Planning the Layout of the Kitchen Garden

Window sills, balconies and roof terraces can yield great vegetable crops if the right veg. Rocket, chard, parsley, tomatoes, mint, thyme, basil and chives are chosen that are all good candidates.



There is no need to confine vegetable to one specific place if there is a tiny garden: lettuce can be grown as edging along borders as there are so many varieties available to grow a work of art for which the Thompson & Morgan seed catalogue cover gives a good idea; or French and runner beans that grow up trellises, in pots or up string on wooden fences - they’re worth growing for their flowers alone. Some vegetables even help in cultivating better soil - potatoes are excellent for opening up compacted soil so they help improve the turf in a neglected garden. The possibilities are endless.



If there are more rooms, a plot can be taken and split it into narrow beds divided by paths so that there is never any need to walk on the cultivated soil. This is known as the "bed system" and is the most popular of layouts. The bed system has many benefits: crop rotation is easier because it is known exactly what went where and vegetables can be planted closer together than the instructions on the packets suggest because the soil will be in a good condition; and you can apply compost, manures and fertilizers exactly where they are needed. If there are raised beds the topsoil is deeper and the drainage is better.



Soil provides nutrients for plants and allows the roots to anchor the plant so that they can take up water and air – like humans, roots need oxygen too. "Good" soil is made up of 50 per cent soil, 25 per cent water and 25 per cent air – and it is not impossible to create.



There are two ways to improve the quality of the soil: the dig and the no-dig system. The dig system, as the name suggests, means digging manure or compost into the ground every autumn. The no-dig system means just putting the organic matter (this means it’s made of material that has lived, so leaves that have rotted down, kitchen waste, grass clippings, chicken or cow manure) on top of the soil in autumn. Earthworms drag it down into the soil and mix it up - so it's great for people with back problems. As earthworms move about the soil they improve its structure by creating more air passages. As a result the soil particles don’t stick together as much and the roots find the soil easier to grow into.