Growing Vegetables In A Small Area

By: Dave Truman

For anyone accustomed to the notion that a vegetable garden must be a fairly large affair - its rows stretching fifteen or twenty feet at a minimum, the concept of crops pushing up from a small container or appearing to burst the bonds of a tiny patch of ground only a few feet square - it is almost unsettling.

Yet growing vegetables in cramped spaces is not only possible but highly rewarding. One can grow tomatoes in tubs at the edge of a patio, strawberries in empty milk cartons on a windowsill, lettuce in a modest window box, watermelons along a strip beside a driveway or beans on a trellis on a small apartment balcony.

A space the size of a card table can provide an ample supply of vegetables. The trick is creating a garden that has the right conditions to thrive, and choosing seeds that are suited to being grown in a smaller area.

A lot of seed suppliers have started to offer miniature plants to meet the needs of people with limited space. They're often in categories like midgets or space savers in their catalogs.

Growing vegetables in a smaller space is different from growing other things in the same space. Plants like rhododendrons, heathers or miniature bulbs are grown mainly for their appearance. They're merely decorative.

Vegetables are grown not to reward the eye so much as the taste buds. So while you might find corn stalks and bean bushes in the average vegetable garden, they're not a common sight in a well designed landscape garden.

One of the challenges with a small vegetable garden is practicality. While some vegetables, such as lettuce, will be fine with only 4 hours of sunlight a day, most others require a full 8 hours.

A proper soil mix is also important, along with the right fertilizer. It can be too much for some dwarf plants, however and can make them grow beyond the space they're given. Plus, you need to turn the soil in your vegetable garden annually. This kind of tilling can't be done in some small spaces.

This said, there is no doubting the fact that the smaller vegetables are worth trying, especially if space for the larger kind is at a premium. It is important to choose, however, the kind of smallness desired, whether it is the fruit or produce itself that will be miniature, or the plant that yields it. Miniature vegetables as such are amusing and eye-catching, a novelty that many restaurants and imaginative cooks offer with great success. Some miniatures, for example, cherry tomatoes, are accepted for their own sake, while a number of vegetables are of course just naturally small - radishes, for example.

Article Source: http://www.retirementlivingarticledirectory.com

Are you planting vegetables this year? Plan your vegetable garden layout before you start planting. Learn more about planning your garden and get my free reports on pest control, mulching and composting at www.vegetablegardeners.com

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated