I read an interesting article in “Ktima kai Kipos” (Farm and Garden) magazine, published with the “Kathimerini” newspaper. The article was about how to organize a 100 square metres garden, applying rotation planting that could provide necessary vegetables to a 4-member family and cover their annual needs. The authors of the article suggest 18 beds, 4m long and 1m wide each (see attached drawing. On the drawing, the beds are numbered 1-18).

There follows a tutorial I've made after reading the article.

Where to lay the garden

at a sunny and sheltered place (protected from strong cold winds)

How to lay out the garden

• we make some beds on the left and some on the right leaving a space about 1m wide in between

• we leave a space about 25 cm wide between the beds so that we can walk without stepping on the vegetables

• we plant flowers around the garden, suitable for attracting useful insects and repelling harmful ones

Which vegetables to choose and how to cultivate them

• every time the cultivation of a vegetable ends, we should cultivate another one that doesn't belong to the same family, doesn't demand the same nutritional elements

• vegetables that can't be processed and should be consumed immediately (e.g lettuce) should be planted successively every 15-30 days so that we get them gradually, not all of them at the same time. For that reason it's good to make seedbeds and have the vegetables ready for transplanting

• we choose the vegetables according to climate conditions and their biological circle

What to cultivate the first three months (November-December-January)

• bed 1: plant garlic cloves, at beginning of November, which we'll crop after 150-180 days

• bed 2: sow rucola in half the bed beginning November in other half beginning December. We crop after 2-3 months

• bed 3: plant lettuce starting beginning November and repeating planting every 20 days. We crop in 60-90 days

• bed 4: plant endives. We crop in 70-90 days

• bed 5: plant spring onions, beginning November half bed, the other half beginning December. We crop in 50-70 days

• bed 6: we sow peas beginning November which we'll put into freezer. We crop in 4-5 months

• bed 7: we plant onions in January which we'll harvest in 5-6 months

• bed 8: we sow spinach beginning November in half bed, in the other half after 15 days. We crop spinach after 80 days.

• bed 9: we plant celery, parsley, dill, basil

• bed 10: we plant cabbages beginning November, we'll crop them in 120-180 days

• bed 11: we plant vascular plants for salad, every 20 days starting beginning November. We crop after 35-55 days.

• bed 12: we plant broccoli beginning November and a second planting, beginning December. We crop after 90-120 days

• bed 13: we plant cauliflower, we crop after 100 days

• bed 14: we sow broad beans beginning November, we crop after 5-6 months

• bed 15: we sow peas which we'll consume fresh. We crop after 4-5 months

• bed 16: we sow radishes on half bed, on the other half a second sowing after 30 days. We crop after 1.5 months

• bed 17: we sow spinach again as in bed 8

• bed 19: we plant mangels beginning November, we crop after 60-90 days.

What to cultivate the next three months (February-March-April).

• bed 1: stays as it is. We'll crop garlic bulbs in May

• bed 2: we plant lettuce in March every 15 days

• bed 3: we sow chicory in March, we crop after 4-5 months

• bed 4: after we have cropped the endives we sow carrots. We'll crop them in 100 days

• bed 5: we have cropped spring onions, so we can now sow spinach. We'll harvest it in 60-90 days

• bed 6: stays as it is. We'll freeze the peas we'll harvest

• bed 7: stays as it is. We'll crop onion bulbs

• bed 8: after we crop spinach we'll plant potatoes in March. We'll harvest in 90-120 days

• bed 9: stays as it is

• bed 10: stays as it is. In April cropping of cabbages ends

• bed 11: we plant potatoes

• bed 12: stays as it is. We'll continue harvesting broccoli until end of April

• bed 13: stays as it is. We'll continue harvesting cauliflowers until end of April

• bed 14: stays as it is. We'll continue harvesting broad beans until end of April

• bed 15: we crop peas and consume them fresh, in March

• bed 16: we cultivate both, lettuce and spring onions, planting three times, every 15 days starting mid-February

• bed 17: we sow pigweeds in March, we'll crop them in 70-90 days

• bed 18: we sow beetroots in February, we'll crop them in 100 days

What to cultivate the next three months (May-June-July).

• bed 1: we plant climbing tomatoes, we'll crop them in 75-100 days

• bed 2: we plant climbing cucumber, we'll crop in 40-70 days

• bed 3: stays as it is, we crop chicory in June

• bed 4: we crop the last carrots end of June

• bed 5: we plant potatoes in July which we'll harvest in winter after 90-120 days

• bed 6: we also plant tomatoes but in May so that we get an earlier crop in 75-100 days

• bed 7: after we crop onion bulbs we sow climbing beans,at beginning of July,which will be consumed fresh after 70-90 days

• bed 8: stays as it is. Potato crop will end in July

• bed 9: stays as it is, we can renew herbs

• bed 10: we plant onion springs twice, once in May, on half the bed, and once in June on the other half. We'll crop them in 55-70 days

• bed 11: stays as it is. We harvest potatoes in July

• bed 12: we plant tomatoes on a third bed, at the beginning of June for more crop

• bed 13: we plant peppers twice, on half bed beginning of May, on the other half in mid-May. We'll crop them in 70 days

• bed 14: we plant leaks in June, we'll crop them in 100-120 days

• bed 15: we plant aubergines at the beginning of May, we'll crop them in 70-90 days

• bed 16: we plant courgettes at the beginning of May, we'll crop them in 45-50 days

• bed 17: we plant potatoes here too so that we get as much crop as possible in winter

• bed 18: we plant sweet corn in June, we'll crop it in 60-80 days

What to cultivate the next three months (August-September-October)

• bed 1: stays as it is as we crop tomatoes until October

• bed 2: stays as it is as we crop cucumbers until October

• bed 3: we sow beetroots in August, we'll crop them in 100-120 days

• bed 4: we sow spinach at the beginning of August which we'll crop in 60-70 days

• bed 5: stays as it is as we crop potatoes until end of October

• bed 6: after we have cropped all the tomatoes we sow radishes in October

• bed 7: stays as it is as we crop beans in September and October

• bed 8: we plant red, green lettuce, iceberg lettuce in August so that we have them in autumn

• bed 9: we renew our herbs

• bed 10: we sow spinach like in bed 4, but in October for a successive crop

• bed 11: we plant broccoli twice, in half bed in August, in the other half at beginning of September

• bed 12: we plant cabbage twice, in half bed beginning of October, in the other half a month later

• bed 13: we sow carrots in October

• bed 14: stays as it is, we crop leaks until October

• bed 15: after aubergines crop has finished, we plant both, lettuce and spring onions in September

• bed 16: In September we sow rucola again

• bed 17: stays as it is, we continue cropping potatoes until October

• bed 18: we crop the last sweet corns at the end of August and then in October we plant garlic cloves that we have kept

Useful tips

• we prefer climbing vegetables for saving space

• in northern countries, people should opt for early fruit varieties so that the vegetables are cropped before cold arrives

• we prefer planting to sowing for quicker harvests

• we should space out vegetables that we have sowed

• we shouldn't grow the same vegetables on the same land continuously, we should change them

• if vegetables are planted densely, they'll give a bigger crop but they'll be smaller

• for alternation in cultivation we should consult an agriculture scientist

• we use a greenhouse-like plastic tunnel to protect sensitive vegetables in case of extreme cold

The extent of garden, number of beds and vegetables described above can vary according to individual preferences and climate conditions. The above is only an example.

Source: “Ktima kai Kipos” magazine, 6th issue/November-December 2012, “Kathimerini” newspaper