I got my plants rooted in the ground last week. I am feeling good about my garden this year. It’s not huge. But it does yield quite a bit. My husband built me some raised beds a few years ago, and fenced them in to keep out critters and our dogs. Since then, I have added a few more little spots for plants. I try to utilize the space we have for as much as I can. Here are a couple tips for those thinking they don’t have enough space. I do have a lot of photos in this post. Some are from years past; some are before and after’s (but past after’s). Some are of different stages of the same garden. Every year I learn and adapt it. If that makes any sense?!?
ONE: Plan! Plan plan PLAN! When I first started gardening, I didn’t plan very well. I have learned a little planning goes a long way. I used to just grow a ton of seeds and think I would have room for them. Or buy a ton of seedlings and figure it out when I get home. That was a waste of money. I start my planning process by figuring out what I want to make from my yield, based on what my family will eat. My number one thing is pasta sauce. The sauce I make is amazing. It is great for pasta, pizza and dips. Or hotdishes. I also like to make tomato soup to can, salsa, Bloody Mary mix, pickles, zucchini bread and cantaloupe jam. Those are the things I have found we use the most from my garden. Add to that: collard greens, lettuce, celery, green beans and zoodles. Once I have that list, I determine what I need to plant to make those happen.
I use a garden planner book my mom gave me a couple years ago. It has some graph pages I use to diagram my garden and where I am going to put everything. I make little codes for my plants, makes it easier to read. I also notate the date I plant and try really hard to remember to do the same when I harvest.
This year I stapled my receipts to the pages, to track where I bought what, and for what price. This photo is my first draft. I use pencil on the diagram and make several changes.
TWO: Use Pots! You can grow a lot of veggies in pots. Only have a balcony in an apartment? Grow a couple tomato plants. Lettuce is easy to grow also and does not take much space. Boom. You can grow your own salad! I put our jalapenos in pots on our patio. They need less water than the rest of my garden so this works perfect! They start out so little (Right photo) but I love when they grow and just look so nice mixed in with the rest of my patio flowers (left photo). In my previous blog post, I show how to use cans for herbs!
THREE: For veggies that can climb, grow them up not out. I used a ton of space for cucumbers my first season of gardening. Last year I planned to build arches between my raised beds and have my cucs grow up and over. But plans changed. We repurposed. Again. The bubby had been doing some work on our garage roof and taken down some decorative railings. My friend Une suggested using them to line a side of our covered patio on the side of our yard. I was going to just grow pretty climbing flowers or Ivy. My husband, being the smart dude he is, said he would rather we use that space for something more beneficial than flowers. Cucumbers came to mind. And man, that worked great. It was so much easier to pick them also! Now I don’t use any space in my regular garden. I will eventually add the arches between beds, but will be able to use them for something else. My mom has some and grows various squash. Right photo is last season, left is newly planted cucumbers this season.
FOUR: Grow pole beans instead of bush beans. We built a trellis frame type contraption for the wall of our shed. That is where my beans grow. In the same bed, in front of them I can grow my zucchini. It takes up a lot of ground space, so it pairs well with the beans that grow upwards.
FIVE: Got a weird little spot in yard that you don’t know what to do with? Grow a fruit or veggie! The previous owners had a little flower patch in an odd spot in the yard. I tore it up. I was going to plant grass, but decided the kiddo might like his own little garden. So that is what we did last summer. We created Arden’s Garden. We grew rhubarb and pumpkins last year. This year the rhubarb is back. And Arden planted some peppers. This kid likes his heat! Perfect spot for him to grow whatever he likes.
I hope this helps someone out there! Happy Gardening!
