Auckland Homestead - Experiment in Intensive Planting

The Challenge of Homesteading In An Urban Space

Whatever the reason (self-sufficiency, cost of living, prepping etc), I'm sure we all share two challenges with an urban situation - limited space and limited time. Being in a city limits the area available and having a job and a life limits the time available or that you're willing to commit. 

My goals are to improve how much food I grow, and reduce the proportionate effort involved. One thing I tried this winter, was planting a mixed crop densely, and now I'm reviewing the results.      

What Did I Plant?

The planter concerned is 1.8 m x 0.9 metres wide. I planted 6 broccoli, 6 cauliflower and 6 cannonball cabbage seedlings. In between these, I planted roughly the same number of beetroot seedlings just to see what happened. Beforehand I refreshed the planter soil with compost and fertilisers/amendments e.g. blood and bone/seaweed mix. 

Plant Care

Mostly I followed the guidelines available online but not a lot. For some reason, neglect seems to be my most effective gardening tool! Happily, very little actual care has been needed apart from the occasional tidy-up e.g. weeding and removal of dead leaves. As for watering, it has rained so much that I haven't had to bother. In nearly three months. It has rained a lot. 

What Did Happen?

Things have turned out really well so far - as you can see here:

Growth was consistently good , though the plants are in different stages of maturity. The cabbages are doing well...

... as are the broccoli,

 

... with the beetroot hanging in there, though not getting all the sun it needs:

Noticeably, the cauliflower is mostly leaves at the moment. 

Surprises

1. The leaves of all the plants are edible - yah, free stuff ! 😎 Perhaps my urban side is showing, but  this was a surprise to me. So far, I've experimented with broccoli leaf 'noodles', and I'll be trying other ideas later.

2. Taking some leaves for eating last week seems to have spurred the broccoli heads.

3. I liked how little maintenance/effort these crops needed over winter compared to a typical spring/summer with the weeds, slugs, bird risk, watering etc.   I can see that in hotter seasons, I'll have to mulch etc in order to minimise the maintenance effort.

4. The planter box fell apart after 8 years - the nails final gave up!! 

Lessons Learnt & Wrapping Up

More intensive planting seems to work, both in quantity and quality of food. 

Being able to eat (and even preserve) the leaves increases the total food I get from a crop. Some recipes are a much easier way to meet my goals (more food, less effort) than just relying upon increasing my crop size. 

The idea of a low level crop and a high level crop can work, but not if the lower crop is going to be completely hidden. The beetroot was a wasted effort, with the sun blocked by the other plants leaves. It should either be in it's own planter, or on the north face of a mixed crop in order to get the sun.  

I've probably found the density limits for the cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli crops.  

To me, this was a productive experiment - a ready supply of crispy cauliflower and crunchy coleslaw will make BBQ season all the better.