Whether you want to grow some healthy fruit and veg to enjoy eating each day or want to grow some vibrant blooms that you can enjoy outside or cut and bring indoors as a beautiful bouquet, you can easily achieve this no matter the size of your garden.
That’s because even the smallest outdoor space can benefit from container gardening. A tiny courtyard patio can be brightened up with cute tubs of spring flower bulbs for a splash of colour at this time of year. A balcony can smell fragrant with little pots of herbs that you can use in your cooking. Even a home with no garden at all can install window boxes and hanging baskets to grow seasonal blooms or succulent fresh strawberries.
So don’t let a lack of outdoor space stop you from achieving your dream garden. The spring is the perfect time to get started so here are some suggestions for growing vegetables, flowers and fruit in the smallest of spaces…
Potted veg patch
I’ve been very keen on growing my own fruit and veg ever since we dug our first veg patch in the garden around 5 years ago. I even decided to take on an allotment for a few years – which gave me much more space for planting.
However, during that time, I also discovered that more space equalled growing too much produce. I had more veggies than I could use or preserve plus, it was taking up a lot of time and effort to just maintain the plot – those summer weeds were crazy!
So this year I’m focusing on the smaller space in my own garden, which feels much more manageable – and therefore more enjoyable! I’m going back to planting veggies in containers and pots, which worked brilliantly before and meant that I didn’t end up with too much produce – yet still provided excess to pickle, freeze and share with friends and family.
The good thing about planting vegetable seeds in containers is that you can dot the pots around your courtyard patio or balcony to brighten up the space – bright leaves like rainbow chard and beetroot are just as pretty to look at as flowers when they’re potted up.
Sowing lettuce and planting tomatoes in pots also means you can have them close to your back door so that you can easily pop out to pick some fresh salad for your lunch. Plus, potted herbs can be grown indoors on a sunny windowsill so you’ve got them to hand while you’re cooking. I’ve previously shared a step-by-step guide to make this tiny mesh tunnel to protect your crops so have a look at that too.
I’d recommend planting carrots, parsnips and potatoes in deep containers so that they can grow long, whereas onions are almost on the surface of the soil, so you don’t need massive depth and can use a shallower tub that doesn’t need too much compost to fill it.
Likewise, strawberry plants don’t need too much depth so you can grow them in window planters or hanging baskets. They’ll look really pretty when flowering and fruiting and you can easily harvest a handful at a time for your breakfast.
By the way, you don’t need to buy expensive pots from the garden centre – anything can be used as a container for growing veg. I’ve previously used a drawer with a hanging rail above it to grow my tomato plants. And the little tunnel planter above was a small wall-hung shelving unit before I converted it into a salad planter!
Container cutting garden
If you love to have fresh flowers in your home, you can cut the cost of buying a weekly bouquet by creating your own cutting garden in your backyard. You might be imagining a vast patch of seasonal flowers when you think of a cutting garden, but you don’t need a lot of land to achieve this aim.
Seasonal pots are the way to go if you want to cut and arrange flowers in your interior. You can plant pots with daffodil bulbs a spring display that looks lovely outside and will be glorious when cut and brought inside too. This can be followed by tulips, lilies, gladioli and dahlias for bright colours throughout the year.
Plus, a tipi of sweetpeas doesn’t take up much space in a single pot and the flowers can be cut daily and will bloom over and over again all summer. Plus, it looks so pretty in your yard too and will smell amazing.
Don’t forget to plant a container with your favourite foliage for flower arranging too. A simple fern leaf or a sprig from an evergreen shrub can fill out your bouquet and is a plant-once-and-done option. If you’re growing herbs, why not add a stem of mint or lemon balm to the display for even more fresh fragrance in your home?
Another option is to plant bulbs in small pots that you grow outdoors but bring inside when they start flowering. That way, you’ll have a lovely display of colour in your home without ever having to cut the stems. Then you can move the pot outside again to continue growing until the following year and bring in the next pot to bloom.
I hope this has inspired you to try growing something in your small garden this year. Even if you only have space for a pot on your indoor windowsill, try growing a few herbs or pick-and-come-again salad leaves, or a single houseplant. The wellbeing benefits of growing houseplants are well-documented and it’ll give you a great sense of achievement when you watch them grow and bloom.
Please let me know in the comments below what you plan to plant this year, whether that’s in your little garden, courtyard, hanging basket or window box. I’d love to hear what you’re growing and how you’re getting on with it.
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