Growing Food in Small Gardens E-Book

Barbara Segall

• Herausgeber: IMM Lifestyle Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 162

Beschreibung

The virtues of organic food have long been apparent. But what many people don't realize is that they can grow their own--no matter how small their space. Whether you've got a backyard, rooftop, or patio, or are restricted to window boxes or hanging baskets, the joy and satisfaction of organic gardening can be yours. From planning a garden, to deciding what to plant, to the best methods of chemical-free pest and disease control, this definitive guide will help you get big results from even the tiniest of spaces.

Leseprobe

growing

food insmall

gardens

First published in 2010 by New Holland Publishers (UK) LtdLondon • Cape Town • Sydney • Auckland

Garfield House86–88 Edgware RoadLondon W2 2EAUnited Kingdomwww.newhollandpublishers.com

80 McKenzie StreetCape Town 8001South Africa

Unit 166 Gibbes StreetChatswoodNSW 2067Australia

218 Lake RoadNorthcoteAucklandNew Zealand

Copyright © 2010 text: Barbara SegallCopyright © 2010 New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

eISBN 978 1 60765 200 7

Senior Editor: Corinne Masciocchi

Designer: Geoff Borin

Illustrator: Kate Simunek

Production: Laurence Poos

Editorial Direction: Rosemary Wilkinson

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Reproduction by Pica Digital PTE Ltd, SingaporePrinted and bound by by Times Offset (M) Sdn Bhd, Malaysia

Barbara Segall

growing

food insmall

gardens

NEW HOLLAND

contents

introduction

getting started

garden layouts

growing in containers

growing vegetables

growing fruit

garden plans

appendices

FURTHER READING

USEFUL ADDRESSES

INDEX

introduction

FOOD MILES – THE DISTANCE THAT FOODSTUFFS TRAVEL ON THEIR WAY FROM THEIR PLACE OF ORIGIN TO A SUPERMARKET NEAR YOU – ARE PART OF EVERYDAY PARLANCE AND ALTHOUGH THE JOURNEY IS NOW AMAZINGLY QUICK COMPARED WITH WHAT IT USED TO BE, IT STILL TAKES DAYS OFF THE FRESHNESS OF THE FOOD. IT IS A SIMPLE FACT THAT BY GROWING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES YOURSELF, YOU CAN ENJOY THEM AFTER THE SHORTEST POSSIBLE TRIP BETWEEN HARVEST BASKET AND PLATE. BECAUSE YOU ARE THE HARVESTER, YOU CAN PICK THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLES AT THEIR PEAK, RATHER THAN A FEW DAYS PAST THEIR BEST.

Here a balcony wall provides shelter for low-growing or moundforming herbs such as creeping thyme, sage, chives, parsley and borage. They are growing in a specially constructed, deep planter, running along the outer edge of the balcony. The herbs are combined with ornamental plants such as the silver-leaved Senecio.

As you are the gardener, you can decide the amount of chemical intervention used to control the inevitable pests and diseases that will vie with you to devour your produce. Whether you are 100 per cent organic or choose to use a little pesticide, at least you will know how the plants have been grown.

I first started growing vegetables when I lived in a flat in London. I had a small allotment so soon mastered the art of growing quantity in a limited space. Although I now have a large country garden, I still grow my vegetables in small rectangular raised beds, within flower borders and amongst herbs and edible flowers. I have particular vegetable favourites and grow tomatoes, pumpkins and courgettes (which demand larger spaces), beans and year-round salad leaves as my main crops each year.

In this book I have selected some of the varieties that have given the best results for my small spaces and provided the basic information you need for your first foray into urban kitchen gardening. The book covers the techniques for preparing the soil, producing the plants and outlines the small spaces that you are likely to encounter. It also provides practical suggestions for making those sites both productive and ornamental, and offers some design suggestions for particular situations.

Growing your own vegetables is one of gardening’s great pleasures. Kitchen gardens have evolved from purely practical production areas attached to large houses into ornamental yet productive gardens for everyone. Ornament comes in foliage colour, shape and texture, in flowers and fruit, and in the combination of crops and garden designs. Picking fresh crops through the year provides high nutrition, taste-packed rewards unmatched by supermarket produce.

