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Growing in small spaces

Balconies, yards, and awkward corners — getting a real harvest out of very little ground.

Growing·Crops·Water
  1. 01
    A balcony with mixed vegetables, herbs and a dwarf fruit tree in large containers
    Growing№ 1017 min

    Container Growing: Productive Gardens Without Ground

    Why pots dry out and starve, how to build a growing medium that lasts, and what genuinely produces on a balcony or hard yard.

  2. 02
    A dense bed of mixed salad leaves ready for cutting
    Crops№ 4065 min

    Salad Leaves: Cut and Come Again

    Lettuce, rocket, mustards and chicory grown for continuous picking — bolting, bitterness, and how to keep leaves coming all year.

  3. 03
    A mixed herb bed with rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley growing together
    Crops№ 1135 min

    Culinary Herbs: The Highest Return Per Square Metre

    Mediterranean herbs want poverty and drought, soft herbs want richness and water — get that split right and the rest follows.

  4. 04
    A mature espaliered pear with horizontal tiers trained against a brick wall
    Growing№ 1546 min

    Espalier and Training: Fruit in Two Dimensions

    Cordons, fans, and espaliers — how trained forms fit a full crop into no ground space, ripen earlier, and make everything easier to reach.

  5. 05
    A cross-section diagram of a wicking bed showing the reservoir, gravel, geotextile, and soil layers
    Water№ 5204 min

    Wicking Beds: Self-Watering from Below

    Wicking beds hold a sub-surface reservoir and feed roots through capillary action, cutting evaporation and stretching tank water through dry weeks.

  6. 06
    Red wiggler worms working through dark organic bedding material in a worm bin
    Growing№ 5094 min

    Vermiculture: Worm Farming for the Best Fertiliser on Earth

    Worm castings, worm bins, and worm towers. The quiet engines that produce the richest natural fertiliser available.

  7. 07
    Garden beds showing lettuce at different growth stages from seedlings to mature heads
    Growing№ 4703 min

    Succession Planting: Continuous Harvest All Season

    Stagger sowings every two to three weeks and the harvest stops being a glut. It becomes a conveyor belt.

  8. 08
    Fleece draped over young vegetable rows on a frosty morning with cloches beyond
    Growing№ 1776 min

    Frost Protection and Season Extension

    Frost pockets, radiation versus advection frost, and the cloches, fleece, and thermal mass that buy weeks at each end of the season.

  9. 09
    Apples laid out in slatted wooden trays and cured onions hanging in a cool store
    Growing№ 2087 min

    Harvest and Storage: Keeping What You Grew

    Picking at the right stage, curing what needs curing, and the four storage conditions that decide whether a crop lasts a week or eight months.

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