Getting started growing your own food

Whatever the size of your growing space, there is a tiny square where you can grow something you can eat. Whether it’s herbs on a windowsill, a dwarf fruit bush on a balcony or a planter on a patio, starting to grow edibles can be a hugely rewarding and an accessible way of making your fingers a little greener.

I am the very fortunate holder of an 11x5 meter allotment not far from my home, but before I had this space I could dedicate to growing food, I grew a good range of vegetables and fruit in pots and planters on our mini patio space. I also interspersed edible plants into our small beds; using rosemary, sage and thyme as shrubs, and planting dwarf cherry trees and raspberry bushes amongst perennial flowers.

Sweetcorn and beetroot growing in a large bucket planter. An old red plastic tub for mini carrots which I rescued from a skip.

Peas, dwarf beans and runner beans in a long wooden planter. A red tiered planter for strawberry plants is tucked behind.

I’m not going to pretend that you can grow enough to completely feed a family in a small space (check out this article from GrowVeg on how much space you would need to grow all your own fruit and veg - far beyond most households), but even the tiniest of contributions can make a difference to your everyday. Fresh herbs can change your regular meals, homegrown fruit can be cheaper than store-bought and a handful of lettuce or green beans can save you money on your grocery shop.

Here are my top tips on growing your own food in even the smallest of spaces.

Pick the right varieties

With a smaller space, think smaller varieties. Instead of standard carrots, think about trying a round cultivar such as Rondo, which can be grown in shallower pots. Dwarf French bean varieties such as Maxi take up little space and crop really well. If you would like to bring fruit into your growing space, choose a shorter variety which has been developed for growing on a patio, such as cherry Stella or apple James Grieve. In a small 2x1m patio space, I have managed to comfortably house a peach tree, a lemon tree, a blueberry bush and a mini herb garden and I’m not done yet!

It’s also worth searching for vegetables which crop quickly, such as radishes, pea shoots and lettuce, as well as those which grow vertically and therefore don’t take up as much floor space (including runner beans, beans and cucumbers). You ideally want the food you grow to be maximised in the small space you have, so plants which are going to either deliver quickly, or will provide a lot of edible material over a significant period of time (such as kale, cavelo nero and bush varieties of courgette) are key.

A dwarf summer raspberry happy in a patio pot.

Plant complementary combinations

When giving over valuable space to growing food, you want to maximise the return on the soil. With a little bit of clever planning, you can double your returns on the same space by interplanting different types of vegetables, combining those which will grow and crop quickly in the space between other plants which will take longer to grow. By the time the larger plant has stretched out, your quick-cropping varieties will be on your plate! For example, planting radishes in between squash plants is a great way to use the bare soil and space which will be needed for the squash leaves to grow to their full potential. While your squash plants are small, you can grow radishes (just 6 weeks from planting to eating!) around your squash plant, knowing that by the time this gets to full size and overtakes the space, you’ll have already been chomping down on some spicy-salad goodness. Other quick-cropping veggies include pea shoots (regular pea seeds, just harvested for their delicious early leaves rather than the peas), lettuce, rocket, baby beetroot and pak choi.

I highly recommend the book Grow All You Can Eat In 3 Square Feet, which I found in a local charity shop for £2. It is packed full of planting combinations to maxmise your food-growing space and I still regularly refer to it for advice and inspiration.

A highly recommended book that I turn to again and again for vegetable combination recommendations.

As well as making the most of bare soil, you can also combine crops which will benefit one another as they grow. A famous growing combo is the ‘three sisters’ method, developed by indigenous communities throughout North America, where squash, sweetcorn and and climbing beans are grown together. The cornstalks serve as a trellis for climbing beans, the beans fix nitrogen in their root nodules and stabilise the sweetcorn in high winds, and the wide leaves of the squash plant shade the ground, keeping the soil moist and helping prevent the establishment of weeds.

You can also use planting combinations to help manage pests which would love to have a good chew on your produce. For example, leeks and carrots together; leeks deter carrot root fly, and carrots deter onion fly and leek moth. Marigolds release a scent that deters nematodes and other pests from tomatoes, sage can help repel cabbage moths and other pests from brassicas and chives deter aphids, carrot fly, and spider mites (plus their flowers look amazing along the front of a border). Check out this great article from The Natural Grower on plants which can help deter veggie-eating pests in your outside space.

Think outside the box

When you’re growing in a small space, you need to optimise the containers you use. They may need to be lighter in order to be moved around for access, or perhaps they need to be a certain shape to fit an awkward corner.

Try to think about every surface as an opportunity for growth. Can balcony railings be used as upright supports to train climbing beans? Could you grow strawberry plants in rows of guttering on a narrow outside wall? If your bin store has a roof, can you add a planter to the top for shallow-rooting herbs and lettuce? You can even hang grow bags from hooks for potatoes, fruit and leafy veg. I recommend following Mark Ridsdill Smith @vertical_veg for great advice on container gardening.

Grow what you actually like to eat

It may feel simple to say, but when space is premium, focus on the food you actually enjoy putting on your plate. If your children chomp cucumber like there’s no tomorrow, try one or two plants on a sunny windowsill. If you love creating flavourful curries, grow a range of chillies in old yogurt tubs. If you don’t tend to eat salads and much prefer steamed greens, don’t bother sewing lettuce seeds as you just won’t find time to pot them on. You’ll find you have more motivation to care for and grow edibles which you can see yourself using every day.

I love growing fruit, vegetables and herbs and am here to help if you’d like some guidance on what you could grow in your urban space. Get in touch today to start planning your space and incorporating edibles into your city garden.