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Grow small vegetable garden


15 ways to maximize your space |

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Small vegetable garden ideas can turn even the tiniest space into a productive patch.  If carefully planned, you can grow all kinds of crops, from tactile herbs, through to root vegetables and fruit trees. These small vegetable garden ideas will help you to transform your plot into a highly productive, small-scale garden.

Whether you are starting from scratch and looking for vegetable garden ideas or just seeking ways to get the most from your plot, these tips and design ideas will give you inspiration for the best layouts as well as the best and easiest vegetables to grow for the highest yields.

Small vegetable garden ideas

Nothing beats the satisfaction of harvesting your first ripe tomato or pulling up your first carrot from the soil – edibles can be grown in the smallest of plots and now is the perfect time to have a go. 

By incorporating a vegetable garden into your small garden ideas, you can increase the productivity of your space while still retaining a characterful and abundant garden scheme. It is also a great way to engage the younger generation when gardening with children. So take advantage of your tiny spaces to grow delicious options that will add a special homegrown flavor to your meals.

1. Opt for a multifunctional greenhouse

(Image credit: Gabriel Ash)

Greenhouse ideas form an essential part of the vegetable garden, letting you start off as many seedlings as your heart desires, without the challenge of predicting the frost or worrying about where they are going to live. The benefits are not just felt at the start of the growing season, either, as even an unheated greenhouse can delay the effects of frost by several weeks, letting you maximise the yield of crops – such as picking fresh tomatoes well into fall.

However, when it comes to planning a greenhouse for your small vegetable garden ideas, you will inevitably be faced with the need for compromise; the most common being between a shed and a greenhouse. Both have benefits but often the necessity of a shed's storage potential will outweigh the botanical benefits of a greenhouse. This does not have to be the case, though. If you’re struggling to choose between a greenhouse and others shed ideas then consider a design that combines both elements. Here, the shed lets you store all your gardening tools out of sight while the adjoining lean-to greenhouse gives you plenty of space to raise your crops, making it a clever, compact solution for more petite spaces.

'In the summer months, a small greenhouse can be used to grow any of the traditional greenhouse plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, or herbs and start off seedlings which you can later transfer outdoors. During colder months, a mini-greenhouse can also be used to plant more temperature-sensitive crops,' explains expert at Hartley Botanic .

Once you've got your greenhouse up and running, discover the best food to grow in a greenhouse to help you on your way.

2. Make the most of vertical height with hanging baskets

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The best plants for hanging baskets aren't just trailing blooms, in fact hanging baskets can also be used to grow a wide range of vegetables, helping to increase the productivity of your small vegetable garden ideas.  

Taking up no ground space, they provide a versatile growing platform for a wide range of vegetables, working particularly well with cut and come again lettuce, rocket, and spinach as well as being able to be used for growing tomatoes or as herb planter ideas. Since the vegetables are elevated above the ground they are inaccessible to slugs, snails, rabbits and other animals who may decimate your crops when grown at ground level – protecting them from this helps to boost your yields.

3. Grow vegetables over your pergola

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Vertical garden ideas are a great way to go when designing your small vegetable garden ideas. Traditionally rambling roses or the best flowering climbers are the natural choices for training over a pergola, however, you can also use them to support vegetable vines. The best vegetables to pair with your pergola ideas are cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and beans as these require a support system in order to grow.

Growing your crops vertically will not only make the most of the available space but will also help to protect them from slugs and other pests – they are also easier to care for. 'When growing vegetables over a pergola, it is easier to reach the fruit as it grows,' explains Lindsey Hyland, founder of UrbanOrganic Yield . 'You'll also save on your garden's water consumption since the plant's roots are confined to a much smaller surface area.'

If you're wondering how to begin growing vegetables over a pergola, then learning how to grow cucumbers vertically is a great place to start.

4. Grow vegetables in pots

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Shady areas are often a problem in smaller gardens, however, vegetable garden container ideas offer the perfect solution as you can move them to follow the sun throughout the day. This means that you're not just limited to vegetables to grow in shade but in fact can grow a wide array of edibles in your small vegetable garden ideas. 

Gardening expert Carol Klein says: 'There are loads of vegetables you can grow in pots. Absolutely masses of them. All the salad crops you can grow so easily.'

Potted edibles and other container gardening ideas are particularly convenient for small vegetable garden ideas. They are particularly useful for vegetable gardens that  are part of balcony gardens or placed on patio ideas since they don't require borders or raised beds.

