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how to be a gardener - The complete online guide BBC Homepage Lifestyle Gardening Part One Part Two Are you signed in? Go here for more information The productive garden Setting up your plot Making your own compost General care Growing vegetables Growing fruit The kitchen diary Greenhouse growing The herb garden Test your knowledge Go further Plant lists Interactives Glossary Credits Programme information Help with plugins Gardening newsletter Site map
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7 - Setting up your plot Print page Saving space There’s room for a few fruit and vegetables in any garden, no matter how small.
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Sweetcorn and marigold You don’t have to have a dedicated fruit and vegetable plot to grow them successfully. You can mix them in with your flowering plants. It’s what cottage gardeners have done for centuries.
Rhubarb chard You can grow vegetables among ornamentals (or vice versa). There are many varieties which have ornamental qualities, such as red flowered beans, crinkly leaved lettuce, black French beans and yellow tomatoes.Even the frilly foliage of the humble carrot is pretty. Use vertical spaces in the garden. How about creating a temporary ‘hedge’ of runner beans over a net, or putting a few willow teepees in a bed and growing beans, gourds, cucumbers or melons over them?
Container peas Then there are containers. A patio of potatoes, prize petunias and pelargoniums will get them talking! Salad leaves, herbs, courgettes and climbing beans all grow perfectly well in containers. On a warm sunny patio, add tomatoes and sweet peppers to the list. Of course, you could always get your hands on my space by getting an allotment – link to Go further section. Developing a productive garden Growing vegetables and fruit successfully is basically no different to growing ornamental plants successfully. Take care of them and they’ll take care of you. Start with good plants or seed, give them what they want: food, water and light - and they’ll do the work for you.
Organic manure Improving the soil Vegetables and fruit are greedy devils, and where do you think they get all the goodness they need? Yes, the soil. It’s important to incorporate lots of bulky organic manure and fertiliser every year. See the section on digging in Module 4, Practical planting. previous
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7. The productive garden Introduction Setting up your plot Making your own compost General care Growing vegetables Growing fruit The kitchen diary Greenhouse growing The herb garden Test your knowledge Go further
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Video Watch video clips on: Basic principles of growing vegetables Growing seasonal vegetables Making a vegetable plot Making a compost heap
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