Garden

Love Gardening But Only Have A Small Garden? Here Are Some Of The Best Space-Saving Crops

March 17, 2021

If you’re green fingered, then having a small garden or allotment space shouldn’t stop you from gardening to your heart’s content, nor does it mean that you only have to focus on one type of produce. There are many crops that take up little room in your garden, so if you’re serious about saving space, then you can actually end up fitting quite a few different types of produce.

Space-saving crops may have an upright or compact growth, or they could even be climbers. Here are some great ideas for plants that don’t take up much space:

Lettuce

You’ll never have a boring salad again when you start growing your own lettuce. This type of crop might seem like a basic option, but lettuce comes in all different shapes, sizes and colours, giving you the variety that’s so essential when you’re working with a small space.

From sweet, crunchy Romaine, to loose leaf Lolla Rossa, to the striking read butterhead of merlot, the options are endless, and you’ll find yourself enjoying your lunchtime salad a whole lot more.

Pole Beans

The great thing about pole beans is that they’re vines, meaning that they grow vertically. Simply plant their seed where you want them to grow, ideally keeping them close by to a trellis that they can climb.

Plants that grow vertically are great for saving space, and they’re also more likely to provide clean, straight fruits. Trellised crops also make for easy harvesting, since you don’t have to bend down to tend to your plants.

Little Fields Farm offer garden netting which provides great support for all climbers, while also being environmentally friendly. Their pea netting has the bonus of being 100% biodegradable which means no untangling of plants all year round.

Eggplant

Eggplants are incredibly compact and can easily fit into a small pot or planter. There are also dozens of different varieties to choose from, so you can have some fun figuring out which taste you prefer the best.

To grow your eggplants, sow your seeds indoors and use heat at the base of the seedling trays for better germination. You can then transplant the seeds into pots and planters in time for the warmer weather.

Hot Peppers

Hot peppers are also brilliantly ornamental and compact, making them perfect for window boxes and small gardens or allotments. Once again, the huge variety of peppers means that you have the freedom to decide on your favorite, with some being hotter than others.

Some peppers, like the Black Hungarian peppers, are accompanied by beautiful purple flowers which will look great in your window box. As they grow, the fruit first turns green, before changing to black, and then red.

As the Black Hungarian can grow quite tall, it’s probably best to not keep them in your window box for too long. However, there are other types of pepper which grow much more compactly, like Patio Fire peppers. These ones will fit perfectly in a window box.

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