Maximise your harvest

Start seeds in punnets

Starting your seeds in punnets leads to far greater returns than direct-sowing. The main reason for this is the control you have over the conditions. No matter what the day throws at you – heat, cold, hurricane – you can always move your punnets to a spot where they’re most likely to survive and thrive. That means fewer losses and ultimately, greater harvests.

Also, by growing in punnets, you don’t need to have space available in your vegie patch to start your next crop. If the seedlings fill their punnet cells, you can pot them up into larger containers. When a space in the vegie garden finally comes up, you’re already weeks ahead. That means you’ll have earlier harvests and greater annual yields.

Intercropping

This is all about making use of the space between rows to increase the amount and variety of vegies you can produce in each area. For example, if you plant a few rows of cabbages, which need a lot of room as they mature, you can slip in a couple of rows of quick-growing radishes or pak choy between them, and harvest them before the cabbages need the space. Similarly, as the cabbages approach harvest, their outside leaves can be removed to make way for an early planting of tomatoes or eggplants, or a furrow for sowing carrot seeds, giving them a head start.

For more ways to maximise your harvest, see the May issue of ABC Gardening Australia magazine – out now!

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