How to Grow a Veggie Garden with Limited Space!

So many folks are turning to the home garden when food costs keep rising. But what do you do if your garden just isn’t big enough? Or you don’t have enough time to maintain a big garden?

Your first step is going to be figuring out what you really have to work with. If you have an apartment with a patio or back porch, you may be able to fit some pots out in a sunny spot. How many pots will you be able to fit? Or maybe you do have a yard but it's not very big and you only want to allocate so many feet to the garden. For gardeners with space-a-plenty but little time or energy to spare, it may be helpful to simply limit the garden to a smaller plot.

Plan for Productivity

Lets face it, whether you have a green thumb or not, some plants are just more rewarding to grow. Plant what you want to eat! I recommend the following:

Tomato - You can't beat the taste of home-grown tomato! Super versatile, fresh, canned or frozen. Varieties like ‘Roma’ grow to a petite height of just 2-3 feet. Perfect for pots! If you do have space in a garden bed or in-ground, I would say just 2 plants is very rewarding. In our area I do not recommend starting from seed unless you want to try out a unique variety that isn’t typically available at your local nursery. I say this because I would not consider tomatoes an easy seed to start and for most people it just isn't worth the trouble.  Where to source your young plants? I recommend Lorina’s Edible Garden in Escalon or Frantz garden Center in Hickman. 

Green Bean - Get bush varieties instead of vines! Another versatile and easy to store option! Lots of bang for your buck as they easily grow from seed! One short row is all you need! I highly recommend the variety ‘Provider’ from Johnny's Select Seed. They're too easy! Direct sow outdoors once the weather warms up and in just a matter of days you’ll see seedlings popping up! 

Zucchini - This is the larger of the options but I had to include due to how easy these plants are! One plant will be 2-3 feet wide and produce over and over again all season! This is another easy plant to start from seed and there are so many fun varieties online. Check out rareseeds.com. My personal favorite at the moment is 'Zephyr' a zucchini with a green top and yellow bottom.

Tip: The larger the seed, the bigger the seedling, the easier to grow! Not a seed pro? Try some big seeded plants first, like sunflower or squash!  

Other Considerations

Knowing how many plants you can fit in your space is going to be the final piece of the puzzle. Here are a few tricks for maximizing your small space and saving time:

If pots are in the plan; Veggies need lots of water. Plastic containers don’t pull moisture from soil like terracotta does, meaning less time watering!

Don’t be afraid to crowd! Some plants don’t mind growing side by side as long as they’re not competing for sunshine! You can also crowd plants closer by utilizing their sunlight preferences. For example: lettuce is hard to grow in full sun, but it’ll do just fine hiding under the shade of your taller tomato plants. 

Visualize! Draw out a little doodle of your space. How many feet will your garden take up? Where will you plant items so that they don't compete for sun? Take your time and make sure you're happy with the plan.