Back Yard Gives Bounty of Fresh Food
Dick Countryman practices square-inch gardening. Except for a few necessary paths, his 30-by-50-foot back yard is planted in vegetables and flowers almost year-round.
Plants in containers also fill most nooks and crannies. The 6-foot garden wall supports climbers.
“There’s no road map. Wherever and whenever I have room to plant something, I do it,” Countryman said. “I don’t believe in allowing ground to go fallow.”
He says that his garden proves that it isn’t necessary to have a large plot to keep a constant supply of fresh vegetables and cut flowers. He’s been cultivating it more than 25 years. Now 64 and retired, he thinks it’s a shame that more people--particularly retirees--don’t grow vegetables and flowers.
“The big thing is to work at your own pace and avoid disappointment by first learning and then following the basic techniques,” he said. He advises beginners to “start small and don’t try to do everything at once.” He estimates that a 4-by-8-foot vegetable garden is big enough to supply one person’s needs.
An August visitor counted at least 70 varieties of flowers, about half of them in bloom. There were more than 40 kinds of vegetables. The count combines as one type five varieties of tomatoes, six of peppers, three of cucumbers, three of garlic, three of onions and three of squash. There were also 24 stalks of sweet corn.
“I like pretty flowers. I like nutritious, fresh vegetables. I like to experiment. A lot of things I grow just to see if I can grow them,” Countryman said by way of explanation.
His method is to keep the ground in constant production.
“It’s also moving the plants around, crop rotation, so you don’t build up any diseases.”
While there are perennials, such as a strawberries, most plants are pulled out as soon as they complete their cycle.
“I might go in here with multiplier onions, or I might go in there with head lettuce or flowers, or whatever,” he said.
The 100-square-foot strawberry bed always has been in the same place. Runners are used from time to time to replace older plants, of course. The bed produced berries (Ozark Beauty and Sequoia) from December into July this year.
Flowers are just as likely to follow vegetables as vegetables are to follow flowers, but the bulk of the vegetable production--because of the desert climate and hot summers in this Phoenix suburb--starts in the fall.
He has few worries about frost.
“I can cut a fresh bouquet of flowers or gather fresh vegetables every day of the year,” he says.
While the intensive approach may seem unorthodox, Countryman’s credentials are impeccable. He was assistant director of the state Horticultural and Agricultural Commission, is a horticultural graduate of the University of Arizona and is in frequent demand as a speaker on gardening.
“Preparation of the planting bed is the secret,” he said. “Do it right, and you’ll have a reasonable amount of success.”
For 100 square feet, he covers the plot 4 inches deep with organic matter, such as mulch, and sprinkles two pounds of ammonium phosphate (16-20-0) and five pounds of gypsum on top, then turns the soil twice. (Gypsum is used to counteract salt in the local water. Gardeners in other areas may find that lime or soil sulfur works better.)
Countryman seldom uses chemical pesticides. He says that insects and diseases rarely bother healthy plants.
His planting beds are arranged so that the bubbler irrigation system applies 2 inches of water uniformly every four days for much of the year.
“Adequate water and healthy plants keep weeds to the minimum,” he said.
He has plants in more than 200 pots. They include miniature roses, chives, cucumbers and raspberries.
His potting formula is mixed in an ancient wheelbarrow of 1 cubic foot capacity. He starts with 4 inches of horse manure from a nearby riding stable and mixes with this a gallon-container of perlite, a gallon of vermiculite, a cup of bone meal, two cups of gypsum and a gallon of any commercial potting mix.