Lettuces keep close company with cauliflowers during the early stages of growing. By the time the cauliflowers mature and fill out, the lettuces will have been harvested.

success on a small scale

Small-space vegetable growers are skilled in the art of filling every bit of the garden with productive plants. In addition, they have perfected the art of using vegetables and herbs rather than flowers to beautify their small vegetable areas. In a large garden the vegetable patch – seen by some as more functional than attractive – is often kept out of sight, separated from the flower garden. In the small garden where space is at a premium, this segregation is an out-of-place luxury.

Even in the smallest city garden, there is sufficient space and opportunity for the determined fruit and vegetable grower to plant a wide range of produce. Window boxes, containers of all shapes and sizes, hanging baskets and grow-bags are among the challenging sites for the urban kitchen gardener. The small-space vegetable grower has to adopt one or two strategies to ensure a regular supply of vegetables that suit the site and their own appetite. Fresh produce, straight from the garden to the plate is the prize, and in a small garden it is won with a combination of work and ingenuity.

Planning and making the choices that suit your taste buds and garden spaces are the keys to success in the small city vegetable garden. Plants may have to work hard for their place, providing good flavour, ornament and nutrition. Effectively they become double-duty plants, providing a double function of ornament and use. For example, instead of growing an apple tree which will take up a fair amount of space, plant a row of low-growing apples trained into cordons to form a step-over hedge (see page 77). This will provide attractive flowers in spring, abundant delicious and attractive-looking fruit in autumn and will make a useful boundary for part of the garden.

choosing crops

Small-space gardening has several advantages over large-scale gardening, and with clever planning you can keep a succession of fresh, home-grown produce ready for harvest through the year. But you do have to make choices. You have to decide what you will grow, how and more importantly where you will grow it. Then you have to manage the sowing and growing so you have a regular supply of seasonal food throughout the year.

The first rule is to plant what you enjoy most. Fresh leaves for salad mixes, edible flowers and various coloured lettuces may be your summertime choice, while for winter you may decide that you cannot live without a daily pick of spicy oriental salad leaves. Of course, if there is a particular vegetable or fruit that you would eat on a regular basis, glut or no glut, then plant that in profusion.

Bulk produce and large, thuggish plants such as cabbages which take up a great deal of space will not be options for the small-space vegetable gardener. In small spaces growing large quantities of anything will not be possible, and in any case, that would defeat the object of the fresh fast food you are harvesting.

Vegetable growing is seeing a resurgence in popularity and seed companies around the world are promoting a wide range of vegetables. Many of them offer small vegetable plants for sale, relieving the small-space grower of the early part of the crop production. The choice of vegetables and fruit and especially of old, flavour-filled heritage varieties on offer is particularly exciting.

Harvest gluts can become very boring; at first it is great fun having vegetables in abundance to offer neighbours and friends, but then eventually they too will be overwhelmed. When there is a glut of one particular vegetable, not only do you get tired of eating too much of it, even when it is at its freshest, but freezing or otherwise preserving it becomes a chore too. So small quantities, harvested over time, are best.

growing for health

We all know that eating vegetables and fruit is good for you, but one added bonus of growing your own is the exercise you will have digging and delving in and around your vegetable garden, helping to burn off calories and keep you in good shape.

The list of essential vitamins and minerals on the opposite page will help you decide which vegetables to grow.

Vitamin A (antioxidant, good for the immune system and for night vision) is converted in the body from yellow-orange and red vegetables, and leafy greens including carrots, lettuce, parsley, peppers, spinach, squash and tomatoes.

Vitamin B (unlocks energy) is found in aubergines, broccoli, cauliflowers, courgettes, lettuce, parsley, peppers, squash and tomatoes.

Every space in this garden has been used to good effect for productive and ornamental purposes. There is still room for a table and chairs to enable its owner to enjoy the garden’s harvest.

Vitamin C (antioxidant, boosts immune system, protection against cancer and cardiovascular disease) is found in broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflowers, green beans, lettuce, parsley, peppers, potatoes, spinach and tomatoes.

Vitamin E (antioxidant) is found in green beans, peas and leafy greens.

Calcium (strengthening bones) is found in beans, broccoli, lettuce, parsley, peppers and tomatoes.

Iron (conductor of oxygen to cells) is found in lettuce, oriental greens, parsley, peas, spinach, and tomatoes.