Planting a large container with a mix of flowers – particularly flowers that attract bees – and a range of crops, such as different salad leaves and chillies, is both decorative and practical. Regularly harvesting leaves of vegetables, such as chard, and lettuce planted in groups, will avoid crowding. 

5. Embrace grafted fruit trees to maximize space

(Image credit: Alamy)

You don’t have to have an orchard to be able to grow your own fruit. Dwarf fruit trees are some of the best trees for small gardens and can be planted directly into an ornamental bed, valued for their pretty blossom as well as fruit, and intermingled with roses as ideal companions.

There are plenty of dwarf varieties that will thrive as part of your small vegetable garden ideas or even as part of your container garden. From apples and pears through to cherries and apricots, there are dwarf varieties available for most of the best fruit trees meaning you don't have to miss out despite your small plot.

If you are really short of space however, consider grafted fruit trees. In duo fruit trees, two different trees are grafted onto a single root stock, this means you can have multiple varieties of fruit from one tree. For example, this tree combines apples and pears on a single trunk – talk about making the most of your space! To ensure your new tree has the best start in life be sure you know how to plant a fruit tree.

6. Grow crops that offer rich rewards

(Image credit: Future/Camilla Reynolds)

The trick for a successful small vegetable garden is to grow small amounts of different crops that offer big rewards. Opt for easy bumper crops like cut and come again salad leaves, chilli plants, fresh herbs, leafy greens, and super-sweet peas straight from the pod. 

‘Over the years certain plants and varieties have emerged as front runners in the time/reward ratio,’ says plantswoman Sarah Raven . ‘They’re the ones that are quick and easy to grow, so they will do well even if you don’t have much gardening experience. Whenever I’m asked by new grow-your-owners which plants to go for I say cut-and-come-again leaves every time.’

7. Use trellis for compact small vegetable garden ideas

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

A super-smart small vegetable garden idea is to try vegetable garden trellis ideas, to make the most of the space by using vertical surfaces to grow crops up – this is particularly useful if you are looking for ways to incorporate vegetable plants into courtyard garden ideas.

Add in some herbs, which make excellent potted plants and can also be beneficial for companion planting, and you could have all you need to rustle up a delicious homegrown meal at your fingertips.

8. Position a small vegetable garden near the kitchen

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

'Most of the plants going into vegetable patches are annuals. They are working with a short timescale and need to grow rapidly. To enable them to put on this performance, they need all the help they can get and plenty of food to fuel this growing process. That's only possible in full sun,' explains expert plantswoman Sarah Raven.

This small vegetable garden idea allows placement of the crops closer to the kitchen for ease of use, and so you can pay close attention to any pests and diseases.

9. Combine small vegetable garden ideas with blooms

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

If yours is a small garden, you will want to plan for the best of both worlds, combining small vegetable garden ideas with flower bed ideas. If this is the case, treat your vegetables just as you would other plants, growing three of the same vegetables alongside repeated flower planting to create an impactful, cohesive look. 

10. Build a raised bed vegetable garden

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Raised garden bed ideas are a popular way to grow edibles as part of small vegetable garden ideas.

Wood, brick or sleepers can be used to frame your bed, and there are plenty of kits on the market – or you can follow Monty Don's raised bed tips. Fill your beds with good-quality soil, and then add your fruit or vegetable crops.

You may like to plant in neat rows or decorative patterns for a mini potager effect, mixing in some companion planting. 

Rotating the crops ensures pests and diseases don’t build up, and also makes the nutrients added by one plant available to the subsequent plants. 

11. Look to vertical vegetable garden ideas to save space

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Experiment with climbing crops to make the most of space when you plan a small garden:

Do some research for a system that suits your location, and experiment with which crops work the best. In general, go for reliable choices, such as clumping and running herbs that regenerate after being cut back hard, red perilla, salad leaves, sugar snap peas, edible flowers and strawberries.

TOP TIP: If a wall is in a shady spot, it can also be painted white to reflect light back onto a climber, which will also make a small garden look bigger.

12. Plant a small vegetable garden amongst flowers

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Small vegetable garden ideas require a bit of creative thinking. Mix edibles among your flowerbeds to emulate the traditional potager cottage garden ideas of the past, where flowers, vegetables, herbs and fruit were planted wherever they fitted.  

