Small space gardening is about using every centimetre well. A tiny garden, a patio, a balcony or a courtyard can grow a surprising amount of food and flowers if you choose the right crops, grow upwards as well as outwards, and keep the ground productive all season. The limits are real — you cannot grow everything, and large crops such as sweetcorn and pumpkins are a poor use of a small plot — but a small space that is well planned will often produce more per square metre than a large garden that is half empty. This guide covers the methods that make small spaces work.
Start by measuring your space and watching the sun. Note how many hours of direct sun each part gets, where the shade falls, and where the wind comes from. South-facing walls and fences are the warmest, sunniest spots and are ideal for heat-loving crops such as tomatoes and peppers. Shady corners suit leafy greens, herbs and ferns. Draw the space on paper, mark the sun, the tap, and the places you need to walk, and plan around them. Even a space of a few square metres can hold a raised bed, several pots, a trellis and a hanging basket if it is planned rather than filled at random. Our raised bed gardening guide covers beds for small plots, and container gardening covers pots in detail.
Growing up: vertical gardening
The fastest way to gain space is to grow upwards. Peas, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, courgettes and squash can all be trained up a trellis, a fence, canes or a wall, which frees the ground underneath for low crops such as lettuce, radishes and herbs. A bean teepee or a trellis against a sunny wall turns a narrow strip into a productive wall of food. Hanging baskets suit strawberries, cherry tomatoes, herbs and trailing flowers, and they use space that would otherwise be empty air. Wall-mounted planters and pocket planters turn a bare fence into a herb garden. Make sure any vertical structure is firmly fixed: a trellis full of tomatoes is heavy, and it will pull over in wind if it is not anchored properly. Our guides for growing peas, growing cucumbers and growing tomatoes cover training and support for each crop.
Containers and raised beds
Containers are the backbone of small space gardening because they fit anywhere — on a patio, a balcony, a doorstep or a windowsill — and they let you grow in places with no soil at all. Use the largest pots you can fit, because larger pots dry out more slowly and give roots room to grow. Group pots together to shade each other and hold moisture, and put the sun-lovers in the sunniest spot and the leafy greens where it is cooler. A raised bed is the best use of a small patch of ground: it warms up earlier in spring, drains well, and its edges give you a place to sit while you work. A bed about 120 centimetres wide is ideal, because you can reach the middle from either side without stepping on the soil. See our apartment gardening guide for balconies and indoor spaces, and windowsill gardening for the smallest scale of all.
Square-foot planting and close spacing
In a small space, plant in a grid rather than in rows. Square-foot planting divides a bed into squares of about 30 centimetres and plants each square with a set number of plants — one tomato, four lettuces, nine radishes, sixteen carrots — so every centimetre is used and weeds have little room to grow. Close spacing also shades the soil, which keeps it moist and suppresses weeds. The trade-off is that closely planted crops need richer soil and more regular watering and feeding, because many plants are sharing a small volume of soil. Work plenty of compost into the bed before planting, mulch the surface, and feed regularly through the season. Thin seedlings on time: a bed of unthinned carrots will produce nothing but thin roots, while a properly thinned bed produces a real crop.
Succession sowing and intercropping
A small garden should never sit empty. Succession sowing means sowing a little and often — a row of lettuce every two or three weeks, for example — so you harvest continuously instead of having one glut followed by nothing. As soon as one crop finishes, pull it out and sow another in its place: peas in spring can be followed by beans in summer, and summer crops can be followed by autumn salads and garlic. Intercropping means growing a fast crop between slow ones: radishes sown between rows of carrots are ready before the carrots need the space, and lettuce grown under tall tomatoes uses the shade. Our companion planting chart shows which crops grow well together, and the seed starting calculator helps you plan sowing dates so beds are never empty.
Choosing crops for a small space
Choose crops that give a high return for the space they take. The best small-space crops are salad leaves, herbs, radishes, spring onions, cherry tomatoes, chillies, beans, peas, courgettes and strawberries — all of them produce a lot from a small area, and all of them taste far better fresh than shop-bought. Herbs are especially good value: a pot of basil, parsley or chives costs little and gives months of flavour — see growing basil, growing parsley and growing chives. Avoid crops that take a lot of space for a small harvest in your first small garden: sweetcorn, pumpkins, large cabbages and potatoes all need room, and a single cabbage can occupy the space that would have grown a dozen lettuces. If you do grow potatoes, grow them in a large pot or a grow bag, where they are easy to harvest. Cut-and-come-again crops such as lettuce, spinach and chard are ideal, because you pick a few leaves at a time and the plant keeps producing — see growing lettuce and growing spinach.
Watering and feeding in a small space
Small spaces dry out fast, especially pots and raised beds in sun and wind. Water in the morning, water the soil rather than the leaves, and check the soil with a finger before watering. Mulching the surface of beds and pots with compost, bark or straw holds moisture in and cuts watering sharply. Grouping pots together creates a more humid microclimate. A drip system or a simple timer on a hose can take over watering if you are away or busy, and it is often worth the small effort to set up. Feed regularly, because a small volume of soil runs out of food quickly: a balanced liquid feed every week or two suits most vegetables, while herbs prefer poorer soil. If you are unsure how much water your space needs, check your local extension service for advice suited to your soil and climate.
Common mistakes
The most common small-space mistakes are planting too much of one thing, planting large crops that crowd everything else out, spacing plants too closely without feeding them, letting pots dry out, and leaving beds empty after a harvest. Another is forgetting the vertical dimension — a small garden with no trellis, fence planting or hanging baskets is wasting half its growing space. And a very common one is growing what you think you should grow rather than what you actually eat: a small space should be filled with the crops your household uses every week, not with a crop nobody likes. Start with the foods you eat most, grow them well, and add one new thing each season.
Frequently asked questions
How much food can a small garden really grow?
A well-planned small garden can supply a household with salad leaves, herbs, tomatoes, beans and strawberries through the season, and a surprising amount besides. It will not feed a family entirely, but it can cover the foods that are best fresh and most expensive to buy. Succession sowing and vertical growing roughly double what a single planting would give.
What grows best in a tiny garden?
Salad leaves, herbs, radishes, spring onions, cherry tomatoes, chillies, beans, peas and strawberries give the best return for the space. Cut-and-come-again lettuce, spinach and chard keep producing for months from one sowing. Avoid sweetcorn, pumpkins and large cabbages until you have more room.
Can I garden on a balcony?
Yes, if it gets enough sun and you use containers, as long as you check the weight limit and the rules of your building first. Pots, troughs, wall planters and hanging baskets all work on balconies. See our apartment gardening guide for the details, including weight, wind and watering rules for balconies.
How do I keep a small garden watered in summer?
Mulch beds and pots, group pots together, water in the morning at the base of plants, and consider a drip system on a timer. Larger pots dry out more slowly than small ones. Check the soil with a finger before watering rather than watering on a fixed schedule.
What is square-foot gardening?
It is a method of planting a bed in a grid of roughly 30-centimetre squares, with each square holding a set number of plants — one tomato, four lettuces, nine radishes and so on. It uses every centimetre, suppresses weeds, and suits small beds well, but the soil needs to be rich and the plants need regular water and food because they are closely spaced.