Magnesium (nervous system) is found in beans, broccoli, cucumber, lettuce, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, and squash.

Manganese (frees up proteins and fats) is found in beetroot, carrots, lettuce, peas and watercress.

Potassium (maintains fluids in cells) is found in aubergines, beans, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, cauliflowers, courgettes, cucumbers, oriental greens, parsley, peppers, radishes, spinach, squash and tomatoes.

Selenium (antioxidant, protects cells, boosts immune system) is found in beans, peas, sweetcorn and many other vegetables.

Zinc (DNA synthesis, cell division, growth) is found in beans, lettuce, parsley, peppers, potatoes, spinach and squash.

chapter one:

small kitchen gardens

Sun, shade and shelter

Air circulation

Making a plan

rooftops and balconies

First considerations

Screening and shelter

patios and courtyards

Practical pointers

Container gardens

improving the soil

Preparation

Soil types

Soil in containers

Potting compost

Composting and mulching

Wormeries

Watering

sowing and growing

Germination

Sowing in containers

Plant plugs

Successional planting

pests and diseases

Common pests

Diseases

1

getting started

THE DEMANDS OF A SMALL KITCHEN GARDEN DICTATE THAT IT MUST BE AS ATTRACTIVE AS POSSIBLE AND YET ALSO FULL AND PRODUCTIVE. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING THIS. EVERY SPACE, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, IS A PLANTING OPPORTUNITY.

small kitchen gardens

IF YOU ARE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE A GARDEN, HOWEVER SMALL IT MAY SEEM, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO GROW A GOOD PROPORTION OF YOUR OWN VEGETABLES, HERBS AND FRUIT.

Most urban gardens are tucked away behind terraced or row houses and are of a roughly uniform shape and size. Long and narrow, with boundaries usually marked by fences or walls, they are in effect small outdoor living spaces, with varied demands put on the space by the different family members. If you are lucky enough to allocate as much as possible of the garden for vegetables you can plan for a traditional, albeit small-scale, row vegetable garden.

Even if you are only able to carve out a small square, rectangle or circle for the vegetable garden, it will still provide you with a range of fresh vegetables and fruits if you choose the varieties carefully and prepare the soil well. If you have to share your vegetable passions with other garden demands, it is likely that the area for vegetables will be to one side, with a wall or boundary of some sort, at the back of the site.

A small rectangular bed on a patio will provide a quantity of produce. Herbs, such as chives and parsley, offer light shade for a row of lettuces, while dwarf beans, sugar snap peas and broad beans planted in short rows are ready for harvest in early and midsummer.

With a proper garden, you will be able to plant directly into the soil, unlike vegetable gardeners on rooftops and balconies, but you will have to prepare the soil well, especially if the garden has not been cultivated previously (see pages 20–1). However, many small gardens suffer from the effects of countless feet trampling them and compacting the soil. This will mean that it will be very difficult to work the soil into a good state. The solution is to make raised beds (see pages 34–5) filled with loam-based compost and well-rotted manure, and leave to weather over the winter.

You will need a number of tools, some big and bulky such as hoses and lawn mowers, and others, such as forks and spades, that can be placed in specially designed store cupboards, some of which double as garden benches. If you have the space for a small greenhouse or propagating unit, this will allow you to make sowings ahead of the warm weather.

sun, shade and shelter

When choosing where to site the vegetable plot, consider the garden as a whole.

• Track the sun and note the persistently shady areas of the site. Position the plot so all plants benefit from maximum sunshine and taller plants or climbing plants such as beans don’t overshadow low-growing plants. Some vegetables and herbs thrive in shady conditions but the majority need the sun to make them grow and to fill them with flavour and nutrients. Most vegetables need at least six hours per day in the sun. Lettuces and many salad leaves, as well as a few herbs, are the exception, preferring light shade.

• Also assess the site for shelter. Vegetables need open, sunny positions, but they also need shelter from drying and damaging winds.

• Pick a site where the vegetables are not competing with trees or hedges for the water and nutrients in the soil.

GARDENER’S TIP

Use walls, arches or pergolas to support climbing plants, such as thornless blackberries or runner beans, to make most efficient use of space.

All available space in this garden is well used. Fruit grows against the fence and archway, while borders and beds are filled with produce.

