Put your small garden patch to good use by growing veg | Gardening

People are asking me how to grow vegetables in a small garden and this includes quite a few people who are on waiting lists for allotments.
Brian has some top tips on how you can grow French beans in a small space. Picture: PABrian has some top tips on how you can grow French beans in a small space. Picture: PA
Brian has some top tips on how you can grow French beans in a small space. Picture: PA

By law, local authorities are compelled to provide allotments but they can shy away from their responsibility because there is a shortage of land. But if we look around, we can see pieces of land which could be used as allotments.

Let’s look at flats surrounded with grass, how about planting some runner beans in the border against your flat? If there isn’t grass, there must be a pathway. Is there room to put a growing bag on the path?

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We can grow some runner beans or climbing French beans if you prefer those. Get hold of a lunch box and put a piece of absorbent kitchen paper into the base of the box and soak the paper. Put the runner bean seeds on to the wet paper and then put another piece of wet paper on to the seeds. After a couple of days the seeds will swell and about seven days later, a root will emerge from the bean seeds. Put each seedling into a little pot or cell.

Runner bean seeds can be planted right now. To do so, put in some eight-foot high canes and plant one runner bean on the inside of the cane. Water them and you will be picking runner beans in late July.

Going back to allotments, if you are offered an allotment which measures 30 feet by 10 feet, here is what you can grow this year. Runner beans on a wigwam, and three courgettes trained to go up a wigwam. Pick the courgettes when they are small otherwise they will turn into marrows and will cause the wigwam to collapse! Three ridge cucumbers trained up another wigwam shape. Five potatoes, a row of a lettuce called Salad Bowl – this is the variety which is left in the ground and the leaves are cut off with scissors. Six plants will be enough to supply lettuce leaves for a family for the entire summer.

A row of radish and a row of turnips, or carrots or beetroot all of these can be planted now. In such a small area it's best to concentrate on vegetables which produce a good yield. Forget about herbs, they take up valuable space and most of them have to remain in the ground permanently.

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It’s amazing what can be grown in a space of 90 feet by 30 feet (this is the size of a normal allotment). It’s a wonderful opportunity for someone who has been on the allotments waiting list for a long time but this will give you time to save up £30 to buy a strawberry tower, which will allow 32 plants to be grown in this tower which takes very little space. A strawberry barrel will produce about 30 pounds of strawberries.

The plants are available at garden centres all in bloom with fruits forming already, a little bit of instant crop production. Use height to create space. Strawberry plants can be grown in 15 inch diameter hanging baskets. John Innes compost is a good choice, planting five round the outside of the basket and 3 in the top. Slugs wont be able to devour the fruits but fine netting may be required to prevent birds eating the berries.

Questions and answers

Q: Please can you tell me the name of this shrub please? It has pink, heart shaped buds. JH, via email.

A: This magnificent evergreen shrub is called Crinodendron Hookerii. Thank you for the lovely pictures.

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Q: How can I get rid of grape hyacinths from my garden please? SM, via email.

A: Pick off every seed head before removing the underground bulbs. Use a stainless steel hand fork and with all the patience you have, dig out small clumps and put these into a bucket as there will be hundreds of very tiny bulbs. Take them to the recycling centre. Never put them into the countryside.

Q: My compost bin has a layer of slugs on the top and I want to use the compost but don’t want to allow the slugs and their eggs to ruin the plants. BR, via email.

A: Some readers will not like this suggestion: pour a kettle of boiling water over them.

Jobs for the weekend

Here’s a to-do list:

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- As the early blooms of roses die off, remove the dead petals and seed heads. Put them into the compost bin, never leave them on the soil – this encourages massive attacks of black spot disease.

- Spray the roses late in the evening with Multirose to keep pests and diseases at bay.

- Plant out mid season Brussels sprouts, not closer than two foot and six inches apart.

- Keep a sharp eye out for flea beetle on all types of cabbages, wallflowers and stocks. These tiny creatures hop all over the plants causing brown blistered edges on the leaves and if left unchecked multiply rapidly. The answer is to use ant killer dust over the foliage.

- Have you got a compost bin? It’s about time you did! Use one part urine to seven parts water every time you add a gallon measure of waste material which you want to turn into excellent compost.

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