Biointensive gardening works excellently for growing a lot of food in a very small space. With a few hand tools, some homemade compost and a bit of luck, you’ll be eating well without breaking the bank.

Here’s one of my biointensive garden beds:

Inspired by John Jeavons, this double-dug biointensive garden bed yielded wonderfully – even in sandy soil!

This is part one in a series of videos posted on YouTube by John Jeavons and his compatriots – I highly advise checking them out. As mentioned in this post, I’ve had excellent luck with this system, even in our sandy soils.

The Biointensive method as they practice it is as close to a closed loop as you’re likely to get on an annual crop system. Unlike many gardening systems, they take into account the inputs you’re going to need and grow compost crops accordingly.

If you don’t have a copy of John Jeavons’ book “Grow More Vegetables,” go pick one up. It’s filled with valuable advice and the system works, particularly on a backyard scale. It’s also a lot cheaper than building raised beds.