Even
if your plot is tiny, you can use raised beds, pots and hanging baskets to grow your own
food,
If you
yearn for the fresh produce that has traveled no further than from your back garden to the
kitchen, there's still time to going this summer on a vegetable plot. You may think that
you don't have the space, but there's room in almost every garden to fit in a variety of a
veg or two.
For
meaningful crops in a poky pot, raised beds are the answer. Built out of bricks or stacked
sleepers and fixed with fresh topsoil, elevated beds offer salvation where the existing
earth is heavy and damp or full of builders' rubble
If
you need to buy topsoil to fill your beds, local turf suppliers often sell soil improved
with compost and manure for about £55 a ton. Make the beds at least 1ft high (preferably
2ft) to give your vegetables plenty of room to root and the edges will double up as a
comfortable seat.
Circular
or geometric beds look good at the centre of a narrow garden, while the easiest shape to
build is rectilinear. Just make sure you can reach the middle from either side for easy
picking.
An
efficient method of planting small raised beds is known as "Square foot
gardening". Ditch the traditional system of rows and sow 12 in x 12 in squares
instead, each devoted to a single crop. Sow closely together, with tall varieties at the
back, so the vegetables form a patchwork quilt of harvestable leaves. The method developed
by Mel Bartholomew, an American whose website (www.squarefootgardening.com) would make you
think that the system could solve the problem of global food shortages.
In
truth, a raised 4 ft x 4ft bed won't feed a family, though it will provide deliciously
fresh salads, mini finger carrots and herbs. I have one myself and find it particularly
good for super fast pak choi, rocket, spinach, lettuce and rocket. These leaves are sown
3/4 in l 1/2 in apart and harvested regularly by snipping what's needed with scissors. As
long as 1in- 1 1/2 in of stem is left uncut, the foilage happily regrows, providing three
or more pickings before the plants tire. Then it's a matter of clearing the roots and
sowing a square foot of something else, such as coriander, dwarf French beans or more
leaves for easy salads later.
The
trick to making this edible patchwork productive is the routine of sowing, harvesting and
resowing- even pushing seeds in among existing crops for a speedy changeover. With the
addition of a few winter- hardy varieties, it will stay looking good well into the autumn.
If
you're not sold on building your own raised beds, you can buy them ready made from Unwins
direct (£29.99). They slot together like giant lego kits and are just the job for the
practically challenged. Stocked with the pre- grown vegetable plants from the garden
centre, they provide you with an instant veg patch.
Raised
beds also have the advantage that they are less inviting than ground- level ones to cats
on the lookout for a lavatory, particularly if they are netted or protected with holly
twigs (Or other spiky prunings) between plants. Plus, like the walls of a castle, the
sides make a good line of defence against slugs and snails if a sentry line of organic
pellets is placed around the base and top.
You
can't afford losses in a small pot, yet the number of slugs in most small gardens is
relatively high because of the increased density of garden walls, shed and fences. All are
shady bolt holes that provide easy access to beds, so it always pays to grow vegetables
together in a dedicated spot surrounded by paving or compacted earth. This flat perimeter
creates a comfortable and clean surface to work from, and a no man's land for sprinkling
pellets around.
Don't
be fooled by show gardens or television shows where veg and flowers happily mingle the veg
won't thrive unless they are given plenty of room. Do make room for a select few flowers,
though, such as African Marigolds to tempt pollinators and aphid- eating hoverflies to
patrol your crops. But, if space is at a premium, consign your flowers to steerage and
reserve the spacious first class accommodation for your veg.
Think
laterally about the space and look to the walls for growing herbs in the hanging baskets.Tender summer herbs, including basil, coriander and
chervol, will sprout from seed in fresh compost. Other edible basket cases include salad
leaves and trailing tomatoes. 'Tumbler' is the one sold by garden centres and forms long,
green, leafy locks that hang 2 1/2 ft over the basket sides. Feed up with plant food and
watered every day, these stems produce two or three colanders of cherry tomatoes through
the summer.
In
pots, chilli peppers tomatoes and dwarf runner beans make colourful patio plants. Put a 2
in layer of growth- boosting composted horse manure (available by the bag from garden
centres) in the bottom of the pot and use a mixture of 50:50 multipurpose and soil based
John Innes No 3. This makes a mix that holds on to moisture well but has the same weighty
consistency of good garden earth that vegetables like.
Even
a pond or the top of a watterbutt can be utilised for growing veg. Polystyrene packs of
veg bought from a garden centre will float and grow on the water's surface, especially
lettuce, pak choi and salad leaves, because they love the constant moisture and develop
long, kelp- like roots. It's good for the pond, too, as the plants remove algae- promoting
nitrogen from the water.Some edible crops have
space by being companionable. Climbing french and runner beans happily scale up sweet corn
stems, while pumpkins make a mound around the base. Salads such as the red radicchio
'Versuvio' are Ferrari fast growers - ideal to fill the gap between slow growing cabbages
or to circle around the base of blackcurrants and raspberries.
Sometimes
the solution for a small garden is to think big, especially if it's shady. Apples, pears
and plums bought pre- trained as fans or espaliers are an instantly productive feature
with a ready trained lattice work of horizontal/ vertical branches. Tied back to bamboo
canes on a fence or wall with their heads in the sun, they're as space efficient as a
climber. Check out Keepers Nursery, which also sell ballerinas - apples bred to grow on a
single stem for a space efficient fireman's pole of fruit.Above all, take heart: with a lot of imagination, small can be both
beautiful and productive.
For the
UK Keepers
Nursery, 01622 726 465, www.railwaysleepers.comUnwins Direct, 01480 443 395, www.unwinsdirect.co.uk
If you wish to use this article please include the
"About The Author" below
About The Author
Barry Sheppard writes, as a hobby, for http://www.traintraveller.com
an online site informing readers how to travel throughout the world by train.
He has written and had published 15 books, and 100's of articles on a wide range of
subjects.He runs a 121 writing course by phone and email . You can get the details of this
course from Barry at Email:
He has also started writing and adding articles for content pages from
Gardening-Raised Beds
