Small garden- Growing food

[Hoverfly1]

I really want to be able to grow some vegetables and fruit in my garden. I’ve never attempted it before because I have a very small north facing back garden approx 6x6m and small south facing front garden that my kids use to play in, house is terraced so no side areas. However, I am determined that I will attempt to make use of the space to grow some food next year!

I am hoping to do this as cheaply as possible and have managed to get 2 freebie compost bin off marketplace with the aim of making some compost that I might be able to use by next year.

Any advice on the following would be greatly appreciated.

Compost

I am hoping to put the bins at the sunnier end of the back garden. However even at the furthest end of the garden they will still be quite close to mine and my neighbours houses, will they smell or attract flies?

I’ve read a bit about what to add to compost but I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to put all the stuff in at once and then leave it or if you keep adding stuff as you go along?! Also can I compost Guinea pig waste including the hay and wood chips. If so is this green or brown waste?!

How do you mix compost when it’s in a plastic compost bin?

Planting

I am hoping to grow as much as I can in the back garden so I can save space in the front.
What are the best things to grow in shadier areas? I am thinking of growing some salad, beetroot, kale and blueberries out there. Is there anything else that would be suitable?

Any other hints, tips and pictures of how you make it work in small gardens would also be appreciated 😊

You would be better to put the veg in the sun and the children in the north facing garden.

Don’t put your compost in the sunny bit of the north facing garden, save that for the veggies that need sun.

Compost shouldn’t smell or attract flies, other than tiny fruit flies f there’s rotting fruit, but you can get rid of them by covering the fruit with a pile of weeds or even a sheet of cardboard.

Guinea pig waste is a mixture of brown waste (hay, wood chips) and accelerant. Those of us without guinea pigs persuade our husbands to pee on the heap. Guinea pig poo isn’t a problem. Carnivore poo is - too many parasites in common with us.

Keep adding stuff as you go along. Weeds are no problem as they’re a nice mix of leaves and stems, but don’t put on more than a few inches of grass cuttings at once, or too thick a layer of cardboard.

when you come to use the first bin, there’ll be a thick layer of still unrotted stuff on top. Heave this off and into your second bin. Then, when you’ve used all the compost from your first bin, tip the unrotted stuff from the second bin into it, and start using compost from the second. Apart from that, don’t worry about mixing.

Roughly, things that you eat the leaves or roots will be ok in the shade, things that need to flower need the sun. Salad, beetroot, kale should be fine (and remember you can eat the leaves of beetroot), and also try Swiss chard and Magentaspreen. Alpine strawberries are fine in the shade, so perhaps garden strawberries would cope too. Raspberries may be worth a try - mine are sandwiched between an apple and a medlar - and a piece of woodland I was surveying had fruiting redcurrants under the tree canopy. But no guarantees on those two, there’s a difference between the slightly dappled shade of trees and the solid all year round shade of a house.

You could try peas in the sunny bit - all children should have the chance to eat peas raw, straight off the plant Climbing French beans seem to crop reliably, I grow Purple podded ones, no reason why vegetable gardens can’t be decorative!

Check out Chiltern and Real Seeds for ideas.

Thank you for that, very helpful! I did think about moving all the kids around the back but the front actually gets extremely hot and bakes to a crisp in the summer so not sure it would be ideal for everything either. I thought splitting the growth between both might allow a bit more variety!

I will look into strawberries as soft fruit is one of the most expensive and wasteful things that I buy, along with bagged salad! If I could manage to grow some of those it would probably save money and keep plastic use down a bit too!

I am hoping to grow as much as I can in the back garden so I can save space in the front.

What are the best things to grow in shadier areas? I am thinking of growing some salad, beetroot, kale and blueberries out there. Is there anything else that would be suitable?

