
• Early White Bush Scallop Summer Squash
• Black Cherry Tomato
• Yellow Bell Paste Tomato
• Glacier Tomato

Sneak in Crops Wherever and Whenever Possible

One of the key ways you can make the most of your space is to sneak in crops wherever possible. I like to tuck onions in between grids of cabbages, sow some small patches of spring radishes between squash before it gets too big, and under-sow snap peas with Malabar spinach. The onions make use of the gaps between the cabbages, the radishes are ready to pull long before the squash takes over the bed, and the heat-loving Malabar spinach takes off as the peas begin to die back.

Succession Planting

You can also add crops in by succession planting. In a small garden, you want to always be harvesting something. When lettuce bolts, pull it immediately and sow a warm season crop like green beans or zucchini. If Downey mildew takes your cucumbers, pull them and sow some pole beans. When your summer squash plants begin to fail, sow carrots or beets for a fall harvest.

The Risks of Tight Spacing

Many gardeners with little spaces forgo traditional spacing guidelines and opt for tighter spaces. For many small gardeners, this works because they can provide extra nutrients, water, and attention to make up for a bit of crowding. 

However, sometimes crops need the space. Proper spacing between crops like tomatoes, summer squash, and cucumbers allows good air circulation, helping to prevent diseases like Downey mildew and late blight. Overcrowding can also lead to poor production. Some crops, like broccoli, may produce smaller heads, while beets may produce smaller roots.

Learn more about 5 Ways to Increase Your Harvest in a Small Space. This article includes advice on season extension for small gardens, growing vertically, succession planting, soil health, and record keeping.

Peas are a sweet, cool-weather treat from the garden. They’re often listed as easy to grow, but in the Southeast, where the weather is often hot, they can be tricky. If you’re new to gardening, or have struggled to get a good pea harvest, here’s everything you need to know to select peas, grow and care for them, and have a successful harvest.

What are the Different Kinds of Peas?

There are a few different types of peas. For this article, we’re focusing on cool-weather edible peas that are cultivars of the Pisa sativum species. These include snow peas, snap peas, English or shelling peas. 

Snow Peas

Snow peas have thin, tender shells and are ready for harvest when the pod is large and flat with tiny immature seeds. Typically, folks enjoy them whole, often in Asian dishes.

Snap Peas

Similarly, snap peas have tender shells and are usually eaten whole. Unlike snow peas, snap peas are harvested when they’re plump and full. Both the peas and the shell are crisp, tender and sweet. They’re great for eating raw or in stir-fries and other dishes.

Shelling Peas

Shelling or English peas have plump, sweet peas but tough, inedible pods.

A Note on Other Types of Peas

You may also find a few other peas listed on our website, including sweet peas, Austrian winter peas, and cowpeas.

Austrian Winter Peas

Austrian winter peas are also a cultivar of the Pisa sativum species. Like the other peas mentioned above, they’re edible. Austrian winter peas aren’t particularly productive for making pods, but the shoots and tendrils that make tasty salads. In much of the southeast, these peas will overwinter. They’re an excellent winter cover crop or salad green.

Sweet Peas

Sweet peas are from a different species, Lathyrus odoratus. They vine like other peas and offer stunning, beautifully-scented, early flowers. However, sweet peas are toxic. Never consume sweet peas.

Southern Peas (Cowpeas, Field Peas)

Southern peas are also called cowpeas, field peas, crowder peas, and black-eyed peas. They’re cultivars of the Vigna unguiculata species. Whatever you call them; they’re an old southern favorite thanks to their incredible production in hot climates. Unlike the peas we’re focused on, southern peas don’t thrive in spring’s cool temperatures.

Preparing a Bed

Peas thrive in soil with a pH between 6.0 to 6.8. For production, you want well-drained soil that’s rich in phosphorus and potassium. Peas are sensitive to excess nitrogen. Heavy nitrogen in peas will cause them to put on excessive foliar growth at the expense of pod production. Thankfully, they make some of their own and, like other legumes, are considered “nitrogen fixers.”

