With this method, production will usually more than double. There are several ways to adapt garden vegetable production to limited areas. One way to use space for more intensive production is interplanting or companion cropping. Plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or okra between rows of early cool-weather crops. The early crops will mature and be out of the way before the later crops would be crowded.
Some vegetables require less space than others.
Sweet potatoes, melons, cucumbers, squash, pole beans and southern peas require more space. Desirable spacing between rows for these vegetables should be from 30 to 40 in. Those intermediate in space requirements are cabbage, collards, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Distance between rows for these crops may vary from 24 to 30 in. Containers such as plastic or clay pots, wooden boxes or baskets, tin or plastic buckets or pails and metal cans could be used for mini-gardens.