Last night I had a phone conversation with a gardening expert I met through The Grow Network. He studied under John Jeavons and follows a biointensive approach to gardening, but has tweaked it so it’s very little work.

He shared with me that he’s been growing around a thousand pounds of food every year in Colorado in only 1300 square feet of growing beds.

To add difficulty, he’s doing this in only a 130-day growing season, in the arid high desert where his garden receives only 20 inches of rainfall per year.

Who is this gardening champion?

Meet Tom Bartels.

Look at that arid wilderness behind him! I asked how decent his soil was and he told me it was hard, hard clay that needs plenty of loosening in order to grow crops.

I hope to get an article from him here before too long. For now I’m going to sign up for his newsletter list and read through his booklet explaining his methods.

It’s enjoyable meeting a successful fellow gardener with using different methods in a climate far from my own. You can check out Tom’s website here. At the bottom, you’ll find tabs for his blog and harvest photos.