The vegetable or fruit plants can blend attractively beside other plants. Decorative choices to tuck in for small vegetable garden ideas include frilly lettuces and cabbages, architectural cardoons, runner beans and peas scrambling up tepees, rainbow chard and feathery asparagus and fennel. 

An informal scheme, with scattered edibles, allows for staggered cropping and avoids the situation of feast or famine and patches of empty soil. 

Smaller edibles, such as chives, parsley and ferny-topped carrots, make attractive edging to garden beds. Perennial herbs look good year-round, such as sage and ground-covering thyme with its pretty flowers. 

Adding veg and fruit among your flowerbeds has a further practical advantage of creating a mosaic tapestry of colors and scents that confuses insect pests, making it difficult for them to find the veg or fruit they want to feed on. Flowering herbs will also attract beneficial insects.

WARNING: Be sure, though, to avoid space-loving fruit and vegetable plants that don’t play well with ornamentals, including berries and larger root vegetables like potatoes.

13. Grow for color in a small vegetable garden

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Of course you'll want to grow what you love to eat, what suits your space, its position and soil type, but if you choose to grow crops for color in small vegetable garden ideas, you will be rewarded two-fold with a tasty harvest that looks good while you are growing it. This rhubarb is a case in point.

14. Create a small vegetable garden in a window box

(Image credit: Future / Joanna Henderson)

Window and planter box ideas are most suited to low-growing kitchen garden edibles, such as herbs and salad leaves, and need to suit the conditions that prevail at your window. 

Planting ‘recipes’ to try include a mix of different mints, strawberries interspersed with parsley, or a one-stop salad garden with micro greens, salad leaves, chives, basil and edible flowers. 

15. Grow fruit trees in containers

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

It is possible to include a lot of fruit in your small vegetable garden ideas. Most fruit prefers a sunny position, making them ideal when planning roof garden ideas, but if your garden is in semi-shade, many of the choices below will still do well.

These can also be lovely growing in pots in a range of patio ideas, so they are close to hand when you're tempted to pluck a ripe fruit off the bush as you sit outside enjoying your garden.

Gooseberry bushes can be trained against a wall and do well in a large pot or container with regular watering and feeding. They love a sunny spot but will also fruit in shade and need a free-draining moist soil. Prune annually in late autumn or winter.

Strawberries are easy to grow in pots, in the border or hanging baskets. They need rich, fertile soil and a sunny spot. Plant bare-root runners in late spring to early summer. Keep the compost moist and feed when the flowers appear. 

Blueberries need an acid soil to do well so use well-drained ericaceous soil for containers. Don’t let it outgrow the space, and repot into a slightly larger size. Feed with a rhododendron fertilizer and water well. They are self-fertile and you could have a couple in containers that fruit at different times.

Apples can grow in pots. Select ones that have been grafted onto a container rootstock. M27 is the smallest dwarf size and M9 is still dwarfing but more vigorous. You can also espalier as step-overs or against a fence, or plant into a flowerbed. Options include Fiesta, Discovery, Sunset and Falstaff.

Citrus trees, such as lemons and kumquats, can be grown in containers outdoors in summer and over-wintered inside. Mix one part sand or grit to four parts soil potting mix. Use rainwater to water – ideal for sustainable small garden ideas.

What can I put in a small vegetable garden?

In small vegetable garden ideas, it is sensible to plant compact fruit and vegetable varieties that won't take up too much space - many seed and gardening websites list the best compact crops to grow in a restricted space.

Choose vegetable and fruit crops that can be continually harvested, which keeps them producing, rather than ones that are removed completely. Your space needs to be as productive as possible.

How do you start a small vegetable garden for beginners?

It is easy to start a small vegetable garden – there are plenty of small vegetable garden ideas to get your started – and before long you can be enjoying the taste and flavor of your own homegrown crops.

To grow well and be productive, vegetable and fruit plants ideally need: 

How do you lay out a small vegetable garden?

Stagger the planting for small vegetable garden ideas so there is always something to harvest. 

Longer-term crops, such as cabbages and broccoli, can be interplanted with faster-growing options, including cut-and-come-again salad mixes, pea shoots, mizuna, rocket and radishes, which are ready to eat from about six weeks from seed.  

Many crops can be continually picked, including cherry tomatoes, chillies, chard, beans and snow peas. 

For north-facing or spaces with less sunlight like some narrow, long gardens, try shade-tolerant edibles, such as spinach, chard, kale, rocket, sorrel, Asian and salad leaves, Alpine strawberries, rhubarb, currants, mint, bay, coriander, chives, parsley, chamomile and tarragon. 

