Homestead Garden Types: Traditional, Raised Beds, Containers, and Vertical Growing

You have your location figured out. You know your space. Now comes the fun part. Deciding what to actually grow and how to grow it.

Chapter 6 of Backyard Farming: Homesteading by Kim Pezza covers what to raise on your homestead. There is a lot in this chapter, so I am splitting it into two posts. This one is all about gardens. The next one covers livestock.

And here is the thing Pezza says right up front. Your plans will change and evolve. That is normal. That is good. No one gets it perfect on the first try.

Start With a Wish List

Before you build a single garden bed, write down what you want to grow. Be realistic about your space, but do not be afraid to include some unusual things. Even market gardeners benefit from having a few unexpected crops that stand out.

Your wish list is a starting point. Not a contract. You will add things. You will drop things. That is the process.

Traditional Ground-Level Garden

This is the classic setup. You till up a section of ground and plant directly in the soil. It is the cheapest way to start and the most common approach for beginners.

But here is the problem. Weeds. So many weeds. Traditional gardens are basically an open invitation for every weed in a half-mile radius. They also need more watering since there is no raised structure to hold moisture.

Pezza recommends using garden cloth, black plastic, or even old newspapers as mulch to cut down on weeds. It is time-consuming to maintain, but a traditional garden is still a solid choice if you have the space and the patience.

Raised Beds

Raised beds are wooden frames (or other materials) that sit above ground level. Usually 11 inches or higher, sometimes on legs for easier access.

You can build them from pavers, concrete blocks, wood, brick, or stone. If you go with wood, use untreated lumber or wood treated with non-toxic preservatives. You do not want chemicals leaching into your food soil.

Here is what I found. Raised beds cost more upfront than traditional gardens. But they are amazing for bad soil situations. If your ground soil is rocky, sandy, or full of clay, raised beds let you start fresh with a good soil mix.

Pezza suggests sinking the frame about a foot into the ground. This prevents burrowing animals from tunneling up into your beds. Smart move.

For soil, she recommends a simple mix: half compost, half soil, with some sand mixed in for drainage. Fill it up, plant your crops, and you are in business.

Container Gardens

Pots, boxes, bags, old coffee cans. Anything that holds soil and has drainage holes can be a container garden.

This is the go-to option for people with limited space. Balconies, decks, patios. If you can set something down and it gets sunlight, you can grow food in it.

But depth matters more than you might think. Different plants need different container depths:

• Peppers: 8 to 12 inches deep
• Carrots: 9 to 18 inches deep
• Beans: 16 to 18 inches deep

Good drainage is essential. Waterlogged roots kill plants fast. Make sure every container has holes in the bottom.

Now, Pezza is honest about the limits. A container garden is not going to feed your family through the winter. But it is a nice addition to any setup. And it is a great way to grow herbs and salad greens right outside your kitchen door.

One cool technique she mentions is espalier gardening. This is an ancient practice of training fruit trees to grow flat against a wall or fence. It saves a ton of space and looks incredible. Worth looking into if you have a sunny wall.

Vertical Gardens

Everything grows upward. That is the concept. You use trellises, cages, poles, and other supports to train plants to climb instead of sprawl.

This is a serious space saver. Tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and squash all do well in vertical setups. And growing vertically can actually increase your yield because plants get better air circulation and more even sunlight.

If you have a small yard or a narrow garden bed, going vertical can basically double your growing capacity. It takes a little more setup with supports, but the payoff is worth it.

Growing Organic

Should you go organic? Pezza says it is a personal choice.

If you are just growing food for yourself and your family, you do not need organic certification. Just skip the synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and you are basically there.

But if you want to sell organic produce, that is a different story. Certification is expensive. It requires detailed record-keeping. And you need to follow specific USDA guidelines. Check the USDA website for the full requirements before committing.

For most backyard farmers, growing clean food without the official label makes the most sense.

What to Grow: Starting Easy

If you are new to gardening, start with crops that are hard to mess up:

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Herbs (basil, mint, rosemary)
• Strawberries
• Zucchini (this stuff grows like it has somewhere to be)

Pezza also breaks down the four types of plants you will encounter:

• Annuals complete their life cycle in one season
• Biannuals take two years to complete their cycle
• Perennials come back year after year
• Tender perennials act like perennials in warm climates but die in cold winters

You can start from seeds, plugs (small starter plants), or full-sized plants. Seeds are cheapest. Plants give you a head start. Pick what fits your timeline and budget.

Heirloom vs Hybrid

This is a debate that every gardener eventually runs into.

Heirloom plants are open-pollinated varieties that have been around for generations. They breed true, meaning you can save seeds from this year’s crop and plant them next year. They often have amazing flavor.

Hybrid plants are deliberate crosses between two varieties. They can have better disease resistance, higher yields, or improved weather tolerance. But their seeds will not produce plants identical to the parent. So you cannot reliably save and replant hybrid seeds.

Neither is objectively better. It comes down to what matters to you. If seed saving is important, go heirloom. If you want maximum performance in tough conditions, hybrids might be the move.

A lot of gardeners grow both. And that is totally fine.

Previous in the series: Choosing Your Homestead Location

Next in the series: Raising Chickens, Cattle, Goats, and Bees on Your Homestead

This post is part of a 12-part series reviewing “Backyard Farming: Homesteading” by Kim Pezza (Hatherleigh Press, 2015, ISBN: 978-1-57826-598-5).