Row gardens are the classic vegetable gardens 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. As a whole, row gardens are spacious, attractive and neat.
Scarlet runner beans on poles, each supporting six plants, make a striking addition to both garden and table.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/Robert Dolezal
Planting red and green lettuce varieties in geometric patterns adds eye appeal to the garden and a tasty look to salads
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/Image Point
Before you create a row garden of you own, you need to bear a few considerations in mind: For starters, any sod or turf in the way either must be cut and removed, or turned, allowed to decompose and tilled. Once that’s done, you can establish a perimeter.
Often, row gardens exist without formal boundaries, but the most attractive ones have borders of tidy stone, brick, timber, fencing or flowers. A border is more than just aesthetically pleasing, though – it serves a practical purpose, too: Establishing a clear, well-defined edge eases mowing or sowing of nearby areas, as well as serves as a barrier to some 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.
Irrigating a row garden is easy, too. A trench beside each row provides an even flow of water to the base of every plant, and the use of soaker hoses and special irrigation equipment becomes a simple matter of straight-line runs.
Still another benefit of these 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 morning irrigation, limiting the potential for fungus and mildew infections. Also, tall plantings like corn shelter lower-growing rows from the effects of wind.
If space permits (and the idea of a neat and orderly, usually rectangular-shaped layout appeals to you), consider a row garden. If the planting area in question was previously used as a garden, so much the better. Otherwise, prepare your planting site by giving it a good tilling, removing all rocks and debris, amending the soil to a depth of at least 18 inches and raising the rows.
Large or small, a healthy row garden is a satisfying way to grow your own produce. Not only can it bring you and your family a bountiful harvest, it offers that “classic vegetable garden” look sure to draw favorable comments from passersby.