Also take into account when to plant vegetables as well as where to place them, this will help you to design your small vegetable garden.

What vegetables can you grow in a small space?

There are many crops you can consider when planning small vegetable garden ideas, but here are some of the best crops for small spaces:

SALAD LEAVES AND LETTUCES are easy to grow, great for beginners and definitely taste better picked fresh. Cut-and-come-again leaves will give you a selection for weeks, months even, and by sowing a succession you can enjoy them through the year.

BEANS, including dwarf varieties, are one of the easiest vegetables to grow. They need full sun, good drainage and are frost sensitive, so plant after frosts have passed. Choose a pot at least 16 inches in diameter, and make a tripod using three sticks tied together.

KALE lasts well into winter. Just a few plants are enough to keep you in supply for nearly the whole year. They are frost hardy – in fact a light frost improves the flavor, making leaves that may have become bitter at the end of summer, sweeter.

BEETROOT seeds are a cluster of four or five separate seeds, so planting a single seed in a 5-liter pot can yield a number of plants – ideal for small vegetable garden ideas. Look for smaller baby beets for growing in containers. Grow in full sun, although they can survive some shade. 

CHARD is very productive as well as stunning to look at, and the leaves are cut-and-come-again so won’t leave holes in your ornamental planting.  

TOMATOES, especially the mini varieties, grow well in pots, grow bags and hanging baskets. Plant young plants in May, water evenly and feed with a tomato fertilizer for continuing cropping, and consider the best crops for tomato companion planting.

CURRANTS are space saving trained on walls, or can also be grown in containers. They prefer well-drained, moisture-retentive soil in full sun, but tolerate part shade. Water well in dry periods, prune when dormant and harvest them in clusters.  

This feature was created by H&G's sister brand, Period Living magazine

Subscribe to Period Living for more inspiration Period Living is the UK's best-selling period homes magazine. A subscription provides you with all you need to know about caring for and improving a traditional house and garden.

Leigh Clapp is a professional photographer with over 25 years experience, primarily as a garden specialist photojournalist but also with food and travel.  She delights in exploring gardens, discovering the tiny elements to their overall essence and meeting lots of enthusiastic gardeners along the way. Leigh’s work appears in magazines, newspapers and books, both in the UK and abroad, including Period Living, Country Life, and Gardens Illustrated; as well as being sole photographer for a number of books, including Garden Details, Feng Shui in the Garden, Vertical Gardens and From the Garden – fresh seasonal cooking.

Vegetable Gardening for Beginners: The Basics of Planting & Growing

In the Vegetable Gardening for Beginners Guide, we cover how to start a vegetable garden from scratch, which vegetables to grow, and when to plant what. This year, we’ve added a “starter” garden plan consisting of easy-to-grow vegetables, companion planting techniques, and some lovely flowers!

Vegetable Gardening for Beginners

Why garden, you ask? How about enjoying the best vegetables and fruit you’ve ever eaten? If you’ve never tasted garden-fresh food, you will be amazed by the sweet, juicy flavors and vibrant textures. There’s absolutely nothing quite like fresh veggies, especially if you grow them yourself—which you can!

It may seem daunting at first, but gardening is a very rewarding hobby. On this page, we’ll highlight the basics of vegetable gardening and planning: how to pick the right site for your garden, how to create the right-size garden, and how to select which vegetables to grow. 

Pick the Right Location

Picking a good location for your garden is absolutely key. A subpar location can result in subpar veggies! Here are a few tips for choosing a good site:

  1. Sunny spot: Most vegetables need 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight per day. There are a few veggies (mostly the leafy ones) that will tolerate some shade.
  2. Drains well and doesn’t stay wet: If you have poorly drained soil where water pools, plant veggies in a raised bed or raised row for improved drainage. Wet soil means wet roots, which can turn into rotted roots. If you have rocky soil, till and remove the rocks, as they will interfere with root growth and make for weaker plants.
  3. Stable and not windy: Avoid places that receive strong winds that could knock over your young plants or keep pollinators from doing their job. Nor do you want to plant in a location that receives too much foot traffic or floods easily. Plant in a location that would make Goldilocks smile—somewhere that’s “just right.”
  4. Nutrient-rich soil. You soil feeds your plants. If you have thin, nutrient-poor soil, you’ll have poor, unhealthy plants. Mix in plenty of organic matter to help your plants gro. See how to prepare you soil for vegetable plants.

