7 WEIRD Garden Practices That 10X My Production

Over the years, we’ve tried just about every gardening trick in the book—even the ones most folks would call flat-out crazy.

Some of those oddball methods? Total duds. But others? They revolutionized our harvests.

Today, we’re sharing 7 unconventional gardening practices that might raise an eyebrow or two, but have seriously boosted our yields with less work.

These aren’t gimmicks—they’re hard-won discoveries from real-life trial and error.

And spoiler alert: #3 might be the most controversial in the whole gardening world.

1. Letting Basil Bolt on Purpose

Conventional wisdom says to pinch those basil flowers as soon as they show up. And yes, bolting makes the leaves bitter. But we intentionally let one patch of basil bolt—and here’s why:

• Pollinator Magnet: Basil blooms in mid-summer when other pollinator plants are fading, filling a critical gap.
• Better Pepper Yields: Bees flock to the blooming basil, then hop over to our pepper plants. Since doing this, we’ve seen up to a 30% increase in pepper production!

Grow two patches: one for eating, one for blooming.

2. Growing Sweet Potatoes in Wood Chips

Y’all, this one goes against every gardening book out there. But it works. We plant sweet potato slips directly into a pile of wood chips (no soil!), and they thrive.

Sweet potatoes love heat and loose soil—wood chips check both boxes. Plus, they hold just enough moisture and make harvesting a breeze. No digging, just pull back the chips and collect your taters!

Note: This trick is only for sweet potatoes. Most veggies still need soil.

3. Baiting and Relocating Roly Polies

We’re about to ruffle some feathers. Many gardeners insist that pill bugs only eat decaying matter. But after watching entire rows of seedlings disappear, we did a few midnight stakeouts and caught roly polies red-handed.

Instead of reaching for pesticide, we bait them with potato or apple slices, then relocate them to compost piles or further out on our property. It’s effective and keeps them doing their good work elsewhere.

4. Growing Zucchini Vertically

Traditional zucchini plants sprawl out and hog all the space. Enter: Zucchetta Rampicante, an Italian vining variety we grow on a trellis.

• Saves garden space
• Improves airflow (less mildew!)
• Easier to see fruit (no more baseball bat zucchinis!)
• Reduces pests like slugs

Even better? The space underneath can be used for lettuce or spinach.

5. Cloning Tomato Plants

It sounds high-tech, but it’s actually simple. We take suckers (those little side shoots) from our best-performing tomato plants and root them in water. After a couple weeks, they’re ready to plant.

Why clone?

• Saves money on seedlings
• Extends your season with a late summer/fall crop
• Replicates your strongest plants

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Only use this on indeterminate tomato varieties, and always choose healthy, disease-free stems.

6. Wrapping Squash Stems in Aluminum Foil

This one might sound like garden fashion week, but it actually protects squash plants from vine borer moths.

We wrap aluminum foil around the base of the stem, partially buried under the soil. Moths won’t lay eggs on the foil, and newly hatched larvae can’t chew through it.

It’s not 100% foolproof, but it’s drastically reduced our squash casualties.

7. Starting Seeds in Milk Jugs (Winter Sowing)

This is hands-down our favorite seed-starting method. We use plastic milk jugs as mini outdoor greenhouses. No grow lights. No hardening off.

How it works:

• Cut a jug open (leave a hinge)
• Add drainage holes + moistened potting soil
• Plant seeds
• Tape shut, leave cap off
• Place outside in winter or early spring

Seeds germinate when they’re ready, and you end up with strong, stocky seedlings naturally acclimated to outdoor conditions.

These seven “weird” gardening methods might sound unorthodox, but they’ve each earned a permanent place in our garden routine.

When folks ask how we get so much from a small garden, it’s these kind of tricks that make the difference.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Just because the internet says something won’t work doesn’t mean it won’t work in your backyard. Gardening is part science, part faith, and a whole lot of learning through doing.