Nature and Gardening

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All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.

See also our Environment community, which is focused on weather, climate, climate change, and stuff like that.

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This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

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What Is French Intensive Gardening and Does It Work for You? (www.thespruce.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Not a stupid question at all! This method works for several reasons:

Typical soil contains the majority of nutrients in the topsoil layer, which is roughly 1-10in (2.5-25cm) deep. Because compost is added up to 2ft (60cm) deep, roots will grow much deeper to take advantage of the easily accessible nutrients.
When the soil is kept loose, plants can grow roots through it much easier; French intensive gardening focuses on loosening the soil very deeply and avoids compacting it so plants don't have to expend as much energy pushing their roots through hard soil.
As a result of plants growing roots deeper rather than wider, they're able to be planted much more densely and grow more produce than market gardening in the same size plot!