Tiny Yard Container Garden: How to Grow $1,000 of Food
No space? No problem! Like most people, Mark Ridsdill Smith has a small front yard. Unlike most people, he has made it his mission to educate the world about how it is possible to maximize the yields from his limited space with his project Vertical Veg.
Using containers to take advantage of the vertical space available, Mark grows an estimated $1,000 worth of food in his garden. In this week's episode, Ben goes to see for himself just what can be done with a space this small. So fret not! Grow vertical veg!
For more on Mark and Vertical Veg, check out his site here: www.verticalveg.org.uk
And for even more small space inspiration and for how to get started on your own container food garden, watch this next:
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If you love growing your own food, why not take a look at our online Garden Planner which is available from several major websites and seed suppliers:
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It's so nice to see a 'real' garden. Very few of us have the rolling acres commonly featured.
Yes indeed. Mark offers so many ideas for what's quite a small space.
I do the same living in nottingham city centre right in the city. This year I loved off all my own veg grew super hot chillis. Tomatoes. Tomatillos. Onions. Carrots. Herbs peas. Corgettes. Radish. Chard. Beetroot. Celtus. Italian kale (this is epic every day eaten it and it survives winter easily.) Potatoes all summer and now more in the ground in a cheap plastic greenhouse will be ready for christmas day. Also winter salad leaves in same cheapo greenhouse has and will provide me lettuce leaves and pak choi micro greens till spring. Great channel ive learned loads. Many thanks. All u need is a bit of space and prepared to graft a bit oh yes and make your own compost so you save money and get superior compost thats formed in your indiginous environment. ie it learns how to exist and overcome its surrounding
You're growing loads there - that's brilliant!
How hot is it in Nottingham? Must be a whole lot warmer than ireland!
Have you managed to pick any tomatillos?
I immediately noticed how the containers are elevated, something my garden needs especially to save me from bending over.
My containers are mostly elevated. It is both visually pleasing and so much better on my back. This old girl can no longer sit on the ground while direct sowing my former Square Foot garden. Those days have sailed. 😅
It does really help with maintaining everything, and offers good vertical interest too.
I stack my pallets 3-4 high. All my plants are in containers , total of 8 pallets. It helps the back.
I love Mark. I've been on his mailing list for roughly 5+ years. He's my inspiration to garden vertically! He made me not feel crazy for extending my space go grow as much as possible. I live on the ninth floor and grow everything from apples to plums, potatoes, herbs, greens, and berries. I'm happy to see Mark on here. Thank you for featuring him.
He's a real inspiration isn't he! :-)
Apples in the 9th fl? Amazing! And congratulation!
Thanks for making this video. As someone who lives in a small two up, two down terrace house it can be so frustrating watching shows where gardeners are bemoaning their “small garden” which is about twice the size of my house! The reality of life is that most people are in the same situation as me with very little space and have to use containers and get creative. It’s wonderful to have a new resource to use. I look forward to exploring Mark’s website.
Yes to all of that. My entire lot is 106' X 66'. Lots of mature trees. When I see someone bemoaning a small bed that is bigger than that I don't think too kindly toward them.
Mark is a real inspiration in this regard. And doing it all without growing in the native soil too. Lots of ideas on his website.
I despair at all the front gardens that have become barren and concreted over. It's a pleasure to walk past established front gardens and see what people are growing. A garden like this is one that is a pleasure and talking point for a whole neighbourhood.
Or gravel with a few drought tolerant scraggly bushes here in southern Calif. - they get weedy and never are maintained .
When I am cutting up my veggies on the counter I like to say to myself, “It doesn’t get better than this.”
🥰
Absolutely!
Mark has been doing amazing work for so many years. His newsletter are great gardening reminders! (Vertical Veg Org UK)
We were very fortunate to get a tour of his garden. :-)
Bless you . Am 60 and my vision was to grow everything to capacity. Absolutely wonderful...the good life family friends,chickens,cats, dog's and plants❤,
I have a tiny house with only a front garden, which is quite large. So far I've had raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, rhubarb, cabbages, onions, garlic and lettuce. The idea of having raised pots would give much more space. Great advice!
So pleased you found this video useful.:-)
I also loved the idea of raising up the pots to give them more light. So simple, yet I'd never thought (or heard) about it!
I really want to plant berries
Thank you I live in an apartment with a patio. It is so nice to finally see a garden close to my size. Now if I can get my plants to grow as good as yours. Thank you
I’m in Southern California. This is very inspirational as I have lack of full sun. If he can do this in the gloomy UK I can do it here. Thankyou Mark for sharing your beautiful, abundant garden . 😊
Awesome! A man after my own heart. We have very limited space at our home here in New Zealand. So I converted a small 3 by 5 metre concreted space into a terraced garden area. This Spring I have planted 40 tomato plants (15 different varieties) grwon from seed along with Broad and Butter Beans, a Grape vine and several herbs. It's looking great and growing really well so far.
That sounds fantastic - and so impressive to grow so many different types of tomato in a small space like that!
I am sure he gave you some pea seeds!
A pleasure to watch real presenting. You enabled this gardener to explain his gardening philosophy without attempting to upstage him in any way. I have all but stopped watching TV as im fed up with TV presenters W waving their arms about and making it all about them. Instead i watch and learn from genuine people like you. Thank you Ben!
Thank you so much for your lovely words. I agree, it was so lovely to hear what Mark had to say - a really knowledgeable fellow. :-)
I like that there were small fruit like blueberries. It is wonderful that he can decide what is "in season" rather than rely on shops. Great hope for me when I downsize my house and land.
It really is an inspirational space - so much in so little space!
