Market gardening: lots of vegetables in a small space

Swiss chard, carrots, beans, fennel, colorful beets – the vegetable gang grows around 40 different crops on an area of ​​2,500 square meters. Ference Benke and Elise Marwitz cultivate uncomplicated vegetables that produce high yields. Tomatoes and peppers grow in a polytunnel. On fertile soil, they can harvest beets two to four times a year thanks to close planting distances and clever crop rotation, depending on what they are growing.

The two gardeners use the market gardening method. This form of cultivation is also known as microfarming or market gardening and is now a trend worldwide. In short, this means that a lot of vegetables are grown in a small area under ecological conditions. They learned this knowledge from others on the Internet and read the book by Canadian Jean-Martin Fortie.

“Successfully marketing organic vegetables directly” is a reference book with old knowledge about growing vegetables and tips for the right tools. Gardening as naturally as possible and yet effectively – that is Elise and Ference’s philosophy. “We want to supply the people in the region with a large variety of fresh, high-quality vegetables. At the same time, we are continuously improving soil fertility by repeatedly adding green waste compost and using mulch material so that the soil does not lie fallow.”

In order to eventually make a living from their vegetable farming, Ference and Elise have to be efficient, grow a lot and work quickly. They do not use large machines or tractors. Instead, they work with their hands and get much closer to the small plants. This allows them to plant their vegetables densely and ultimately harvest much more from one square meter than would be possible in conventional farming.

Inventors all over the world have come up with practical devices for this intensive vegetable cultivation. The tools are small and precisely tailored to the size of the beets: Ference only loosens the soil superficially before sowing. The handy tiller is operated with a cordless screwdriver and is from America. Elise uses a small, light seed drill that looks like a roller for her direct sowing. Depending on the vegetable, they can use different seed rollers that drop the seeds at the perfect distance so that carrots, for example, do not have to be separated later. This saves time.

They filled the beds with compost from green waste because the soil was actually unusable for growing vegetables, says Ference, describing the long search for good land. “We garden on small walls above the compacted, heavy soil, so to speak.” Ference and Elise use clover grass and sheep’s wool pellets as fertilizer for all types of vegetables. Only the dosage varies. This means that they don’t have to think about which fertilizers and how much the plants need every time. Making the work easy for yourself – that’s also market gardening.

The beds are 75 centimeters wide, and the paths between them are 45 centimeters wide. “With this width of the beds, the movement for the hands is short. This means I can plant quickly. With three rows of lettuce, I can easily reach the outer and middle rows and even change sides of the bed in one step while working,” explains Elise Marwitz.

Not all microfarmers work exactly like Elise and Ference. Even though the principles of cultivation are always the same, each microfarmer implements it according to his own needs and the conditions on his land.

Planning is also very important, and Elise takes her time all winter long. She uses an app to work out what will go on the beds and when. Because one very important rule: A bed should never be unplanted for longer than 14 days. “Before the season starts, all of this has to be done. What goes together in the bed and in what order? When I harvest lettuce in the spring, it has to be clear what goes on the bed next,” says the vegetable gardener.

The routes to customers are also short. They currently sell their vegetables at the market in Weimar and have 85 members who make their solidarity farming possible through monthly contributions. Sometimes the members help – this is also the idea behind solidarity farming – to find out where the vegetables come from and how they grow. The members get vegetables straight from the garden once a week, always guaranteed to be fresh and high quality. “Every move we make is meaningful. It’s just wonderful when you can taste your work,” says Ference Benke, explaining his motivation to work hard every day in his market garden.

Source: MDR Garden; Ference Benke, Elise Marwitz, Vegetable Gang;