When to Grow Peas

Young pea seedlings are quite tolerant of frost and cold weather. Direct sow peas as soon as your soil can be worked in the spring. They germinate well when soil temperatures are above 40°F.

Snap pea seeds are high in sugar, so they may rot before germinating when the soil is cold. To avoid this, we recommend pre-sprouting snap pea seeds for early-season plantings in cold soil.

You can also fall sow peas, but this can be trickier. Especially here in the Mid-Atlantic, we find that by the time it cools down enough to sow peas, it’s too late for much production. We get killing freezes before most peas will mature. Unlike the young plants, the pods are susceptible to freezing.

Sowing & Growing Peas

Peas benefit from some type of support, particularly the tall varieties. Use fencing, netting, stakes, or well-branched brush driven into the ground to create a trellis.

Sow seed 1 inch deep, 1/2-1 inches apart in double rows 4 inches apart. Thin to 2 inches apart. Plant single or double rows 2 feet apart for dwarf varieties and 2-1/2 to 3 feet apart for tall varieties.

Typically, the soil is wet enough in spring that water isn’t an issue. However, if the soil is dry in spring or you’re fall planting, keep the soil consistently moist.

Peas benefit from keeping up with the weeds. However, they have shallow roots, so you should avoid cultivating near the base of the plants.

Pea Diseases

Peas are susceptible to a couple of diseases, including pea root rot (Fusarium sp. or Aphanomyces euteiches), which will cause yellowing and leaf die-back starting near the base. They are also susceptible to powdery mildew, which will cause white mold-like spots on the leaves, stems, and pods, particularly in hot weather. If disease is a problem, use resistant varieties and follow a 5-year rotation.

Harvesting Peas

Peas produce more when you harvest regularly. In the height of the season, you may need to check every or every other day. Harvest the pods as soon as they reach maturity. Allowing them to over-ripen can signal the plant to stop producing. 

Peas harvested in the cool morning will be crisper. The sugar in peas converts to starch soon after harvest, so to keep the sweet flavor, use or process within two hours.

Saving Pea Seed

It’s super easy to save seed from open-pollinated pea varieties! Let the pods mature on the vine until they are brown and dry. You can shell your seeds by hand, or thresh and winnow them. 

Placing the whole, dry vines into a pillowcase and beating it against the ground works well to dislodge the seeds. Then you can use a couple of buckets and a box fan to winnow out unwanted plant material. Pour a bucket of material into another bucket sitting in front of the running fan. The heavy seeds will drop into the bucket while the light plant material will blow away. Repeat as needed. Store seeds properly to ensure they last for several years.

If you’re growing multiple pea varieties, remember that they can cross. Isolate varieties by a minimum of 50 feet for home use. For pure seed isolate by 150 feet.

Cut flowers can be a lucrative product for young farmers, existing produce farms looking to expand their operations, greenhouses extending their offerings after spring planting, or gardeners looking for a side hustle. However, there’s a lot that goes into productive flower farming before you get to pick those bouquets. Here are some steps you should take if you want to get started with cut flowers.

Finding a Market for Your Cut Flowers

Before you order those seeds, it’s important to ensure you have a market for your flowers. These days, there are many methods to consider. You can offer flowers wholesale to a local florist or other vendor, sell bouquets at local markets, offer a bouquet subscription similar to a CSA, or even offer cut-your-own bouquets.

No matter what option you choose, it’s important to realize that you’ll need to spend time advertising, working with people, and ensuring the flowers you do offer are all high quality. While farming seems idyllic and relaxing, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

Building Soil for Cut Flowers

The first step is to get a soil test. They’re easy to do and cheap, and they eliminate all the guesswork that comes with amending soil. Quality is key when growing cut flowers for market, and that starts with nutrient-rich soil. In addition to a soil test and any necessary amendments, it’s also a good idea to add finished compost or aged manure to each bed. It adds nutrients and organic matter to improve soil texture and drainage.

When building beds for cut flowers, especially in the southeast, you’ll probably want to opt for raised or mounded beds unless you have light, sandy soil. Most flower varieties require good drainage, which can be tough in the clay soils prevalent throughout much of the Southeast. Build beds so that you can easily reach across them to weed and harvest, generally no wider than 4 feet across. A pathway around the outside of each bed is also critical for access.

