You don’t need a large area to grow a plentiful supply of home-grown vegetables. With a few containers, good quality potting mix and a sunny spot, you can create your own mini-garden.
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Plant size and the yield are the most important things in a small garden. I suggest you concentrate on high yielding vegetables that are easy to grow. Also, quick-maturing crops should be planted because while they’re not always the heaviest croppers, these vegetables will make up for this with a quick turnover.
Tomatoes are probably the best crop for the small garden. A planting of several different varieties can provide tomatoes over a six-month period. The cropping ability of the zucchini is well known with two or three plants being sufficient for a endless supply of this fast-growing marrow.
Beans need cool growing conditions but yield heavily. French climbing beans are quite useful, producing three to five times the beans the dwarf varieties do. Dwarf beans on the other hand grow quickly and crop fairly heavily. Pot-grown runner beans are very productive and their eye-catching scarlet flowers allow them to double as ornamental plants.
Beetroot is not only one of the best vegetables for your health but can be harvested early as baby beets. Varieties of baby carrots supply many meals from a small space but the larger varieties are not usually successful and tend to fail when planted in containers.
One broccoli plant can yield for about a month making it a good stand-by crop. Miniature cabbages can be grown in containers with spacings of ten plants per square metre of space. Some quick-growing types will mature in as little as ten weeks.
Cucumbers, pumpkins and squash are all readily available in varieties that are compact growers suitable for small areas. Capsicums are worthy as they can be eaten in small quantities even though the total number produced may be relatively small.
Lettuces grow quickly so if you make regular small plantings of suitable varieties, fresh, crisp leaves can be picked all year round. Asian greens are another good producer as is the fast-growing radish taking only three to four weeks until they are ready for picking.
The best onions to grow are quick-growing and -maturing spring onions and shallots. Garlic grows well in pots too.
Silverbeet gives large quantities of stems from a few plants for many months with the ornamental coloured stem types being particularly attractive. Spinach is another green vegetable suitable for containers.
Plant pots of parsley, chives, coriander, thyme and marjoram for months of continuous flavour. Feed regularly with a soluble fertiliser.
These vegetables are just some of what can be grown in containers but with enthusiasm and experience you will find more suited to this type of small garden.
Diary
September 1: The Westbury Garden Club’s Spring Flower Show at the Westbury Town Hall, Lyall Street, from 1.30pm to 4pm. Admission $2, afternoon teas $5.
September 15-16: The Launceston Horticultural Society presents its Spring Show featuring daffodils and camellias at St. Ailbe’s Hall, Margaret Street, Launceston. Saturday 2pm -5pm and Sunday 10am-4pm. Admission adults $3.
September 18: Australian Plant Society meets at the Max Fry Hall on Gorge Rd, Trevallyn at 7.30pm. Speaker Ian Thomas’ topic is Paleobotany of NE Tasmania. Visitors welcome.
September 19: The Launceston Horticultural Society meets at Windmill Hill Hall, High Street, Launceston at 8pm. Guest speaker is Mark Hay with new nursery plants for spring. Home-made supper.
September 20: The Launceston Orchid Society meets at the Newnham Uniting Church Hall, George Town Road, Launceston at 7pm.