| For anyone accustomed to the notion that a | | | | decorative, to please the eye. |
| vegetable garden must be a fairly large affair - its | | | | Vegetables are most often grown to reward not the |
| rows stretching fifteen or twenty feet at a minimum, | | | | eye but the palate. So while corn stalks and bean |
| the concept of crops pushing up from a small | | | | bushes can make the mouth water they rarely make |
| container or appearing to burst the bonds of a tiny | | | | the eye pop, and they are not likely to be found |
| patch of ground only a few feet square - it is almost | | | | gracing a well designed border, although creative |
| unsettling. | | | | horticulturists have combined a few of the |
| Yet growing vegetables in cramped spaces is not | | | | handsomest vegetables with flowering plants to good |
| only possible but highly rewarding. One can grow | | | | effect. |
| tomatoes in tubs at the edge of a patio, | | | | The biggest challenge with a small vegetable garden |
| strawberries in empty milk cartons on a windowsill, | | | | is practicality. Some vegetables such as lettuce will |
| lettuce in a modest window box, watermelons along | | | | grow fine with only 4 hours of sunlight a day, but |
| a strip beside a driveway or beans on a trellis on a | | | | anything that produces a fruit (tomatoes, corn, |
| small apartment balcony. | | | | beans, etc.) needs a solid 8 hours of direct sunlight or |
| A space no larger than a card table can supply you | | | | they aren't going to be very productive. That sunlight |
| with vegetables year-round. The trick is to create a | | | | isn't necessary for dwarf azaleas, however. |
| garden that has the right growing conditions and to | | | | A proper soil mix is also important, along with the |
| buy seeds that are well suited to smaller areas. | | | | right fertilizer. It can be too much for some dwarf |
| Many seed companies have started offering | | | | plants, however and can make them grow beyond |
| miniature, compact plants to meet the needs of | | | | the space they're given. Plus, you need to turn the |
| people with limited space. You'll often find them in | | | | soil in your vegetable garden annually. This kind of |
| their catalogs or on their websites under categories | | | | tilling can't be done in some small spaces. |
| like space miser, midgets or space savers. | | | | In spite of the challenges, growing vegetables in a |
| Producing vegetables on a reduced scale, however, is | | | | small space is worth the effort. You'll need to decide |
| basically a different proposition from other kinds of | | | | whether you want miniature fruit or just miniature |
| gardening. Small gardens devoted to woody | | | | plants. Small vegetables are cute, but often not so |
| ornamentals like dwarf conifers, rhododendrons or | | | | practical. There are some that are widely used |
| heathers or to miniature bulbs or alpines are arranged | | | | though - cherry tomatoes and radishes are two |
| and managed largely for appearance: they exist to be | | | | perfect examples. |