The Classic Appeal of Row Gardens
On this page you find information on traditional row gardens of vegetables, including:
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- How much space row gardens of vegetables require.
- Why the rows in vegetable gardens are oriented from north to south instead of east to west.
- Allowing for prevailing winds in a vegetable row garden.
- What preparation of soils row vegetable gardens require.
- Options and ideas for neat boundaries around row gardens of vegetables.
- Planning irrigation for row gardens of vegetables.
- How to offset plants in row gardens of vegetables.
- Using vertical space in a row garden for tall vegetable crops.
Vegetable Row-Garden Planning
Consider planting a row garden if your site’s space permits and the idea of a neat and orderly, usually rectangular-shaped layout appeals to you.
Row gardens are the classic vegetable garden designs most often pictured in the mind’s eye. Where space permits, crops planted in long lines from north to south take advantage of both morning and afternoon sun, each plant receiving its fair share. Space between the rows permits easy access for maintenance tasks such as cultivation and irrigation. Row gardens are spacious, attractive, and neat.
Plantings in row gardens also take into account the prevailing winds affecting the garden site. Plant strong, taller plants such as corn, artichokes, or sunflowers on the sides of the garden exposed to strong winds. They absorb the wind’s energy and help shelter weaker, more delicate plants inside.
Before you create a row garden, bear a few considerations in mind. First, any sod or turf either must be cut and removed or turned, allowed to decompose, and tilled. Once that’s done, you can establish a perimeter.
If the area previously was used as a garden, so much the better. Otherwise, prepare the site for planting by giving it a good tilling, removing all rocks and debris, amending the soil to a depth of at least 18 in. (45 cm), and raising the rows [see Preparing Beds, Hills and Rows].
Often, row gardens exist without formal boundaries, but the most attractive ones have borders of tidy stone, brick, timber, fencing, or flowers. A border serves a practical purpose, too. Establishing a clear, well-defined edge eases mowing or sowing of nearby areas. Furthermore, borders often act as barriers to nuisance animal pests.
Row gardens have other practical advantages. Because a single vegetable species is planted in each furrow, successions of crops can be planted over time to provide for a sustained harvest.
It’s easy to imagine such planning in use—think of corn plants of varying heights or young peas planted next to more mature vines, two common plant successions. Harvest can proceed along the row, guaranteeing a steady production of tender, fresh vegetables as the season progresses.
Row Garden Care
Irrigating a row garden is easy. A trench beside each row provides an even flow of water to the base of every plant. Use of soaker hoses and special irrigation appliances is a simple matter of straight-line runs [see Laying Drip and Soakerhose Irrigation]. Some plants—leafy greens and cole vegetables—are watered with overhead sprinklers.
Watering tends to be more consistent for rows than would be the case for other vegetable garden layouts, since the water penetrates equally to all plants along the row.
Another benefit of these row gardens is that they tend to be healthy. The free circulation of air around the rows of plants allows them to dry quickly in the morning sun after a dewy night or a morning irrigation, limiting the potential for fungus and mildew infections. Also, tall plantings such as corn shelter lower-growing rows from the effects of wind.
If your garden site’s size is limited, you can save space within each row by offsetting every other plant to double your yield over planting in a straight line. Take advantage of vertical space, too, growing vines on trellises, fences, and supports.
Large or small, a row garden will always draw favorable comment from passersby.
Beautiful Row Gardens
Row gardens have the iconic look of a typical vegetable garden. Ask any adult—or child—to describe a vegetable garden and it’s likely they’ll describe a row garden of ripe and beautiful, home-grown vegetables.
In sites of sufficient size blessed with rich, well-textured soil, row gardens are simple to plant, maintain, and harvest.