Small vegetable garden? Grow what's expensive to buy and quick to pick

In a small vegetable garden, grow the crops that are expensive to buy, taste far better fresh, and keep cropping for weeks. Salad leaves, herbs, climbing beans, cherry tomatoes, courgettes, chard and kale all earn their space. Leave maincrop potatoes, onions and cabbages to the shops.

The best small gardens are planned so nothing sits empty, and something is always ready to pick.

Three questions for every crop

1. Is it expensive to buy? Fresh herbs, salad bags, cherry tomatoes and fine beans are. Potatoes, onions and carrots aren’t.
2. Is it much better fresh? Sweetcorn, peas, new potatoes and salad lose flavour within hours of picking.
3. Does it crop for a long time? A kale plant can be picked for months. A cabbage is picked once.

A crop that ticks two or three boxes deserves a place.

Crops that earn their space

Crop	Why	Space
Salad leaves	Cut three or four times per sowing	A short row or a trough
Herbs	Expensive to buy, picked a little at a time	Pots or the edge of a bed
Climbing beans	Grow upwards, crop for weeks	A wigwam takes about 1 m² (10 sq ft)
Cherry tomatoes	Crop all summer, far better than shop ones	One per large pot
Courgettes	Two plants feed a household	About 1 m² (10 sq ft) each
Chard	Picked leaf by leaf for months	30 cm (12 in) apart
Kale	Picked all winter	45 cm (18 in) apart
Strawberries	Fruit you’d pay a lot for	Pots or a bed edge
Spring onions and radishes	Fill gaps between slower crops	Anywhere

Crops to skip

• Maincrop potatoes. Lots of space for a cheap crop. Grow a few earlies in potato bags instead.
• Onions. Cheap to buy, and they sit in the bed for months.
• Cabbages and cauliflowers. Big plants, one harvest each.
• Winter squash and pumpkins. They sprawl for metres. Grow one on a trellis if you must.
• Parsnips and Brussels sprouts. In the ground for most of the year.

Making a small space go further

• Grow up. Beans, peas, cucumbers and even small squash climb trellis, fences and wigwams.
• Plant closely. In a well-fed raised bed, square foot gardening spacing fits far more plants than rows.
• Sow little and often. Succession sowing gives a steady supply instead of a glut.
• Fill gaps fast. When one crop comes out, have the next ready in a module to go straight in.
• Use pots. Patios, steps and walls hold herbs, tomatoes, chillies and strawberries.

A year in one small bed

A single 1.2 m (4 ft) square bed might grow:

• Spring: salad leaves, radishes, spring onions and early peas.
• Summer: a climbing bean wigwam, two tomato plants, a courgette, basil and lettuce.
• Autumn and winter: kale, chard, winter salads and garlic planted for next year.

For more on planning one bed, see how to plan a raised bed.