Check out the Clever Design Ideas series of articles for some visual inspiration and tips on ways to incorporate design principles into your micro garden for maximum effect.
10 Tips to Grow More Food in a Small Garden
Want to grow at least some of your own fresh ingredients? If you think you’re limited by a small garden, don’t be! You just need to use your space wisely.
Few people have the perfect area to grow a productive food garden. So, clever design and plant choices are vital for success.
I help my clients to maximise the food they grow even when their garden is tiny, on a slope, in the shade, narrow, has poor soil, too much or not enough water and the list goes on! These tips will help you do the same.
How to Grow More Food in a Small Garden Space
1. Prioritise. Just Grow the Essentials
- Grow the foods you love and buy most often. If you’re going to spend time growing food, it should provide ingredients you will use and save money on your shopping bill.
- If you’re mowing lawn or growing plants that don’t serve you, you could be wasting valuable space in your garden! Make tough choices.
A front garden makeover at one of my clients – Before with lawn; After 10 weeks – a productive pretty edible garden!
- Dig up the lawn and save money on mower fuel!
- Sell your ornamentals, so you have more space (and money) to grow food.
“We grow lawn that we harvest weekly in the growing season and throw it away. Why not food that we can eat?” Dave Jarratt – Sustainable Soil Solutions
- For example, if you are buying a weekly organic food box, aim to cut the cost by a third or half by supplementing some of the ingredients from your own garden.
- If you love salads, then it makes sense to avoid chemically grown produce by growing lettuces and salad ingredients.
