Inspiration for small spaces

6 Pins

Vertical Veg

an older man is watering plants in his garden

Salad Herbs

How To Grow Vegetables

Keeping Up Appearances

Healthy Herbs

Why grow food at home in containers on a balcony, patio or other piece of concrete? One of the things I love about it is that the plants are quite literally on your doorstep so you can enjoy them every day (the photo is my front yard that I walk through every time I Ieave the house). You can pop out and pick a salad or herbs for dinner - in just a couple of minutes while you wait for a pan of water to boil. And you get the chance to witness all the bees and other insects that visit.

a close up of a purple flower on a plant

Look at these exquisite fava bean (broad bean) flowers. I was growing these for microgreens and potted up a few plants in a larger container to see what would happen.... I didn't guess they'd have such pretty flowers. The variety is Maris Bead, grown from dried beans sold by @Hodmedods for cooking. Now I can't wait to try the fresh beans when ready.

This is Emma's back yard in Newcastle. It’s a lovely example of a pretty kitchen container garden with both herbs, veg and flowers. The tulips (which have edible flowers - they taste just like peas!) are growing in upcycled beer kegs from a local pub - and will be replaced by tomatoes in the summer.⁠ ⁠ Emma created this after attending some of my street workshops. ⁠

a man is holding a basket full of greens in front of some houses and trees

Very happy to be picking decent sized salads from the containers in the front yard again. Today: rocket, lambs lettuce, mustard red frills, land cress and chives. Having survived the hard winter, they all taste excellent at this time of year.

Three reasons to grow edible flowers in your container garden: 1. Edible flowers add colour and beauty to any space. 2. Many edible flowers are tasty. Nasturtiums have a good spicy kick, chives have a nice onion flavour, coriander flowers are intensely coriandery, and society garlic flowers are, well, extremely garlicky. 3. Edible flowers support pollinating insects. Bees absolutely love borage, sage and rosemary flowers, while hoverflies are drawn to dill and pot marigold.