@Hoverfly1 : it’s only my 1st year so I’m no expert but like you have a v small garden

In shade: i had good success with lettuce over the summer (in plastic ‘window box’ troughs that I put in the patio, £1.50 from Asda/Morrisons. ). Now growing spinach in same pots. I tried kale which grew well but got attacked by caterpillars before I could eat it (and pak Choi attacked by snails). Am going to try both again by sowing in next week but my spinach is doing v well

Most things do grow better in sun; have had a great crop of strawberries this year (in beds) also tomatoes (cherry), and aubergines & courgettes - last 3 all in planters. I’d say the last 3 can’t get enough heat really

blueberries need to be grown in ericaceous soil (ie acidic) so need to be in pots: I got my plants at a good price from Morrisons. Relatively small crop this year but going for better next year

My main tip: plant way more than you think you need as some plants will die/get eaten/not crop well

i focus on higher value stuff: greens, soft fruit … am also trying tenderstem broccoli which seems to be doing well

if you will be in your house for a while maybe plant a fruit tree over the winter, but bear in mind they can take 3-4 years to give you a worthwhile crop

Re cost: try to get strawberry runners and raspberry canes from any friends/family/neighbours who grow these. Now is this time of year to tidy a strawberry bed , but later (Nov I think) for raspberry canes

improve your soil: I added a load of soil improver (a mix of manure & straw) to my beds in spring: it made a v noticeable difference

I find herbs are generally easy to grow and provide reliable “crops” throughout the year, plus they smell nice! Rosemary, thyme, chives, basil, coriander…

With tomatoes, aubergines etc I tend to go for varieties that have smaller fruit as they are more likely to ripen even if the weather isn’t consistently sunny (not so much a problem this year!). They’ll be great in your front garden, maybe in pots. Will need a lot of watering though.

I'm not sure you will have much to compost in such a small garden. A bin full of compost rots down to about a third ime. I live in a dull, rainy part of the country and it takes a year to do that.
I have poor well drained soil and runner beans grow very well - you can make a wigwam or row of tall canes for them so they don't take up much room. I mention the soil as my neighbour who has added hen and animal manure to their soil for years don't have much success with them. I have kale in the garden and they have a long season - just keep taking the leaves and they produce more. But you might be surprised by how much you need to plant to feed a family.
I also grow broad beans - much nicer than the frozen ones.
I grow blush celery - it does very well but isn't really as crispy as bought stuff but I add it chopped to stew and soup.

I don't seem to have much success with lettuces. Maybe the rain is too much for them, so they get soil splashed on them and can rot.

Tomatoes if you have a green house or plastic shelter. I have litres of homemade tomato soup in the freezer (fresher tasting than the tinned).

Use of space - have a look at square foot gardening (lots on Google) and Charles Dowding's no dig method (also on Google). Basically make a bed small enough to reach into from all sides, cover in cardboard to get rid of anything already growing there, pile up all the organic waste you can get on top. Edges or raised beds help keep it contained but aren't strictly necessary. If you start now then by spring you'll have a small patch of beautifully light fertile soil that you can plant straight into. Very little hard labour, somewhere to put all your waste, a smaller area to maintain, the plants love it, what's not to like.

Compost - it's very difficult if not impossible to make in small quantities. There just isn't the volume needed to get the process started.
If you don't go no dig you'd be better off digging a bean trench in the autumn and just putting all your organic waste straight into it, then filling it in with soil in the spring. You could also consider a Bokashi system where your keep a tightly closed small bin in the kitchen, adding waste and Bokashi bran as you go. This produces a highly concentrated fertiliser/compost accelerant in a much shorter time than regular composting and works really well if most of your waste is food rather than garden based.

Choice of crops - I now only grow things that taste significantly better / are hard to find or expensive in the shops / are much better freshly picked / don't attract predators /give a good return on space / are things we like to eat. Tomatoes, beans of all kinds, strawberries in pots (more easily protected from slugs and birds), lettuce are all winners. Herbs are great in pots, very little maintenance, low cost, go on for ever and make a big difference to your cooking compared to using dried.

Finally I recommend watching Ga

Whoops - Gardener's World for ideas for small gardens and general inspiration. Good luck, this is the perfect time of year to start.