Have you wanted to grow your own food but have no time or idea, experience or know how to start? Do you have very little space but still want to do something that can provide at least some vegetables? Do you want to start learning the basics of food growing and production without having to read endless book or websites to figure it all out? Well look no further than this ingenious system that we are now using, and it works! It's called the Easy Vegetable Garden and is an entire system that has been developed to make the whole process of growing food so simple that anyone can do it! This system was developed in Dutch, but I am going to explain how to do it in English so everyone can try this out. Gardening and food production can be a very complected process, and there are SO many things you need to know so that you are successful and don't get problems with bugs, weeds etc.. This system really does work and I think its an amazing way for people with either no experience or time to be able to still grow quite a lot of veggies in almost no space at all! Read on to find out more!

Some of the main advantages of this system over traditional methods are:

90% of the success of a kitchen garden depends on how you set it up. With this system you do that all so easily by following some simple instructions.
The maintenance? 5 minutes a day! Weeds hardly occur with this system so it costs you less time than doing the dishes.
Mega harvest on little space From an Easy Vegetable Garden you harvest 5 times as much per m2 than from an ordinary vegetable garden. And even on your balcony.
Suitable for all your plants due to the composition of the mix everything grows fine. No hassle with mixtures per plant.
You only have to fill your container once because the recommended mix lasts a long time. Some people have been using the same soil for more than 10 years!
Your own piece of nature. Where you come to rest after a stressful day it is more therapeutic and relaxing than you might think to lose yourself in your minature food forest!

OK are you ready to do this! Here is what you have to do from start to finish!

What are the steps?

Come, I'll walk through everything:

Make the easy gardener box!
Prepare the soil
Get your seeds

1. Make the easy gardening box

The basis of your vegetable garden is your vegetable container. This is very simple to make and is essentially a wooden box that is either placed on the ground or raised on legs which can make it easier to interact with and also reduce pets such as snails. Either way this is one of the easiest types of DIY.

Material

Douglas or larch wood is a good choice in terms of price and quality. Use sturdy planks of at least 2 cm thick.
Avoid impregnated wood: those substances can be toxic and you do not want to go with your plants.
As an alternative to wood, you can also think of stone, recycled plastic, curbs or braided willows.

Size

Make your box either 120cm x 60cm or 90cm x 120cm. These will be divided into small squares of 30cm by 30cm to give all plants just enough space. If you choose a different size then the inner dimensions must therefore be a multiple of 30 cm.
Your box must be at least 20cm deep. That allows for enough mix to fit in and allow your plants to grow well.
You have to be able to take care of all your plants without having to stand in your box. Therefore, do not make your container wider than 120cm.
If you make a raised box then you will need to use wood to completely seal the bottom so that everything doesn't fall out. If the box will be on the ground then you don't need any base wood to cover it.

Construction

You want your box to last a long time. Therefore, put it together firmly with screws. After all, you do not want your container full of tasty vegetables to collapse, right?

Once you have made the box you will need to divide the space into 30cm x 30cm areas using string. This is just to give you a visual marker, and you don't actually separate the spaces inside the soil but rather just mark it out. So using a ruler and some string you can easily make these spaces, fixing the string in place with some screws or nails. Be sure to use a material that will last a long time, such as wax string or even a plastic string. If you don't want to use any kind of plastics, you can of course use normal cotton, hemp or natural material that will just need to be changed more often.

Grid and anti-weed cloth set

You can buy an anti-weed cloth in any gardening store, and this will save you from having to deal with weeds and problems associated with them. You hardly need any as the box is so small so just buy the smallest roll you can find. A good cloth holds even the strongest and stubborn weeds and drains well and evenly and does not fray. Buy the best quality cloth you can that will not break over time.

Make a climbing frame for high vegetables

A climbing frame full of tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and courgettes will complete your box. Because your vegetables grow up along the rack, they take up little space, while you still get a good harvest. The investment in material and time is therefore quickly realised!

