Hi! Tiny Gardener here….If you’ve been following me over the past couple of months you will know I have been preparing my tiny garden for this years spring planting, taking on the challenge of seeing how much I can grow in a small space.
So the day finally arrived and I received my plant delivery. Due to the size of my plot I am sharing the delivery with a friend, who also has a small container garden. So I contacted her to come and collect her plants too. Unpacking all the lovely plugs together was so much fun, although we soon discovered that it’s very easy to lose track of which variety is which when unpacking multiple lettuce plants!
I have planted into my 3 beds: the larger one (pictured above with the cloche tunnel) is about 3m x 1m and then I have two smaller ones 1m x 1m and 1m x 30cm. I also have some potatoes growing in two large pots and I couldn’t resist going out and collecting a few smaller pots for planting single plants in too.
I began with the largest bed, and planted up a few varieties of lettuce and some Cylindra Beetroot (Which I chose as they are really space-saving). I’ve fitted a lot in, and labelled neatly with lollipop sticks. I decided to keep the cloche over the top, mainly to keep the cat out but also because it has still been quite chilly at night. I open it up in the daytime and close it at night for now. As it gets a bit warmer I may remove the cover altogether but keep the frame in place in case I need to do some more cat proofing.
In the smallest bed (1m x 30cm) I planted Dwarf Runner Bean plants and a row of Dwarf Orinoco French Beans too. These have a good clear fence to grow up but I inserted some bamboo canes at the back as extra support. Depending on how tall these grow I may need to add more support when the plants get bigger but I am going to see how it goes as they may not need any support at all.
In the remaining spaces, I’ve squeezed in some Dwarf Peas, two purple Kale plants, some Tomatoes (Outdoor Girl variety) and some more lettuces. Oh, and some Basil plants in pots on my conservatory windowsill. Having these plants in there has made the room smell amazing!
I’m so pleased with how much I’ve been able to fit in already, and it is so satisfying seeing all the plants are in the ground, neatly in their rows. Now all I have to do is fend off all the invaders that descend on my plot to either eat or disturb them growing. I won’t be taking any chances this time round, I’m going to be building some cat defences and finding out how best to deal with the night-time visits from the army of slugs! Watch this space….