The Garden Circle

In the early 1990's we drew a circle in the garden, with the intention of finding out how much food we could grow in a limited space. This circle turned out to be very productive, and quite a success. For example we grew nearly 14 kg (31 pounds) of carrots in a single square meter.

The circle was drawn to be the size of the downstairs of Nauvik. We planted it as intensely as possible without fertilizing. The results proved that we could grow enough food to live off of in a very limited area, and demonstrated that our research was on the right track.

Preparing the garden circle for plowing. Our soil was very low in sand, making it drain poorly. So we spread sand (not to mention some horse manure for fertilizer) over the circle prior to doing a final plowing.

Chandra planting the preplants in the garden circle.

A picture of the garden circle, shortly after planting. The area to the right (with the twine around it) is the carrot patch. The trails were spread with sand (which causes them to look lighter in color). Another view.