Choosing a Plot Size: Start Small!

Remember: It’s better to be proud of a small garden than be frustrated by a big one!

One of the most common errors that beginners make is planting too much too soon—way more than anybody could ever eat or want! Unless you want to have zucchinis taking up residence in your attic, plan your garden with care. Start small, and only grow what you know you and your family will eat.

Size of Garden

  1. If planting in the ground, a 10’ x 10’ garden (100 square feet) is a managable size. Pick 3 to 5 of your favorite vegetables and buy 3 to 5 plants of each one.
  2. If planting in a raised bed, a 4’ x 4’ or 4’ x 8’ is a good beginner size. See our Raised Garden Bed Guide which covers the benefits of raised beds, how to build a raised bed, and what type of soil to fill a raised bed with.
  3. If you want to go bigger, a 12’ x 24’ garden in the ground is probably the biggest a first-timer should go. For example, a garden that feeds a family of four could include: 3 hills of yellow squash; 1 mound of zucchini; 10 assorted peppers; 6 tomato plants; 12 okra plants; a 12-foot row of bush beans; 2 cucumbers on a cage; 2 eggplant; 6 basil; 1 rosemary, and a few low-growing herbs such as oregano, thyme, and marjoram.
  4. Whatever the size of your garden: Every four feet or so, make sure that you have paths that allow you to access your plants to weed and harvest. Just make sure that you can reach the center of the row or bed easily without stepping on the soil.

Choosing Vegetables

As a beginner, start by choosing easy vegetables that are also productive. We’ve listed ten easy vegetable below. However, it would also be wise to contact your state’s Cooperative Extension Service to find out what plants grow best in your area. For example, if you live in an area with extremely hot weather, vegetables that prefer cooler temps may struggle. 

Top 10 Easy Vegetables
(Tip: Click on a veggie’s name to see its detailed Growing Guide.)

  1. Lettuce
  2. Green beans
  3. Radishes
  4. Tomatoes (bush variety or cherry are easiest)
  5. Zucchini
  6. Peppers
  7. Beets
  8. Carrots
  9. Chard, Spinach, or Kale
  10. Peas

Mix in flowers such as marigolds—which discourage pests, attracts pollinators, and adds some color!

Five tips for choosing vegetables:

  1. Choose what you (and your family) like to eat.  If no one likes brussels sprouts, don’t bother planting them! But if your kids love green beans, put more effort towards growing a big crop of beans.
  2. Be realistic about how many vegetables your family will eat. Be careful not to overplant, as you will only stretch yourself thin by trying to take care of tons of plants! (Of course, you could always give excess veggies away to friends, family, or the local soup kitchen.)
  3. Consider the availability of veggies at your grocery store. Maybe you want to grow tomatillos, instead of cabbage or carrots, which are readily available. Also, certain veggies are so far superior when homegrown, it’s almost a shame not to consider them (we’re thinking of garden lettuce and tomatoes). Also, homegrown herbs are far less expensive than grocery store herbs.
  4. Be prepared to take care of your plants throughout the growing season. Going on a summer vacation? Remember that tomatoes and zucchinis are growing strongest in the middle of summer. If you’re gone part of the summer, you need someone to look after the crops or they will suffer. Or, you could just grow cool-season crops such as lettuce, kale, peas, and root veggies during the cooler months of late spring and early fall.
  5. Use high-quality seeds. Seed packets are less expensive than individual plants, but if seeds don’t germinate, your money—and time—are wasted. A few extra cents spent in spring for that year’s seeds will pay off in higher yields at harvesttime.

Where and When to Plant

If you are simply growing two or three tomato plants, this process is easy. But if you plan to grow a full garden, you need to consider:

Here are a few guidelines for arranging your vegetables:

  1. Not all vegetables are planted at the same time.  “Cool-season” vegetables such as lettuce and brocoil and peas grow in cooler weather of early spring (and fall). “Warm-season” such as tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers aren’t planted until the soil warms up in late spring and summer.
  2. Plant tall veggies (such as pole beans on a trellis or sweet corn) on the north side of the garden so they don’t shade shorter plants. If you do get shade in a part of your garden, save that area for small, cool-season veggies. If shade is unavoidable in parts of your garden, save those areas for cool-season vegetables which appreciate shade as the weather heats up.
  3. Most veggies are annuals (planted each year). If you’re planning on growing “perennial” crops such as asparagus, rhubarb, and some herbs, provide permanent locations or beds.
  4. Consider that some crops mature quickly and have a very short harvest period (radishes, bush beans). Other plants, such as tomatoes, take longer to produce, but also produce for longer. These “days to maturity” are typically listed on the seed packet. 
  5. Stagger plantings. You don’t want to plant all your lettuce seeds at the same time, or all that lettuce will need to be harvested at around the same time! Stagger plantings by a few weeks to keep ‘em coming!

