1. Growing food in small spaces Feb 2018
What do we mean by food?
Potatoes or micro-herbs?
How small is small?
Tiny?

2. Intercropping Waste not want not Vertical gardening Containers Small containers Indoors or outdoors? Very small containers Things to avoid

3. Intercropping
Maximum of space e.g. cash crop of lettuce before potatoes come through.
Mutual benefit not competing e.g. not competing for water or minerals., one plant provides shade for another, or will attract or repel predators to protect a second crop.  
Marigolds discourage rabbits and attract useful predators. Basil repels flies and mosquitoes so plant next to tomatoes ready for a good sandwich.
The cabbage family like to be planted with beets and members of the green leafy vegetable family. Dill goes well with cabbages (but not with carrots). Mint deters white cabbage moth and will improve the flavour. Rosemary and sage deter cabbage moth and carrot fly.
You can plant carrots next to beans and tomatoes, peas and beans next to sweetcorn, peas next to onions, but tomatoes and potatoes share pests problems so should be kept apart. Dill and fennel interbreed so must be separate.

4. Waste not want not

5. Waste not want not

6. Vertical gardening

7. Vertical gardening

8. Vertical gardening

9. Vertical gardening

10. Vertical gardening

11. Vertical gardening

12. not … not forgetting roof gardens

13. Containers
Anything can be grown in a container if it is big enough, and it need not be massive.
Potatoes grow in sacks. Sweetcorn grows in an old box. Tomatoes grow in hanging baskets (Tumbling Tom). Parisian carrots grow well in a pot of sandy soil.
You can move them around to suit conditions.
Upcycle to make the container a feature (and free). And don’t forget many foods are also decorative – it is not either/or (red lettuce are often slug free, oregano flowers well etc)

14. Small containers
Many herbs and salad crops grow well in small containers, which can be kept off the ground to avoid slugs and placed near the kitchen door. Even herbs that usually seem to exist as large bushes can be grown in small editions for culinary purposes (thyme, dill, fennel). Sow and crop in succession so you always have fresh leaves, not tired old plants.

15. indoors or outdoors?
Sainsburys basil £1.50 for enough for one small meal. Usually leggy when in store.
Kings Seeds £1.60 for a packet containing 360 seeds. One seed gives a plant that grows as large as your pot can handle.
Place on window sill and enjoy the savings. Save your own seed for next year.

16. Very small containers

17. Very small containers
Microgreens, or vegetable confetti, harvested with scissors less than a month after germination, up to 2 inches tall.
Use leafy vegetables, herbs and edible flowers - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, mustard, basil, beets, broccoli, cabbage, celery, chard, chervil, coriander, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard, parsley, peas, radish, rocket, spinach, and sorrel.

18. Very small containers in the dark
Edible sprouting seeds: mung beans, alfalfa, soya bean, lentil (whole not split), fenugreek… place in glass container with water, muslin on top and wash. Rinse a few times then leave on their side for 24 hours in warm water. Empty water and leave in airing cupboard. Rinse twice daily but do not leave water in. £ grams Ocado, £2.20 Infinity Foods vs 0.65 a small bag Sainsbiurys

19. Things to avoid
Mustard and cress on a flannel (unless you know who used it last and where)
Splashing kitchen products on your window sill garden – make your own greenhouse instead.
Over watering pots (soak from a tray beneath) or stale soil.
Growing more than you can use in peak condition

20. Any suggestions, photos, success stories to Worthing Allotments and Gardens Association on Facebook.
Slides and links are on allotments.co.uk
If you are not a member wish to join ask for a form today.