Need more space to grow fruit/ veg. Any creative ideas?

[Ca1mingC1arySag3]

I have 1 small raised bed for veg and can’t really fit another one in. Trying to think of ways to shoehorn more veg/ fruit in but all out of creativity. What have you done?

What kind of fruit or veg do you want to grow? Perhaps look at varieties that grow up rather than out. Tromboncino are a courgette but when left to grow can be more like a squash.
There is a Facebook group 'vertical veg community' which might provide lots of inspiration.
I grow lettuce in repurposed mushroom trays on my kitchen windowsill. Last year I found a variety of tomato small enough to grow on my windowsill. The tomatoes were delicious.
I guess it also depends how much you want/need to grow.

Apparently growing veg in staggered rows enables you to fit more plants in. A tumbling variety of tomato at the edge of the bed and climbers at the back. I wonder if courgettes or squash could be grown trailing down.

What other space do you have, what do you want to grow, what's the aspect?

When you say you have one raised bed, do you have space around it for, say, containers?

I've seen strawberries grown vertically (but you must keep them watered!) as well as herbs vertically.

Hanging baskets (eg. Tomatoes, strawberries).

Sow catch crops like radish, lettuce, for quick harvest between slower crops.

Can you grow microherbs on a windowsill?

Look up the Three Sisters Planting Method.

There is a YouTuber called my 86m2 who used to grow an incredible garden on a city balcony (she lives in the country now but go back a couple of years and loads of videos). Lots of ideas there.

i found her videos when I wanted to grow bean sprouts, micro greens and pea shoots inside on a windowsill.

Vertical growing is definitely your friend so a trellis or bamboo canes at the back of the bed will add more space. Also think about successional sowing eg. Climbing French beans start a couple of seeds off every month/6weeks indoors so as one plant stops producing you have another ready to take its place.

Don’t hungry things like courgettes, cucumbers, mini pumpkins in the same plot still strain the soil if grown vertically or do you just feed more.

What other space do you have? Can you steal bits out of your lawn or set up pots in any corners of hardstanding?

You could grow strawberries in hanging baskets on your fenceposts and pop french beans into gaps in the flower border. Grow lettuce and herbs in tubs by the door, or in wall planters. Someone on Gardeners world had shelves rigged up on his wall which were just made with stacked bricks and scaffolding boards. Sue Kent made little rafts out of plastic bottles to grow watercress on the surface of a mini pond.

Definitely go for vertical gardening. I had tromboncino squash on an arch over my lawn. I've seen people make huge arches the length of a path in their lawn - grow squash and beans over it.

Regarding feeding I don't really know. There's definitely a limit on what the soil can sustain. I think vertical techniques are most effective if you can give enough space to the roots but train the foliage so it can go above eg a path. Or grow an understory of plants that don't need so much light and food such as lettuce

leavesfrommygarden.co.uk/square-metre-gardening-or-smg-for-short/

Square metre gardening...