What is a Postage Stamp Garden?
And why would you want to plant one?
To accommodate today’s lifestyles, a garden needs to fit easily into a very small plot, take as little time as possible to work, require a minimum amount of water, and still produce prolifically. That’s exactly what a Postage Stamp garden does. The smallest beds I recommend are 4 by 4 feet, the largest 4 by 10 feet or 10 by 10 feet. Using the intensive planting method you can, for instance, grow as many carrots in 1 square foot as you can in a 12-foot row in a conventional garden. Properly handled, a 25-square-foot bed (5 by 5 feet) will produce a minimum of 200 pounds of vegetables.
Regardless of which size garden bed you choose, your garden will produce a tremendous amount of vegetables and, after the initial preparation, require little extra work. This site offers simply, easy proven methods that have worked for me over the past thirty plus years.
To use this site the directory headings are chapters from garden books that I co-authored with my late husband, Duane, who pioneered the Postage Stamp concept. These are not complete chapters, because there is no room for that, but contain enough information you can use.
One of the most confusing things for a vegetable gardener is the seed varieties themselves. Do you choose heirlooms, or hybrids, how do these varieties grow, are they summer or winter plants, where do you find new varieties?
I’ve listed the sustainable Heirlooms separately from the Hybrids and given each vegetable variety the code name of the seed catalog that has the variety. Each seed catalog has all the information you need to contact them (see SEED SOURCE). The 2013 seed catalogs are making their way to your door. Now is the chance to look at the seed catalogs listed here and add new ones to your yearly delivery. The heirloom seed catalogs have a wealth of seed information and history that I can’t list here.
Whether you garden the Postage Stamp way or the conventional row garden, the information here can be used for both. Either way…get those hands dirty!
I welcome comments and any monetary donation to keep this site up and current. Happy Gardening.
Karen Newcomb [email protected]
P.O. Box 3236
Rocklin, CA 95677