You can also harvest a lot from small beds if you follow a few tips. We have put together some tips and tricks on how to get the most out of a small garden. This makes gardening fun and satisfying, even in small vegetable patches!
Tips for Saving Space in a Small Garden:
If you only have a small area available, you can grow vegetables that require little space. For example, you can grow runner beans instead of bush beans. These tend to use the space vertically and do not spread out so lushly over the small bed. The same applies if you plant pole tomatoes instead of bush tomatoes. If you would like to Create a New Small Vegetable Patch, we have summarized some tips for you in our article. You can also find a list of vegetables that don't take up too much space here. So you can grow lots of vegetables in a small space.
With our digital bed planner, you can easily plan a diverse mixed crop. Companion plants are displayed directly and you get tips on succession planting and crop rotation!
Plan a Bed NowIt can also make sense to grow vegetables that can be harvested for a particularly long time. This way you can make the most of the limited space in your garden, at least in terms of time! Vegetables with a long harvest time include
This first bed has been designed so that you can grow many different types of vegetables in a small area. You can plant a total of approx. 5 kohlrabi, 2 chard, 5 peas, 2 Chinese cabbage, 7 leeks, 20 carrot plants and a few radishes in a bed measuring 120 x 200 cm/47 x 79 in.
This bed plan is suitable for long, narrow beds, for example in a terraced house garden. You can accommodate a lot of plants in this small bed measuring 1 x 2.5 m/1.1 x 2.7 in: Approx. 12 carrots, 8 radishes, 2 runner beans, 5 kohlrabi, 2 rows of spinach, 3 chard plants, as well as savory. If there are any gaps, these can also be filled with more kohlrabi plants.
If you also want to go vertical to make the most of the height of your beds, you can try this "layered bed". Here, 2 - 3 runner beans and 2 - 3 tomato plants form the top layer. Underneath, you can either add more cabbage plants or sow herbs such as basil or savory.
Here you can find more examples for your small vegetable garden and how you can efficiently use the space you have.
To make the best possible use of the limited space, we have put together some tips on how you can also use the vertical plane.
Small and narrow raised beds can give small gardens more structure and make them appear larger. You can also save space with raised beds: Planting cucumbers, small pumpkins, strawberries or other hanging plants on the edge not only looks beautiful, but also makes use of the vertical level.
With this vertical bed design, you can decorate your house wall, for example. Not only does it look great, but it also saves a lot of space in small gardens. You can also create vertical beds like this on the south side of garden walls. You can either buy special devices for hanging beds or make them yourself from an old garden fence and flower pots. The pots are attached to the slats of the fence and then planted. Kitchen herbs, bush tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, strawberries, lettuce and many other vegetable plants are suitable for planting. Just give it a try! Read more about vertical farming in our article Growing Zucchinis Vertically to Save Space: Ideas and Tips.
Once again, the vertical plane is utilized. Here you can create artificial levels that resemble a staircase. You can then plant these steps. In narrow terraced house gardens, the sides of the garden are ideal for this design method. This also creates a visual separation from the neighboring garden.
It is important to choose plants that have a certain ornamental value all year round. For example, small woody species that flower in spring and have great leaf color in autumn are suitable. Examples of this are the witch hazel or the rock pear. You should also make sure to plant tall shrubs such as dwarf lilacs or roses, as these do not take up as much space. Larger trees should not be planted in a small garden. Only columnar cherries or miniature patio fruit trees are suitable for small gardens. You can also plant espalier fruit trees on a narrow strip next to the house wall.
Mixed Cultivation is particularly suitable for small gardens, as taller climbing plants can be planted alongside flat-growing ground cover plants. This also shifts the bed into the horizontal plane. In addition, a colorful, mixed vegetable patch looks larger than a monotonous patch with only one or two types of vegetables.
I hope I have answered all your questions about your small vegetable garden. If you have any questions or comments, please write to us at [email protected].
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Fryd - your digital bed planner
Isabell studies agricultural sciences and loves to be surprised by nature and its complexity again and again. Herbs - whether gathered wild or in the garden - are her passion.
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Hello everyone 🪱 On my balcony on the 3rd floor there is also #groundlife 🤗 I lifted a pot today and saw this - the slugs were sent on a direct flight to the park 🛩, the rest can of course stay 😋 Fun fact about the earthworm: It must have escaped from the large beds...I have a worm composter in the kitchen and of course fertilize my plants with the yield - I release worms from time to time. Don't worry, they survive and multiply in the large beds/tubs and loosen up the soil for me on top! They also easily get through the winter 🤗 And some other worms are probably romping around under the stone slabs 🤷🏻♀️ An earthy/loamy substrate is spread under the stone slabs, so it's perfectly clear 👍🏻 This makes gardening fun - even on a balcony 🤗
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At the moment, beautiful giant mushrooms are growing in the colonization area of a former oak tree in our garden. Exactly where I started two years ago to create the area for insects, lizards and co. So the colonization of the roots is underway. #soillife Now that everything is slowly receding, I'll do the devil to disturb the creatures for a photo. Autumn is only partially suitable for such a challenge. Unfortunately, I don't have the right photographic equipment like #Blausternchen. She always takes enchanting photos. What would be even more interesting, of course, is the mycelium, which is built up underground like a highway and interacts with its surroundings. But even so, the giant spore, which is probably also edible when young, is a handsome-looking fruiting body and enriches my garden.
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I got an allotment at the start of July, we all know how much compost that takes so I got a wormery. Very excited to see the progress, had a couple escape artists the first night! 🪱 My allotment has some massive mushrooms growing at the top. #soillife
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