Space saving ways to grow food.

[Catswhiskers]

Check out on Pinterest for good ideas, suspended guttering, troughs on the side of sheds etc. I grew potatoes inside a couple of thick bin liners. You only need three or four potatoes for larger potatoes, 6 for small ones. As the shoots appear add more compost, until about 8" from top of the bag. This gives more potatoes.Just stick it in a corner of the garden or yard before filling bags. water occasionally but dont let it dry out and don't waterlog. When ready either burrow down as you need them or slit it open somewhere. I liked it because I didn't have to dig or weed and didn't need to take all the potatoes at once. Lao, there will be no rogue plants coming up next year from title ones I missed when harvesting. Be sure all potatoes remain covered with compost or they will be green and dangerous to eat. Home grown potatoes, freshly dug taste so good.

I tried growing veg in straw bales last year. The outdoor ones did nothing, too cold and the ones in the poly tunnel did quite well but were unnecessary. I won't be using them again, it was an experiment.

[grenfell]

http://www.recycling.moonfruit.com/my-3 ... 4538561421
This website is run by a guy called John who posts a lot on another forum I use. He's really passionate about the system based on recycled milk bottles and is used as a vertical gardening system.

[shocker]

Back when I was farming I tried out a range of hydro and aeroponic growing systems but in the final accounting what one saved on compost was outweighed by the power used pumping water and nutrients. The vertical systems I tried tended to run the water/nutrient to waste unless some considerable effort was put into heaving the nutrient rich water back up to a header tank.

Obviously I didnt use every system and Im sure there are those that address this problem but with all the set up and breakdown I resigned myself to growing in soil again. This may change again as I follow links and find new methods...

[grenfell]

I'm not sure if it was on this forum but I can recall someone talking of hydroponics which was in effect a combined plant growing system and fish tank , the fish supplying nutrients and being food themselves eventually. But I suppose the food for the fish would need to come from an external source so I'm not completely convinced and as you say there are energy inputs for pumps , heating etc.
I've not tried hydroponics or vertical growing unless one counts growing blackberries and Loganberries on trellis up the fence , I tend to stick to more conventional beds and greenhouses.

[shocker]

I have seen that method in books but I thought it a means of getting something more out of an expensive hobby, I certainly cannot see it paying for itself though it would be a nice idea.

For me nothing is so satisfying gardeningwise as seeing something I have planted in the earth (pots,planters more like) growing day by day until it is harvested. Even then I am always saddened by annuals being reaped...so much for the cold hearted killer I was (alledgedly) in my youth !

[Deeps]

I'm not sure if it was on this forum but I can recall someone talking of hydroponics which was in effect a combined plant growing system and fish tank , the fish supplying nutrients and being food themselves eventually. But I suppose the food for the fish would need to come from an external source so I'm not completely convinced and as you say there are energy inputs for pumps , heating etc.
I've not tried hydroponics or vertical growing unless one counts growing blackberries and Loganberries on trellis up the fence , I tend to stick to more conventional beds and greenhouses.

I think it was Briggs on here who had a set up. A bit too big a project for me but I was fascinated by it.

[grenfell]

Cheers Deeps , there's a couple of forums I use and a few more I just visit so I do sometimes forget just where I have found stuff.

[Pete_59]

Have a look for Urban Homestead on Youtube, it's an american family who produce large quantities of food on a fairly restricted uban plot.

[Foxypreps]

There is great information about this in the field of permaculture (pun intended ). A tree, with a ring of bushes, underplanted with lower plants, grapes growing through the tree (grapes produce much much more if allowed to grow in an apple tree rather than on a built structure.

[ponylady]

i'm trying this way of growing potatoes this year, and they all seem to be doing well, as you say, its a great way of cutting down on the weeding, and saves a lot of space for other crops,