Best Beginner Cut Flowers

There are many options for cut flowers, and you might be tempted to start ordering seeds, bulbs, and perennial plants right away. However, we suggest getting started with some tried and true, easy to grow options as part of your main offerings. Here are four of our beginner favorites.

Zinnias

Zinnias are the workhorses of any flower garden. They offer a vast range of colors, various shapes, fast growth, and continuous flowering. Zinnias are also pretty easy to grow. You don’t need to worry too much about your soil; zinnias aren’t fussy. 

However, zinnias can fall victim to fungal diseases. To keep them producing well, it’s important to clip spent blooms and foliage, space them properly, and harvest regularly. While zinnias will flower all season long, they can slow down or produce blooms with reduced quality after a time, especially if they get a disease. Thankfully, zinnias are excellent candidates for succession planting.

Sunflowers

Sunfowers are a beginner favorite because they germinate and produce quickly. Their large, bright blooms are a great focal point for fresh bouquets, and they offer several shapes and colors.

We divide sunflowers into two categories: single-stem sunflowers and branching sunflowers. Single-stem sunflowers are easy to grow and highly reliable. They produce stunning blooms on large, thick stems. While branching sunflowers have the benefit of producing multiple blooms and extending the harvest, their stems may not be as sturdy and straight as single-stem varieties.

Rudbeckia

Many people think of the classic Black-Eyed Susan, but there are other types of Rudbeckia too, like Prairie Sun with its gold petals and unique green centers. While not as easy to grow as sunflowers or zinnias, rudbeckia still made the beginner list because once you get it going, it’s highly productive. A single plant can offer tons of blooms and you’ll find different varieties that bloom from early summer to late fall.

Cosmos

Cosmos are another easy to grow colorful flower that’s great for beginners. The downside is that their stems aren’t quite as sturdy as zinnias, but they add a whimsical touch to bouquets and are great for succession planting. For early blooms, try our Sensation Mix, which is ready to harvest in just 45 days. 

Other great options 

• Basil 
• Amaranth
• Daffodils
• Snapdragons
• Delphiniums
• Stock
• Asters
• Tulips
• Strawflowers
• Statice
• Dara
• Celosia
• Oregano
• Bells of Ireland

Spacing and Support 

Spacing varies with species, but proper spacing is key to good production. Spacing too widely can decrease your yield and may affect your plants’ growth. Some cut flowers grow nice, straight, long stems when spaced close together. However, spacing too tightly can stunt plant growth or contribute to fungal disease issues because of poor airflow.

To produce quality stems and blooms, most cut flower varieties also need some form of trellis or support. For some flowers like sunflowers or sweet peas, this may mean a tall, upright trellis like you would use for pole beans or even just tall stakes. 

However, for shorter flowers, we also like to provide support to encourage straight stems and reduce lodging. For flowers like cosmos, you can suspend mesh or fencing parallel above the ground when the flowers are small so that they grow up through it.

Irrigating and Fertilizing Cut Flowers

Rainfall isn’t usually adequate for good flower production; cut flowers need consistent moisture to produce well. Most growers will find it easiest to invest in a drip irrigation system to save on labor and water. For most flowers, 2 lines per bed is ideal. The drip lines should emit water next to the plant’s crown but not right on top of it.

When considering fertilizer, consult your soil test and each varsities specific needs. While all flowers perform better with nutrient-rich soil, some, like sunflowers, are heavy feeders and may benefit from additional feeding. For many cut flowers, a slow-release fertilizer in spring will be adequate. 

Succession Planting

To ensure you have good production all season long, succession planting is key. You can stagger your harvest by planting varieties with different days to maturity, like Short Stuff Dwarf Sunflowers, which bloom in 54 days, and Autumn Beauty Sunflowers, which bloom in 70 days. 

You can also sow multiple successions of the same variety. For cut flower gardens, we like to sow 2 to 3 successions of crops like zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers in spring and early summer. Start sowing successions about 2 weeks apart after the initial planting.