When to Plant What

Every region has a different planting time based mainly on their weather, and every vegetable has its temperature preferences, too.  See the Almanac’s Best Planting Dates—a gardening calendar customized to your local frost dates. Just enter your zip code (or postal code in Canada)! 

For specific planting information, see our individual Grow Guides for over 100 popular vegetables, herbs, and fruit. For each crop, we provide specific information about how to plant, grow, and harvest, including watering and fertilizing and pest control!

A Starter Beginner Garden Plan

To help out beginners, we thought that it may be useful to see a garden design. Here is an example of a starter family garden using mainly of the common easy-to-grow vegetables listed above. It also features companion planting (the practice of placing plants that thrive together next to each other).

You’ll see that we have given the garden decent-sized paths and mixed in a few herbs and flowers, too. Frankly, if we had grown this garden in our very first year, we would be thrilled! In planning the garden this way, we have made it so much easier for you to succeed with it.

Click here to see the full plant list, number of plants, spacing, and spacing in rows.

Garden Planning Tool

The Old Farmer’s Almanac offers an excellent online garden planning tool which makes your garden planning fun and easy. With this tool, draw your garden plan on the computer and drop in your preferred vegetables, and it automatically calculates the proper spacing for each type of crop! This way, you don’t waste seed or crowd your plants. The Garden Planner automatically pulls in the frost dates for your specific location, identifies easy vegetables, and even identifies companion plants. Then you can print out your plan and the tool reminds you of your seeding and harvesting dates for every vegetable!

Plus, you’ll see many free garden plans for inspiration! Over time, you’ll see that this tool also provides “crop rotation” so that if you plan a second season, you can properly reposition your plants to avoid pests and disease.

With new gardeners in mind, we offer a FREE week to try the Garden Planner—ample time to plan your first garden.  Check it out here: http://gardenplanner.almanac.com/


Photo: Almanac Garden Planner. Earth’s most popular tool for planning your garden. Try it free for 7 days.


Any questions or advice about starting your garden? Check out some of the comments below. Many of your questions may have been answered already by our Almanac community or you are welcome to add your own comment. Happy gardening! 

Garden on 10 square meters - FloweryVale.ru

Most of us have garden plots totaling six acres . Yes, and those, either by tradition, or by necessity, are mainly occupied with vegetables. Vegetable beds by the end of summer do not always decorate our site.

But our trade is developing every year, fresh vegetables and fruits can be bought in winter. Therefore, by itself, there is no need to plant your entire plot with cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes. nine0003

Increasingly, we also want something for the soul: an arbor covered with ivy, an open terrace with a potted garden, a beautiful flower garden that would delight from spring to autumn, a lawn that makes you want to run barefoot, a small pond with a fountain, or even a real pool. All this became feasible, there would be a desire!

But what about the garden? It seems to me that you can’t completely give up your vegetables, because cucumbers or tomatoes from your own garden cannot be compared with those sold in the store. nine0003

Having previously calculated everything on paper, having weighed all the pros and cons, you can even arrange a real garden in a small area of ​​10-12 square meters.

The garden plot can be divided into four beds. Why? Simply, on four beds is easier to observe crop rotation . Crop rotation is needed in order to alternate vegetable crops. So vegetables grow better, are less affected by diseases.

Every year, the beds simply move, let's say, from left to right, so the vegetables will return to their place only after four years. nine0003

What kind of beds to make in our small garden? Of course, you can make the beds what you want - square, triangular, round. This is a matter of taste and your imagination! But I can offer you narrow long beds 2 m long and 80 cm wide, leaving 60 cm aisles between the beds. Why do I stop at these beds?

