What to do with the tiny patch behind the house

[Newt]

Thank you all for the advice you've given me so far re: the allotment. It's starting to look like a proper plot lately, which is great.

I'm also trying to work out how best to make use of the garden space we have. It's very limited in a bunch of ways, but I'd love to do something better with it. Every year I try and make it look nice with potted plants and every year I'm disappointed with the results.

The situation is:

• Technically shared with next door - in practice they tend to their half and I to mine, but we have shared use of the laundry lines that are all on my side.
• My side is 14ft x 11ft
• Entire space is paved over
• Area given above includes the space taken up by a brick-built storage shed approx 3.5ft x 7ft
• Surrounded on 3 sides by 2-storey walls
• Southern end opens onto the neighbour's half of the shared space, which is about the same size, ending with a fence blocking off from the next house.
• Surrounding walls are painted white - we get short sunlight due to the walls but what we do get is reflected back into a decent heat-trap with comparitively little wind
• As the buildings around the house are listed we cannot hammer anything new into the walls, but there are a small number of pre-existing nails and hooks we can use. Wall of our own house is also listed and wood panelled so really cannot do anything to it at all.

I've created a little map of it on VegPlotter here. Imagine the left-hand side of the image is the south side of the garden. I've only included my portion of the space.

Now, I know we can do something decent with the space. The more we can use plants to add height the better for creating a green space without filling up what little ground area we have, the better. But the inability to put anything in the walls makes this tricky - In the past I've had trellis propped up by jamming it behind a bunch of large pots, but we still end up with it leaning over alarmingly and inevitably getting damaged.

The little brick-built shed does have a flat roof, so in theory we can stick pots up there and have trailing plants, but watering them can be a bit of a pest as they seem to dry out fast up there!

I'm not worried about *what* we grow so much as just having some green around us - my allotment should do us well for veggies and such now.

[nickdub]

I'd suggest something scented in a container for starters, how about lavender or rosemary ? May be a range of herbs you could use either for cooking or other purposes.

[Jungle Jane]

You could get some wall baskets for the pre existing nails,Ive got three with a tube sticking out of them at the front that you water into,fills up a reservoir at the bottom so you don't have to water them every day,good for trailing plants & little tumbling tomatoes. You could put a small teepee in a pot for melons or are you looking for evergreen perennials like fatsia japonica? Find plants that have an upright growth habit like jasmine that don't need support? Dwarf fruit trees?

[bikermike]

bay tree in a pot? herbs in pots in general - there's nothing like being able to nip outside and get fresh herbs.
Strawberries in pots? presence of people should lessen the amount lifted by the local wildlife? My strawberry patch is on top of the shedlet (5' ish high) in old plastic supermarket roast trays

toms in growbags?

to water the top, have a look in gardening catalogues, I'm sure I've seen pump sprayers with extensions for hanging basket watering. Just be careful how much weight you put up there...

[bikermike]

vertical pallet garden?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pa...2aavUGu-g1TeM: ?

[Newt]

bay tree in a pot? herbs in pots in general - there's nothing like being able to nip outside and get fresh herbs.
Strawberries in pots? presence of people should lessen the amount lifted by the local wildlife? My strawberry patch is on top of the shedlet (5' ish high) in old plastic supermarket roast trays

toms in growbags?

to water the top, have a look in gardening catalogues, I'm sure I've seen pump sprayers with extensions for hanging basket watering. Just be careful how much weight you put up there...

I'd suggest something scented in a container for starters, how about lavender or rosemary ? May be a range of herbs you could use either for cooking or other purposes.

Herbs! Good ideas both of you. We do have a bay tree in the garden which is doing pretty well considering. Do you think bushier herbs will do alright? Last time we tried thyme it died within a few weeks, and sage seems to get weirdly leggy and stringy when we try it. Worried it's the short amount of sun.

[nickdub]

Hard to say exactly what will do well until you try it, many herbs like dryish roots so do well in pots - sage does tend to get leggy anyway, but will stand a lot of cutting back and then re-grows.

I'd say get the widest and deepest containers you can reasonably fit in - even ,metal will work if you line it with cardboard and drill holes in the bottom - or make some from scrap timber and line with roofing felt or plastic. Look after the roots of the plants and you've got a better shot at growing good ones.

May be ask around the allotment if anyone has existing plants they can spare- often sage will layer itself if a branch touches the ground, and lavender sometimes generates loads of seedlings in the right conditions.

[lolie]

You can't drive anything into the walls but are you allowed to bolt anything to the concrete bottom?

Almost all of my pots and beds are on concrete. It does get very stained, if that's going to be an issue for you (might be if your'e renting).