If you have cut beds from a previously turfed area, the ground needs to be well dug and compost or manure added to improve the soil’s texture and fertility.

In this compact kitchen garden, paths are vital to provide access to the vegetables in the boarded, raised beds. They also add a pleasing visual neatness to the garden as a whole.

air circulation

Good air circulation is important for fertilization of some crops such as sweetcorn, and open airy sites will also be relatively pest- and disease-free. However, strong wind is the vegetable grower’s nightmare as it is the source of great stress for plants. Its action causes windrock, which in turn loosens the root’s grip on the soil, from where the plant derives its major source of vital water and nutrients. It also increases the rate at which plants lose water. This is a natural process, but if it happens too quickly, the plant will weaken and may collapse before it can replenish moisture levels.

To provide shelter, especially on rooftop gardens, patios and other exposed situations, you need to use lightweight material such as bamboo panels, which will look attractive when in place. Remember, though, that screening materials, however lightweight and non-competitive they may be, are likely to reduce light and moisture that would normally be available to the plants. Site screens carefully so that they don’t shade the plants from their necessary daily quota of sunlight.

Hedges, while offering shelter, also compete with vegetable plants, so either you will have to provide plants with extra nutrition or use lightweight, man-made ornatural materials.

GARDENER’S TIP

If you are working on a new piece of ground which hasn’t been cultivated before, you may need to remove turf and dig the ground. This is best done in autumn when the ground is still workable and it allows it to weather over winter. Any compost or manure you work into it will also be well incorporated by the action of weather and the activity of soil organisms (see pages 20–1).

making a plan

1 Before planting up the plot, draw a sketch of your garden to scale and decide where the various beds, hedges, paths, seating and so on will be best placed.

2 Once the sketch is complete, mark its shape out on the ground, using pegs and string lines or with a line of sand, so that its actual position and size is apparent. Consider the layout from all angles and make any necessary adjustments.

3 Put in place the hard landscaping (paths, stepping stones, and so on) and the raised beds (wooden boards or brick-built beds), if relevant to the design.

4 Avoid compacting the soil by working on wooden boards laid over it to spread your weight.

A rectangular shape divided by paths becomes a four-square garden. By siting the beds away from the hedges, you can access them easily.

rooftops and balconies

IF THE ONLY SPACE FOR YOUR VEGETABLE GARDEN IS ON A ROOFTOP OR BALCONY, A FEW PRACTICAL CHALLENGES WILL NEED TO BE DEALT WITH BEFORE YOU CAN START.

Hot peppers set taste buds tingling and enliven the view from a balcony. They may need staking or shelter if the area is windy.

First of all, there will be no natural soil available and access to the roof or balcony will limit what you can transport, either with help or single-handedly. Whatever you need to get started – plants, soil, containers, decking and propagators – has to fit into the lift or you need to be able to carry it. You may need to enlist help to get your roof or balcony garden going. Everything has to be transported up stairs or in lifts to the top of the building, in the case of roof gardens, or to a number of levels if the site is on a balcony. And on the return journey, any garden waste or debris has to come down in the same way and be disposed of safely.

Nonetheless, there is plenty of scope for growing vegetables in a wide variety of containers, and for adapting the space to house some permanent designed structures such as raised beds or decking. However, on rooftops these may be subject to planning permission and to structural constraints.

A glass screen offers permanent shelter on a windy balcony, yet does not reduce light levels. In addition, it provides a private spot to enjoy in apple blossom time, as well as at other times through the year.

first considerations

Weight Before you begin a rooftop or balcony garden, make sure the structure can take the weight of the containers you are planning. On balconies and rooftops the outer edges are structurally the strongest areas, so it is wise to arrange containers around the edges. If you are able to construct raised beds (see pages 34–5) to run around the boundaries of your roof or balcony space, this will be the safest option and will also provide the plants with the shelter of the adjacent walls.

Surface material You will also need to take into consideration the material that covers the surface of the roof or balcony. Many flat roofs are sealed with tar which can become extremely hot in summer and large heavy pots will leave marks in it. A solution is to fit a raised decking over the whole or parts of the roof. This will keep the plants cooler in their pots and will mean that the roof surface is not damaged.

Sun and shade Just as for a ground level garden, you need to track the sun and establish where the shade is and where the hot-spots are.

Drainage