Any clever tricks to get summer and winter veg in a very small garden?

[Richard Eldritch]

I like all the summer stuff but wondered if it was possible to grow winter brassicas in pots untill the summer veg has been harvested and then plant them out? I hate looking at empty beds after september. Any ideas?
Cheers
Rich

[Two_Sheds]

you can, but you need to get sowing them in April/May, don't leave it too late.

Today I crammed my brassicas into a mixed bed alongside lettuce (which will be out by August) and parsnips which don't take up as much foliage room as the brassicas.

The brassicas have a bit of bare stalk (say 6"-12"), so it's easy to put something shorter around them. They do take up a lot of ground for a long time, but are well worth it when there's not much else to be had from the garden Feb-April

[Richard Eldritch]

you can, but you need to get sowing them in April/May, don't leave it too late.

Today I crammed my brassicas into a mixed bed alongside lettuce (which will be out by August) and parsnips which don't take up as much foliage room as the brassicas

I've got some sprouts and purple broc going in modules, but I'll have to get a move on with the Kale I think. I suspect that trying to keep them in pots and fed and watered for so long will be a lot of work and prevent me from leaving them on holiday.... I suppose I could just settle for some Winter density lettuce and some spring greens for winter.

[bretty666]

I sometimes use my over and under scheme(probably not my idea but iv never read aboit it..so im claiming it..)where i have root veg i will intercrop with above ground veg or fast veg. as already mentioned it can depend on foliage too. you wouldnt plant rdish between rows of alredy established sweetcorn for exanple..there is the old 3 sisters method of peas growing up corn stems with squash growing underneath to surpress weeds..but be expectes to feed well..aswell as conpeting for space they will be compteing doe nutrients (advice i received off bill HH) parsnips are root veg with thin leaves so put radish between rows ..or lettuce..try celery between each potatoe but 'on the ridge ' and not in the groove where you will earth up from. Last year i put turnips between my sweetcorn and never again will subject my sweetcorn to over crowding. i have put spring onions between my sweeds and celery between garlic and onions..anything that atracts bugs gets put between onions or garlic for me..hope this has helped..im quite a newbie with only really two years experience..but i have piced up alot on here!!

[Kristen]

I don't know anything about Square Foot Gardening, but I wonder if they have any tried-and-trusted suggestions that you could cherry-pick / pinch?

[bearded bloke]

We have a thread about that ^^^ ......... http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ing_44388.html ..

[AllInContainers]

I don't plant in the ground, and find that gives me a lot of flexibility to adapting to changes in the garden. However, I have decided (for now at least) that crops such as brassicas are not necessarily an efficient plant in a small space ... or at least for what I want to achieve in my garden. I also didn't want to be sitting out with a glass of red looking at a load of netting

That said, I've not ruled out moving back to more traditional crops in the future. Having learned a bit more about individual plants and how I can cram them in and make them work together, if I was to try again I'd probably try to create something akin to what I have in my current "veg" area.

Basically (sticking with pots, as that's all I know), I'd have the winter veg to the back against a wall/fence with appropriate companion plants. Sage with the brassicas to discourage cabbage whites would be an example. In front of those I'd tier down not just in respect of height, but also in respect of season. In effect my current strategy is to try and create a deep but portable border. At the front are the early crops, and when they're done I shift the pots out of the way to get to the crops behind, and so on.

For example, I currently have Jerusalem artichokes and dahlia yams and queensland arrowroot going in (all very tall, late harvested crops), with a persimmon tree growing above them all - but I won't be able to get to any of them (other than squirting water over to them) for the hyacinth beans, asparagus peas, and midget melons etc which will need access much earlier. Once the first frost come, I'll just scrap off all the stuff in front and have full access to the late roots and fruits behind which will have been doing their thing untended all year This allows a very dense planting arrangement, but of course if I did that with brassicas at the back, I wouldn't be able to pick off any caterpillars, so the other countermeasures would need to be foolproof. Plus, being in pots, if I really DID need to access something at the back for any reason, I could shuffle the front stuff aside to create access - not something that can be achieved with planting out

[AllInContainers]

I've also done more "seasonal layering" in other parts of the garden too. Troughs of (wild garlic) emerge in spring but will be shaded out when the trees and bushes around and in front of them come into leaf. Troughs and pots of Chinese Artichokes are being tucked into the harder to reach areas too, as I'll not need to access them till well after everything has gone dormant again.

Small narrow troughs of mini daffs and muscari (and the ramsons) will hopefully add a bit of colour before everything else wakes up again. Shaded areas allow me to try growing winter berries in the form of Gaultheria Procumbens and to some extent, Barberry, and as I'll not need to access these till the end of the season, I can cram a load of stuff in front of those too. Some of the trees and bushes that I'm not expecting a harvest from as they're too young, will be tucked away at the back of something productive till it's old enough to fill that space itself and naturally bring itself to the front, but I'll no doubt still "under plant" it with pots of edible daylillies or somesuch. All it takes is a bit of thought and a bit of jiggery pokery and you'll eventually end up with something that suits your needs

[Potstubsdustbins]

I grow cauli's, calabrese, PSB, curly kale and spring cabbage all in containers of one sort or another.

As I harvest my spuds from the bins my PSB and curly kale take their place. When the peas have finished in goes the spring cabbage. Here I have the advantage that there are only two of us so we do not need a full sized cabbage for a meal. I therefore plant them very close together and harvest every other one as they become large enough for a meal. As the season goes on they get larger and therefore will provide more than one meal, this way in a good year I can have fresh greens from late Dec through to late March.

Potty