WHAT TO GROW IN AND WHERE - Vegetable, Fruit and Herb Growing in Small Spaces - page 4

If we look at the average modern estate garden with limited space, then fitting in some
crops may seem difficult. A goodly portion will be taken up with a patio area to start with.
I wouldn't suggest getting rid of the patio; after all, we need somewhere to hold the annual
barbecue on the summer's day when it doesn't rain.
But patios usually have more space than we need for a barbecue and table set, so this gives
us an opportunity to grow some crops in pots.
Back into the garden area itself, there's usually a lawn. Now apart from being the tradition-
al centre piece for the borders, lawns provide a playing field for the children. From games
of cricket to just somewhere to run off some energy, a place to pitch the tent and to have an
exciting picnic, the lawn is fairly vital and well used so, here again, I'd hesitate to suggest
you got rid of it. However, you might be able to get away with pinching some space for crops
from it.
If you don't have children using the lawn, do you really want it? The weekly ritual of mow-
ing in the season and digging out the dandelions takes more time than growing most crops
would. In that situation I'd consider getting rid of the lawn and replacing it with paths and
raised beds.
The borders provide the last element of a garden. They are attractive to the eyes and nose.
Now the French are undoubtedly the masters of the potager garden. They've been growing in
potagers for 400 years and the name itself comes from the vegetables grown for the soup or
'potage'. This is an ornamental garden where, instead of flowers, they grow vegetables or a
mix of flowers and vegetables. I'd contend that a red cabbage or red frilly leaved lettuce like
lollo rosso is as dramatic and decorative as any foliage plant you can get, except the rainbow
chard - and you can eat the chard.
Carrots with their fern-like, feather foliage can add definition while curly kale acts as a
taller structural element in the design.
Often the potager is designed in a very formal manner, squares and triangles abound or
even a similar style to a knot garden. Potagers are a wonderful way to balance the decorative
and productive elements of a small garden. The gardens of the palace at Versailles in France
had to provide for the royal table without offending their majesties' eyes. So the largest ex-
ample of the potager was created for them covering 21 acres!