[nipper31]

Very reluctantly, I had to give up my plot a few years ago because it got to be too much work for me on my own. Although I kept it going quite well for about five years, the site proved too big for me to handle.

Now I grow a few things at home (new potatoes & strawberries) in my garden  but this space is really very small and I'm wondering whether to dig up the "lawn" which is uneven and full of weeds, to accommodate growing more fruit & veg.

Has anyone else taken the plunge ?

[Kristen]

I'm lucky to have space for both Vegetables and Ornamentals, but assuming you don't mine giving up the lawn:

Pros:
Vegetables freshly picked from garden straight into the pot - not just when you have visited the allotment
Can "do a bit" whenever inclination and weather are favourable; if allotment is a few minutes walk I guess that would be the same, but any further and its a planned-trip

Cons:
None of the comradery of the allotment.

[johnnymac]

Hi Nipper 31. It is surprising how much you can grow in a small garden. I have had to give up one of my two allotments, due to ill health and grow most of our veg in what was a lawn at the rear of our house.  Some time ago, maybe 3 or 4 years I read a pamphlet , which I believe was called something like ''gardening in a square metre plot''. It was very informative but I don't know if it is still available. However I find this site is the best around and has answered many queries which I have had since giving up one of my allotments. Have a happy growing New Year. John Mac.

[Kristen]

called something like ''gardening in a square metre plot''. It was very informative but I don't know if it is still available.

There is lots of information (books and internet) on the topic "square foot gardening" which might have been the same thing / similar?

[Dave NE]

Hi Nipper, I have only a small back garden and we mostly grow roses/flowers etc but this year we are going to cram in as much veg as we can, don't forget to go vertical, cheers Dave ps wicking beds/pots for the first time also

[tosca100]

It really depends on what you want from your garden. If you have pets a lawned area is maybe a must, but if veg float your boat why not turn it over to veg? You can still have a sitting area but you will be ogling scrummy veg instead of pretty flowers. We had a tiny garden in the UK which had a lawn which shrunk over the years before being totally trashed by two bitches and three hens. If we had stayed it would have been dug up probably. We had a small veg garden behind the garage and veg amongst the flowers, pots on the drive, which latterly was taken up with chickens (we thought we would contain them there, but that lasted three days as we felt sorry for them) All plants had a protective collar of mesh and the veg patch was netted against do and chook.

A lot of words to say do what suits you best.

[BumbleJo]

The only thing I would miss in not having a lawn would be the washing line, can't stand those twirly whirls things.  If that's an issue I suppose as long as you have some kind of path it would still work.  I'm sure the pleasure gained from growing veg there would cancel out any lawn advantage.  Go for it, at the end of the day if you miss it you could always 'put it back' ! 

[snowdrops]

Have a look at Geoff hamilton's Victorian kitchen garden. I took my lawn up once the children were grown up & based on his book,tv programme based my garden on that. I grew veg in amongst the flowers, some were successful & some not. Digging up spuds was challenging, also some got smothered by the ornamentals, but on the whole it worked & looked lively.

[mikem]

My only additional thought is that if you dig up the lawn then don't grow spuds for a couple of years as there will probably be lots of leatherjackets that will burrow into your potato tubers.

[Kristen]

Have a look at Geoff hamilton's Victorian kitchen garden.

Good point. If an allotment style garden wouldn't be the right "look" then a Potager might well be the answer

[snowdrops]

I will see if I have any pictures, but I don't think they are on the computer so will be in the loft😩

[robinahood]

Funnily enough I am considering the same thing, but in my case I never had a plot but have only recently been bitten by the food growing bug. I still want somewhere to sit out and dont want a lot of paving, so struggling to think of a design for my tiny oddly shaped patch that makes sense!

[Salmo]

You can tuck small raised beds into all sorts of places.

[ptarmigan]

I grew vegetables in pots in a tiny back yard (sunny) for years before I got an allotment.

I grew (among others) mangetout, raspberries, blueberries, potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli (handy to be able to pop out in the morning and squash caterpillar eggs), chard and kale.  The fruit worked really well and can be quite decorative.

I also had a flower border and pots too and it was really lovely just to be able to pop out in slippers and pj's of a morning and see how everything was going.  I recommend it!

 Still grow some out there - things that are handy to have on hand like salad veg. 

[sunshineband]

We grew a lot in our back garden before having our plot, and found that John Harrison's book "Vegetable, Fruit & Herb Growing in Small Spaces to be well worth a read. It is available throughthe links above in "OUr books"

not as in mine you understand, but the site owner's 

If you have space to create a sunny seating area with a pergola and lavender, and perhaps a tiny pond, all the rest can be organised as beds for growing, plus up the fences etc. flowers can easily be incorporated too, as can small fruit trees. A friend has four apple trees growing over a square topped arch and they look awesome 

My neighbour back in the day used to call over to me 'Your beans are escaping!' as the runners insisted they wanted to go through the wild hedge into her garden 

It will be an exciting adventure to be able to re-plan your garden like this, just don't forget to accommodate a proper washing line as Bumblejo said