Firstly, it is desirable to make the beds raised. On high beds the earth warms up faster, the water does not stagnate in them, which is very important for plants. And if you still make a slight slope to the south side, then the plants on such beds equally receive solar heat and light. All this is easier to organize on rectangular beds. nine0003

Secondly, narrow beds are very convenient to handle . In the spring I dug up, filled with humus, you can apply mineral fertilizers for the full development of plants, and that's it. With further processing of the beds, you will no longer step on the beds, the soil on them will remain until autumn as loose as in spring. They are very easy to weed. Raised narrow beds are easily visible from both sides, and you don’t have to reach far, any blade of grass can be removed in a timely manner. If you are very tired or sick, thanks to the wide passage you can lay a rug on the ground and weed while sitting (I think that not everyone can boast of excellent health). And even in the morning, bypassing your favorite beds, when you see a blade of grass, you will pluck it with pleasure. nine0003

Thirdly, it is very easy to make drip irrigation on such beds. Drip irrigation has many benefits. One of the most important: frees you from watering cans. While the neighbors from all sides are drinking water, which is already lacking in summer, you are sitting in the gazebo or on the terrace, drinking tea with dryers, enjoying the scent of climbing roses, listening to buzzing bees and dreaming of eternity. :)

This was a small digression, but now let's get back to our little garden. nine0003

Divide vegetables like this:

Bed 1 - Highly soil-depleting plants : curly parsley, low stem tomatoes, cauliflower, red cabbage, radish, kohlrabi, radish, broccoli, green onions, fennel, endive, lettuce.

We choose those vegetables from the list that we certainly eat, and plant them in the first bed in long rows. But we will find another place for tall tomatoes.

Bed 2 - moderately soil-depleting plants : Ice lettuce, beetroot, pepper, bok choy, collard greens, basil, stalk lettuce, meaty tomatoes, mixed-crop spinach, carrots and onions, white cabbage.

Bed 3 - low-impact plants : tarragon, small-fruited tomatoes, turnips, early beans, dill.

Bed 4 - plants that restore the soil : garden savory, peas, bush beans. For decoration, you can choose varieties with blue, yellow, green fruits. nine0003

Plants from garden 1, which require a lot of nutrients, next year we will move to garden 4, where legumes grow this year. As you already know, legumes are able to accumulate nitrogen in the soil with their roots, which restores the nutritional value of the soil.

On each bed you can plant standard gooseberries, currants. They not only do not interfere with vegetables, but also greatly decorate our small garden. It is better to plant greens at the edge of the beds, so that it is easier to get it. nine0003

We have left unplanted sweet corn, tall tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, climbing zucchini. For them there is a place along the wall (fence, house, barn). Along the wall where our giants will grow, you can put a lattice (or chain-link mesh). Vertical planting along the wall will allow us to get a big harvest with minimal use of the area.

The mesh or trellis is very convenient because watermelons and cucumbers or Turkish beans will be able to climb it without help. And all you have to do is tie up only long-growing tomatoes, zucchini or a few “kurneys” of potatoes, carefully planted by you. Plant marigolds and nasturtium at the foot of the climbers. These flowers will be planted for a reason: both marigolds and nasturtium repel ground and underground pests from vegetables, heal the soil, and protect plants from fungal diseases. nine0003

Even from such a small garden, you can prepare greens for the whole winter. And the planted vegetables are enough to feed a family of four.

And a garden on 10 square meters will not be a burden for you, but a pleasure.

If the garden is small: 5 ways to save space and not lose crops

A small garden on six acres may well provide you with vegetables and healthy herbs for the entire summer season, and it will also remain for winter harvesting. Don't believe? Just learn the little tricks of rational gardeners, whose experience we will share with you in this article! nine0003

When arranging any garden, one should start with the most important, without which there will be no rich harvest, either on a large or a small plot. Rule number zero to remember first: preparing the ground is of paramount importance. In order for vegetables and greens to grow well and actively bear fruit, they need a light, loose, moisture-permeable, at the same time quite “fatty”, rich in organic matter and saturated with useful microelements. So, before you start arranging beds and sowing, take care of increasing fertility and proper preparation of the land, and only then take our advice into service. nine0003

1. Plan your beds wisely

First, calculate how many "green vitamins" your family needs and what kind of vegetables are popular with households. Based on this, plan the required number and size of beds.

Using precious space in the garden for only one crop is a luxury for owners of small plots. In conditions of limited space, the main thing that a gardener should learn is to combine plantings so that after harvesting one crop, another crop comes to replace it and the fruits have time to ripen before the cold weather. nine0003

When planting fast-growing crops in the spring that will give a harvest in June, immediately plan what vegetables or herbs you will sow after them. For example, after harvesting peas, which are sown early and ripen quickly, you can sow early carrots or plant kohlrabi seedlings.