Rules for the climber:

It hsould be strong enough to be able to carry the weight of the vegetables, even when the wind is blowing.
At least 180 cm high.
Make the frame of your climbing frame from any suitable materials such as heating pipes, wooden beams or round tree piles.

A climbing frame against a wall or fence

If your box is against a fence or wall, you do not have to make a frame, just something to which you attach your net or mesh. Make sure there is at least 10 cm of space between your net or gauze and the fence. Then your plants also have some space at the back of the net.

2. Make the soil mix

The Easy Vegetable Garden mix is the key to your success: you really can not ignore it!

1/3 part mixed and nutritious compost
1/3 part peat (preferably brown peat: that's the top layer)
1/3 part vermiculite (with coarse grain)

Compost:
Your plants get all their food from the compost. Therefore, use a nutritious, mixed compost. You can buy this to start out and then you can make it very easily from your kitchen scraps.

Peat:
For the mix you use garden peat or peat litter. That is a fibrous brown material that you can buy very easily at garden centers. Usually it costs between 4 and 7 euros for 40 liters.

Vermiculite:
Vermiculite is a granular natural mineral that traps water and air. This airy and nutritious mix gives your vegetables everything they need to grow well with sufficient nutrition for the first 3-5 months. After that time you only need to add compost.

By using this mix, even large plants have enough space in a box of just 30 cm and you can harvest a lot in a small surface area.

You can make this Easy Vegetable Garden mix yourself from materials available in any garden center.

3. So now you have your box ready and filled up with your soil mix you are ready to start sewing seeds!

Step one is of course choosing your seeds! That is totally up to you as just about any plants that aren't TOO big will do very well with this system. That includes our favorites such as tomatoes, lettuce, beans, basil and many other herbs and vegetables. Things that won't work are potatoes and carrots or anything that has huge fruits or spread out a lot such as strawberries etc. Once you have chosen your seeds just follow the directions on the packet for germination. Some seeds like to be germinated indoors, and others can handle being put straight to the ground. I like to germinate everything indoors so that I can choose the best ones and put them nicely into the garden once they have sprouted.

To germinate your seeds indoors use a germination tray or box. These are generally covered with a transparent lid to keep them warm and should ideally be done at the very end of spring, around March in the northern hemisphere. Seeds usually like to germinate at around 21°C, so doing this in your home is probably the best way to be successful. It's a good idea to use fine vermiculite and transparent plastic trays for sowing as they hold the moisture in for a long time and allow the new delicate roots to grow very easily. It may take a few days or a week or two for germination to happen. Once the seedlings are a few inches tall you can carefully remove them with some soil so that you don't disturb the roots and pop them into each square of the planter box. Put around 6-9 plants per square and space them out evenly. Be sure to label them with permenant marker and sticks so you know what is planted in each square.

The only thing left to do is water them! You can do this every day unless it rains, and just soak it well with a gentle spray of water. Be careful not to spray heavily or else you can disturb the plants and cause them to get buried in the soil. You wont get many weeds at all, but if you do you can just pull them out gently being careful not to disturb the other plants. Likewise if you see any snails or plant eating bugs just removed them and put them somewhere far away from the box.

Now just sit back and watch them grow. It happens quite quickly and our box is growing almost daily! You can see from the pictures below that we have a load of different plants growing, and will provide for many a salad and snack once they get a bit bigger. Some plants like lettuce can be plucked as they grow and will quite happily keep going so long as you leave a few leaves there.

I hope this has been a great surprise for you to learn just how easy it can be to start gardening and growing some food with very little time and space. If you do this for yourself please do let me know as I am always happy to know when I have inspired others! I can also help you out with any questions if you have any!

Also, If you happen to speak Dutch there is an amazing mobile app that can help and guide you with this whole process! If you want to learn more and can read and understand Dutch please check out https://www.makkelijkemoestuin.nl/

@ecoTrain

Supporting People Who Help
Make The World A Better Place

Discover previous ecoTrain magazines at @ecoTrain