Growing Methods Raised beds enable you to increase the fertility in the soil and to crop more intensively. In a small garden, raised beds mean that you can grow a lot of vegetables in a small, dedicated vegetable garden. As you never walk on the soil it is not compacted and an annual mulch with comps keeps fertility levels high.
Plant your vegetables in a 30cm grid ('square foot gardening') and increase productivity. Use thinnings as soon as they are edible, and leave neighbouring plants to grow on and mature.
Sow seeds successively and plant out small number of seedlings at any one time to ensure a steady supply of maturing vegetables, rather than a glut followed by a famine!
Intercropping or interplanting is an ideal technique in the small garden. It involves planting two different vegetables, one fast maturing and the other slow maturing, in the same space. Radishes planted with celery can be harvested before the celery takes up space. Lettuce can frequently be placed between a slower crop.
Plant the slow maturing veges first, and then fill between with the fast maturing crop. By the time you have harvested the speedy veges, the slower crop will have begun to fill out the spaces left by the earlier, harvested crop. Feeding the second crop with a liquid fertiliser of mulch with compost gives it a boost after the fast-maturing vegetables have been harvested.
Grow beans and tomatoes vertically, using an attractive trellis, a tripod or a simple pea stick frame. Balcony railings or a wall provides loads of opportunity for vertical gardening. Cucumbers, baby squash and courgettes can be grown over a frame, enhancing ripening and increasing space.
Buying punnets of seedlings rather than growing your own from seed is one way to save space. A wider range of varieties is available as seeds, however, and organic vegetables are rarely for sale as seedlings.
Grow bags have revolutionised tomato growing. Simply cut a hole or holes in the top and plant away. If you are placing the bag on a cold concrete base, then polystyrene foam undeneath will insulate it and raise the soil temperature. Grow bags (suitably disguised, of course) can support cherry tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce or French beans. Remember to water regularly.
Containers Pots of vegetables can be outstanding decorative elements and they make vegetables possible where there is no soil, such as on a balcony or in a paved courtyard. You can even grow your veges at home and then take them, container and all, to the beach to enjoy fresh lettuce or spicy chilli peppers.
Make sure the container is big enough for the plants root development. Adequate drainage is also critical, as vegetables do not like to become water logged. Water regularly as consistent watering will not only improves yields but also results in better tasting vegetables and reduces bolting.
Containers can be made of almost anything. Posh Versailles tubs and terracotta pots or ubiquitous plastic - there are heaps of options for every budget. Remember that terracotta looks great but dries out quickly, pulling moisture from the soil and plant it holds. A plastic liner or a strict watering regime is a must. Recycled corrugated iron makes a striking planter that is both practical and supports a lush and lovely crop of chillies.
Vegetables need plenty of nourishment and container growing places heavy demands on a small amount of soil. Liquid fertilisers are a good way to replenish soils in container. A liquid feed every two to four weeks over the growing season will result in stronger crops.
Strawberries can be grown in the traditional strawberry pot. Cropping in a conventional pot seems to be improved as the pockets can become dry, you can insert a perforated pipe in the centre of the strawberry pot to water more thoroughly.
Window boxes are not only good homes for petunias and herbs but can grow vegetables as well, as long as you can control the pigeons! As window boxes are small choose your vegetables accordingly - this is not the place to grow sweet corn.
A rubbish bag can even be used to grow a crop of early potatoes and harvested as and when you need some sweet new potatoes, ideal for Christmas lunch.
Get growing Use innovative containers, pot up your herbs, plant celery amidst the perennials and edge your terrace with oak-leaved lettuce. There are so many ways to find the space for your favourite veges!
Grow beans up a fence, use thinnings and leave neighbouring plants to mature
Silver beet
