A plant's mature spread must fit its allocated area.
Well established It is settled without a trial. If you skip this, the planting fails. The planner won’t allow it.
How it works
Geometry.
What to do about it
Reduce plant count, or choose a bush cultivar group.
The evidence
Evidence: settled without a trial (arithmetic).
Plant teams that rest on it
Read next
- How to build a raised garden bedHow wide, how long, how deep, and what to build it from. Width is the one dimension that matters, the rest is up to you, and here's how to fill it without wasting money.
- Plant your first bed, step by stepA first-season walkthrough. Pick a few forgiving crops, count from your frost dates, start what needs a head start, harden it off, and get it in the ground at the right time.
More ways Milpa can help
When do I plant? · What grows well together? · Plan my garden · What can I plant now? · Something wrong in the garden? · Keep a garden diary · Heard a tip?
Cite this page
Milpa Gardens. “A plant's mature spread must fit its allocated area.” Evidence grade: Well established. https://milpa.garden/rules/plant-s-mature-spread-fit-allocated-area/
A garden planner built on graded evidence. Every claim states its evidence grade and links its sources on the page. Cite it with the grade, and add the date you read it.
Report a problem with this claim
How we grade evidence
- Well established
- The rule names its mechanism and is settled, by sources a person has read and checked or by plain arithmetic and geometry.
- Promising
- The mechanism is named and the literature backs it. A few questions are still open.
- A good hunch
- Plausible by its mechanism, but field studies are thin, so treat it as a lean.
- Contested
- The evidence points both ways, or no study has tested it, so the planner does not enforce it.
- Refuted
- The claim did not survive its sources. It is kept so the folklore can be answered.