Plant Stacking - Optimal results , minimal space.

[TeeDee]

I would consider Plant stacking to be a tool to make the most out of the same amount of space using a single piece of soil or compost to grow a variety of plants at differing heights.

An obvious example of this would be the Three Sisters using Sweetcorn , Climbing beans and Squash to provide a sum greater then its parts for the purpose of growing food.

Thinking of how this can be utilised and explored in more urban/suburban garden spaces where space is limited.

Any suggestions of potential 'stacks' and why they would work well? How would the sowing , cropping and harvesting timelines run an how can one make 'more' from 'less'?


( Outdoor or Greenhouse spaces - Tubs or Open grounds - just seeking ideas. )

 

[TeeDee]

And can this be done with any Perennials?

 

[Bearmont]

My uncle did hydroponics using a Russian method, where big PVC pipes were arranged in a staggered pattern like very steep stairs, and holes cut into the pipes to fit plant tubs.

 

[SaraR]

An important consideration when co-planting vegetables is to pick species that can cope with the shade and also what the solar input (strength and duration) is in your location. Just because something works well at one set of latitudes, does not mean it will work well elsewhere.

 

[Toddy]

I agree with @SaraR on this. I live surrounded by trees and gable walls, so even when I do get sunshine, it's never all of the garden all of the day.
Angled planting helps. Shed roofs can be used to hold trays, etc., just mind not to compromise the roofing material. Great for growing on seedlings though.

Old rones...gutters....fastened onto fences high up and filled with soil, grow salad crops and strawberries pretty much slug free. Not bird or squirrel free, but slugs and snails are a real issue for me.

Peas and beans happily coil up things like washing poles and rone pipes. Just lace up some rough sisal twine and encourage them to find it.

Our gable wall is painted white, it's amazing how much light it reflects (it used to be dark brown) and how much it seems to improve anything growing along that path. Planters with trellis at the back grow both peas and quick growing and pulled young carrots, radishes, etc., Herbs like chives and parsley do well enough there too.
Funnily enough so do tomatoes. Worthwhile thinking about backing where ever you're planting with something light reflecting. Get as much out of the sunshine as you can.

I bought sets of those triple stacker pots, but to be honest, they look good, but they don't do well. Unless right out in the open only two of every three actually grows something well, and the top layer struggles to be moist enough.
It's fine for herbs that manage dry conditions, like thyme but on the whole not a great success.

 

[TeeDee]

I was more hoping and thinking of what plants can happily grow with what other plants in a semi natural fashion.

Is it possible to grow a tuber based veg with a ground level and also a climber in very very close proximity?

I can appreciate and admire the ingenuity of Bearmonts design but thats a very human forced apparatus to grow intensively in a small space.


Again clever , but not quite as naturally inspired as Three Sisters.


Toddys response ( Thank you ) is more directed to the intensive urban side of the question but I guess what i'm more interested in is the companion plants that literally can live and prosper well together within the same physical area - the intensive production side is a by product of that alignment.

 

[SaraR]

I was more hoping and thinking of what plants can happily grow with what other plants in a semi natural fashion.

Maybe have a look at forest gardening?

You can definitely grow things together, but you might take a hit on yield. Although growing something like climbing legumes would probably benefit any root veg that you plant at their base. Just make sure the climbers don't shade the ground crop.

From what I have read, the Three Sisters doesn't work (well) this far north, they just shade each other out, but I don't have any first hand experience of it.

I guess it all depends on how intensive you want to it to be as well?

 

[Toddy]

Again, Sara's right, up here they shade each other out. Unless you plant on a real slope, and then you hit the issue of hoping they all grow to a similar height or again, except for those few weeks in mid Summer, they'll shade each other, or the wind will flatten them.

Companion planting can work well though.
You can grow things like onions between brassicas...the onions come up in stems while the brassicas spread out in wide leaves, and the onions sit high in the soil while the brassicas tap root down. So long as the brassicas don't shade the onions out when they're just coming up, it works fine. Same with leeks. Plant some French Marigold nearby and that'll discourage some of the pests.

At the end of the day, I think it's more what do you want to grow/eat, versus some grand plan and everything neat and orderly thinking, and suss out what else you can get into the ground at the same time.
Small garden growing depends crucially on the site.
I had bush peas happily growing at the base of my raspberry canes, but the runner beans thrived up the trunks of the Rowan tree though I had to plant and feed them in a pot beside it. The tree is in a sunny patch though.

There's a 'foot square' gardening idea. Basically what can you plant in a foot square and keep it cropping. Meant for intensive food production. Bed is divided up with string lines to give you guides. Huegle (sp? ) culture beds are ideal for it.
Bound to be websites devoted to it.

 

[SaraR]

Another consideration is how much fertilising and watering you want to do. The more intensive a set up you have, the more you need to supply them with things like water.

 

[Toddy]

Another consideration is how much fertilising and watering you want to do. The more intensive a set up you have, the more you need to supply them with things like water.

So true, and have you seen how much fertiliser has gone up in price recently ?
I'm sure it's twice as much this year as last.

 

[TeeDee]

Another consideration is how much fertilising and watering you want to do. The more intensive a set up you have, the more you need to supply them with things like water.

Yep - Have no problem with this or providing extra nutrients via green compost tea - it was more a question to maximum production , minimizing effort ( allowing nature to do the work ) in potentially limited areas.