Here is a list of horticultural crops suitable for planting early and yielding quickly:

After these crops have matured and harvested, it is time for those vegetables that require a later planting but also ripen fairly quickly. These are early ripe cucumbers and tomatoes, carrots, bush beans, radish, daikon. And vice versa - after harvesting early ripening carrots and early cabbage, it is quite possible to have time to grow lettuce or spinach, turnips or radishes on the same beds. nine0003

Therefore, even before the start of the summer season, it is necessary to plan plantings, specifying exactly what vegetables and herbs you will plant in your garden and in what order.

2. Observe crop rotation

Even novice summer residents know that it is impossible to plant the same crops in the same place every year - as they say, "heard the ringing". But this knowledge is not enough for generous harvests, you still need to correctly alternate plantings, observing the rules of crop rotation. The significance of these rules has been proven over the years and the experience of gardeners who have seen:

When arranging planting, remember that plants from the same family will have common diseases and pests, so these crops should not be planted one after another.

At the same time, for joint planting, it is not necessary to choose plants from the same family - the main thing is that they are close in agricultural technology (for example, onions and carrots, cucumbers and dill are well combined).

Here are some tips for crop rotation in your beds.

After celery crops (carrots, dill, celery, parsley), nightshade crops, that is, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and potatoes, will grow well. And after them, legumes or cereals will gladly settle in the garden. nine0003

After growing pumpkin crops (cucumber, zucchini, squash, melon, watermelon), it is worth turning the garden bed into a flower bed and planting plants of the Asteraceae family on it: cosmea, calendula, aster, daisy, chrysanthemum and echinacea, which can be "diluted" with lettuce. But after that, feel free to plant cruciferous: cabbage, turnip, radish, radish, mustard leaf.

3. Seal fit

Leaving wide aisles in a small space is at least unreasonable - this simple idea led gardeners to a logical conclusion: plantings need to be compacted! And for this it is worth studying the rules for the compatibility of different garden crops, because not all of them are "friends" with each other. nine0003

Plants of the same height and structure of leaves coexist worst of all - for example, all crops of the Umbelliferae family. Also, "relatives" do not like each other very much.

Here are some "neighbor rules" to help you plan overlapping plantings.

4. Choose the right grades

We have already talked about how important it is to take into account the speed of fruiting and the compatibility of different crops: firstly, those vegetables that are "friendly" but differ in ripening time can be planted sequentially on the same bed; secondly, these characteristics must be taken into account when compacting plantings, choosing the best neighbors for vegetable crops. So, it is reasonable to sow dill between the bushes of late cabbage, and onions will be the best "neighbor" for carrots. nine0003

But in addition to the correct selection of vegetable and green crops for joint planting, a competent choice of varieties is of great importance in a small garden. Preference should be given to vegetables of compact and undersized varieties, which, with almost equal yields, will take up much less space in the beds compared to representatives of tall varieties.

As for tomatoes, it is recommended to choose indeterminate varieties for growing in a greenhouse - the garter and the correct formation of such bushes will allow using the entire usable area of ​​the greenhouse. The yield of tomatoes is highly dependent on the variety, so choose proven options for planting (if you are a beginner gardener, ask experienced colleagues in neighboring areas or in the online community for help). nine0003

Weaving crops such as cucumbers, pumpkins, peas or beans are best grown on trellises in a small garden to free up horizontal space for other vegetables.

5. Build smart and vertical beds

An excellent solution for a small area - "smart", or warm, beds. The land in such tall boxes filled with organic matter warms up faster in spring and retains heat longer in autumn, which allows growing not one, but two or even three crops per season. nine0003

Apply the rules of intercropping by prioritizing planting and you will have a non-stop "conveyor line" that will supply the whole family with vitamins from March to November. And by stretching the film on arcs over a high bed or by arranging a greenhouse, you can save, for example, salads, parsley, cabbage and onions until the winter.

Another original idea that will save space in a small garden is vertical beds. This method of planting is ideal for garden strawberries, herbs and herbs. Multi-story stepped structures can be placed against the wall of any building or turned into an original flower bed by adding decorative plants and flowers. Plants in hanging pots and boxes are easy to fix on the horizontal rails of the fence or terrace railings, where they will always be at hand for the hostess.

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