Gardening Methods

I am planning a ‘garden’ for my daughter but my back yard is concreted what can i do??

My daughter is 2. I don’t want to dig up all the concrete but i need some advice as to how i should go about planting what plants? i want some vegetables and some flowers. should i use those plastic boxes or build some above ground planters. also i want info on compost heaps. i don’t have much space and my yard is very sheltered there is very little sunshine on it even in summer it is almost fully shaded.

My garden is basically a concrete yard… but I’ve turned it into a courtyard garden (teehee). I used a whole range of different pots – plastic and… pot. You can be creative about what you use too. As long as it won’t crack in frost and has good drainage (as in you stab some holes in the bottom) you can use whatever container you like to grow your plants in – I have an old fish tank I use, which is quite cool because you can see the roots, I house some pots in an old cosmetic bag, and I’ve even decorated a couple of margerine tubs! This might be something to do with your daugher. I’ve not yet found any plant that won’t grow in a pot, and all mine are in multipurpose compost, some are in mud from my parents garden. You can even grow trees in pots – although you might want to bonsai the bigs ones a bit. I’ve got things like erm… japanese maple, hornbeam, dawn redwood, budlea (if that’s a tree) and another one that I can’t think of the name of. Point is, you don’t have to just have small plants. You can though, I think someone else mentioned hanging baskets, these are a great way of getting hight into your garden. I’m a bit broke so the majority of my plants have come from cuttings and seeds from other people’s gardens, you might want to have a go at this – I found it good fun actually. As for types of plants, most garden centres will tell you what environment different plants will tollerate. My garden is half shade and I have lots of things that are meant to have full that thrive. So just give it a go. For most fruit and vegies though, I think you’ll need sunny spots for best results – but if you’re not too concerned, have a go one year and find out, but be prepared for failure as I do think you need a lot of sun for them.

You could bulid (using bricks or whatever) raised beds around your yard, but pots are cheaper in the short term and after a bit of patience, it really starts to pay off. I’d recommend some seats too.

I think the hard part is deciding what is going to work best for you, be it raised beds, or container gardening. The rest I take as trial and error, if it grows – great – if not try something else.

As for a compost bin, you can get plastic ones. If you’re in the Uk some local authorities have deals on them for really cheap. I’ll find you a link. I can’t find the specific one I was thinking of getting, but here’s an idea http://www.compost-it.org.uk/scheme/compost_bin.htm You might also want to think about getting a water butt depending on how much space you have.

Herbs are great in containers, you can do a few tubs of beans. I’d be more inclined to actually go for raised beds for the vegetables, just because to make it worthwhile you’ll need a few and you can’t get many in a pot. Greenhouses are good for things like tomatoes, unless you’re somewhere warm. You can get little greenhouses that are made from polythene, that will only take up a small corner – they’re more like a cupboard that goes outside.

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