How to successfully grow a mini vegetable garden
Not much space? You just need a bit of organisation and a few tricks to obtain a small fun and plentiful vegetable garden – with or without an actual garden.
· On a small parcel of land, shape a square vegetable garden with sizes of 1m to 1m20 generally divided in boxes in which you can proceed with a culture rotation.
· On a terrace or balcony, in the countryside or the city, choose various pots depending on your chosen plants and vegetables to grow (wooden containers, terracotta pots, bags, plates covered with woven canvas or felt for a vertical garden...). Be careful to first ensure your balcony can withstand these installations’ weight!
What can I plant in a small vegetable garden?
Favour vegetables which grow and ripen quickly: cherry tomatoes of course, radish, peppers, chilis, smalls salads to cut such as mesclun or rocket, small cucumbers, gherkins... Do not forget aromatic plants by isolating mint well as it tends to invade everything. To begin, avoid those which take a lot of space (for example squashes) or those with small yields (peas, green beans).
Tricks to successfully grow a hanging vegetable garden
1. For squares on the flour or raised with feet, plan 15 to 20-cm size boards minimum.
2. At the bottom of your chosen container, spread a few layers of clay balls of 2-3cm to stabilise the ground layer.
3. Cover these balls with a soil adapted to growing vegetables, enriched with organic material to fertilise it. The two are sold in garden centres.
4. As you would for any garden, think thoroughly about what you want to grow before sowing or planting, remembering friends and foes: some plants love to grow together helping each other out – whereas others can’t stand each other!
5. Do not hesitate to mulch the soil (straw, hay, dead leaves...) to protect the soil and nourish it but also to keep the humidity and thus limit the times you water it (soil gets dry quicker in raised gardens).