rel="nofollow" href="#uab47aee6-8a2e-4270-9c03-a4e04c8eeea4">here).
• In early spring, sow seeds of lettuce, spring onions and leaf radish (see here) and carrots (see here).
• Follow in late spring with French beans (see here), beetroot (see here) and spinach (see here).
• Sow seeds thinly in rows 30 cm (12 in) apart (see here).
• Plant a few seed potatoes in a little soil in a deep pot or plastic drum and top up with soil as growth develops (see here)
• In early summer look for plants of tomatoes, courgettes and sweetcorn in your local garden centre and plant at about 45 cm (18 in) apart (see here).
• For a quick fruit crop look in your garden centre for some part-grown strawberry plants. Grow them in large pots to keep them away from slugs (see here)
• Keep your crops well watered in dry conditions (see here).
• Harvest as soon as crops are big enough and re-sow the same crop for continuity.
Where to grow fruit and vegetables
If you have space in your own back garden, then this is probably the best place for a kitchen garden. It’s quick and easy to tend to your crops at regular intervals and convenient to pop out and harvest something fresh for a meal. You will also have access to water and, if needed, electricity and secure storage for your tools. If you don’t have enough space in your own garden it may be that a neighbour has more garden than they need and may be willing to loan a section for your use. Usually a basket of vegetables on occasion is all they will want in recompense.
Allotments
Allotments may seem the next obvious choice. You will find yourself amongst a community of keen gardeners, probably with a wealth of experience, advice and often friendly camaraderie. Some allotment sites are sophisticated but others are quite basic so you need to check the facilities available. Some sites allow sheds and greenhouses whereas others don’t. With the current popularity of growing vegetables, unfortunately most allotment sites have a waiting list, usually of a number of years.
Well-used plots may have problems with infected soil and neglected plots with weeds. It may take a whole season to clear up the plot before it can be used. Speak to existing allotment holders about problems and challenges, including pests and crime. A full-size allotment will enable you to grow almost anything you might want but will take up a great deal of time – you may wish to share, or ask for a half-sized plot.
Community gardens
Community gardens and city farms are local initiatives based around a piece of land, usually where crops are grown and small animals such as chickens may be kept. Community gardens are often a lot more neighbourhood based than allotments, with groups of individuals working together to grow food. Plots may be small and the work shared. Sometimes the plots will be expressions of the background of the local population, with various ethnic crops being grown. Community gardens can be large and well organised or quite simply small patches of unused land. In some areas, giant builders’ bags filled with soil have been used to turn an empty patch of derelict concrete from an eyesore into a productive and colourful area.
Growing vegetables in small spaces
Many people would like to grow fruit and vegetables but feel that the space they have is too restricted. Even in a tiny garden or on a balcony, however, you can produce some home-grown vegetables and fruits. With a restricted space, select compact varieties and those that are sometimes called ‘mini vegetables’. Use a close spacing and harvest the vegetables when small, following with successional sowings to get the most from your space. Use any soil you have, plus growbags, pots and containers. Always use new growbags and replace the soil in pots every year, to avoid a build-up of disease and to get the maximum yield from a small space. Avoid crops which take a long time to mature, such as bulb onions and winter brassicas, and those that take up a lot of space, such as maincrop potatoes and courgettes.
Carrots, turnips and beetroot will quickly produce small tender roots. Choose the leek ‘Armor’ for harvesting when young. A range of salads and leafy crops such as spinach can be grown in a small space. Calabrese will produce small central heads at a close spacing but it is probably not worth growing them on for the secondary crop. ‘Avalanche’ is a good small cauliflower and ‘Minicole’ a reliable cabbage for close spacing.
Tomatoes, peppers and aubergines can easily be grown in pots or growbags. The small trailing cherry tomato known as ‘Tumbler’ is happy in a hanging basket. Dwarf French beans can be grown in pots. Tall climbing runner beans need to be planted in the soil but a wigwam of five canes and plants does not take up much space and will yield several pickings over many weeks. Cucumbers can be grown up a trellis or over an arch.
Containers
Vegetables will grow in all sorts of pots or plastic containers as long as they are deep enough and have drainage holes in the bottom. Disused builders’ bags make excellent small beds and plastic compost sacks make large pots, excellent for growing potatoes. Commercial growbags can be used for quick-growing vegetables but are too shallow for deep-rooted vegetables or long-term crops. They can be used for salads, dwarf French beans, stump-rooted carrots, beetroot and tomatoes.
Most multi-purpose composts will be suitable for growing vegetables and can be used for several crops over a year but will need to be replaced each season. The used compost can go on the compost heap. For longer-term crops use John Innes compost, which contains some soil.
Potato pots
A small crop of potatoes can be grown in a large pot, a tub or a special potato bag. Start with about 20 cm (8 in) of good potting compost in the bottom. Plant the potatoes and keep well watered. As they grow, top up the compost in stages, no more than 7.5 cm (3 in) at a time. At harvest time, just tip out the whole pot and separate the potatoes from the compost. Remember that potato roots must grow in the dark or they become green, so don’t try using clear plastic drums.
Growing fruit in small spaces
Growing fruit in a small space is even more challenging but not impossible. Really most fruits need to grow in the open ground, although some can be grown in large pots. Most fruits prefer a sunny location. If you have some space against a wall, trained fruit trees, such as cordon apples, fan-trained plums or espalier pears, can be grown. These are regularly pruned so kept within a restricted space. Do always make sure with any of the top fruits (see Types of fruit,