@@GrowVeg I liked the visuals of it. And the compactness. Of it. I'm going to containers, modular set up, to be easier for me to adjust and we lost a large tree giving me a new area of full sunlight but massive roots in the ground. Those guys are going to need to rot. Ps I really enjoy your channel. I'm in central California, climate influenced by Hades so a lot of what you suggest doesn't work here but a lot does. Plus your enthusiasm is contagious.
Great garden. I think container gardening is the best way. All my garden is in containers.
I use Square Foot Gardening for spacing in my 5 gallon buckets.
Great work. He must be an exceptional gardener 💚💚💚
He certainly is!
I’m in Texas USA I of course have some different varieties for my zone but y’all have the best container use just love the imagination of what you use and why it’s for a certain plant type 💜💜
That's very kind of you to say. Mark has some superb ideas in his garden. :-)
This is awesome. I grow in pots and grow bags on my porch backed in. I try and grow vertically. This year hasnt been great because of the extreme heat in Texas. But I have alot of greens growing in the fall. I love pea shoots in salads.
Hoping you get a fab series of harvests now the weather's (hopefully!) cooled off a bit.
Unfortunately, many people who live in "neighborhoods", especially with Home Owner's Associations have rules that only decorative plants can be grown in the front. Sad when food is so expensive now.
Just imagine a world where people could grow their own food, on the land they own, or pay to live on. 🤷♀️ I saw a poor old pensioner stealing cat food from the grocery store a few days back, I wondered when he himself last ate a decent meal. Growing your own food should be a basic human right like access to water.
Completely agree. We should all be able to grow food on our own properties. I can't see any downside to that!
HOA needs to go away forever.
Get creative with it. I grow herbs at the front in a 'decorative' way. I let my cilantro flower so it looks like it's just a regular deco plant. I negotiated taking out the Oaks at the front and replace with an apple tree and a Loquat. It's a new neighborhood. I stated that l wanted fruit to feed the birds etc. Which is partly true cos the rabbits nowmlibe in my yard!. My backyard has fruit tress and banana plants around the border etc. There are kids that can show you how to work around HOA.
@fatasiancat Ain't that the truth!!!! I have heard horror story after horror story about them. They have wayyyy too much power and control over land they do not own.
I love this 🤩 there really is so much you can grow in a tiny urban space!! Thank you for sharing Mark and Ben! It's given me even more inspo for next season 💚🌱
So pleased this video has inspired - Mark is really generous with his advice and experience.
I have grown Hestia dwarf runner beans in containers and had a good crop off them.
Love it Ben! No matter how big or small the space you can grow an abundance of food you and your family love. I wish we'd done grow your own years ago and tell loads of friends to start! Rach 💚🌱👩🏼🌾
The thing is you are growing now, which is all that matters! :-)
Thank you Mark and Ben. This video was so interesting and useful as I am looking at ways constantly, to increase my growing space. I would love to grow trees in pots so would have liked a little more info on doing this. Thanks guys. happy gardening 😃
Thanks so much for watching. Happy gardening to you too! :-)
I would like more information on growing fruit trees in a pot but could we do dwarf
Thank you so much for this one. I garden in a small backyard in containers and 2 raised beds. Very inspiring video. 💜💜💜
So pleased you enjoyed it - thanks for watching! :-)
Great video Ben. Hope you didn’t wee in Mark’s compost when no one was looking ! 😂
🤣
No - I was very restrained!
Love this! I am also turning my city based garden with lawn into a wee veg and fruit plot! Small but oh so rewarding! Thank yo ufor this video. ☺
That's really great to hear - you can grow good food anywhere! :-)
One of the best potted vege gardens and use of space I’ve seen! Fantastic work 😊
Thanks for watching. :-)
What a star Mark. I was still in UK when I started following him many years ago. He is very generous with his knowledge and experience
He really is.
Great to see two of my favourite online gardeners talking together😀, Jinxy
This makes me excited for next season
I work for a massive container nursery and have access to loads of old pots of varying size. I love to garden and have long thought about container gardening. This has really given me insight and motivation to move on it. Thank you!
That's really super to hear David. :-)
A great inspiration to grow more in containers in my small garden. Lots of good ideas. This year I grew early potatoes, bush tomatoes, carrots and snackbite peppers in containers. All started off in the greenhouse then moved outdoors. I've now got cabbage, kale, leeks, spinach, strawberries and garlic growing outside in containers which I will be able to harvest next year.
That's a really superb result!
My two favourite You Tube Gardeners in one video. What’s not to like! Thank you both
Thank you so much for watching. :-)
Good morning Ben, Mark has planted up a real storm. Just go to show, where there is a will there is a way. All the growth is looking so healthy and strong. Containers makes gardening so much easier especially when getting a bit more senior. With ref to my garlic, oh dear, it looks like it did not go too well. I think, in fact I am sure, it is just too hot. We took out a plant and it looked great cloves but very small. Like a small cluster. I am sure they will taste great or we can keep them for sets later on. I am going to do some again but will keep them in partial shade. This is a real challenge, I will see how things go. Thank you for showing and sharing Mark's garden abundance, it was good to see what can be achieved. Have a super day, many blessings.
Thank you for your kind words. When planting garlic, always prioritise the biggest cloves , as there is a relationship between clove size and final bulb size. Hope you have better luck with next season's garlic.
Another testament to the teeming qualities of life. One only needs learn how to harness and nurture!
Absolutely!
I was ready to give up on potting on the patio but Mark is inspiring. I bought a Northern Spry Tree and resold it this summer because I felt I bought in haste and my yard was too small so I resold it: Mark's video makes me wish I had planted it. Ben, thank you for sharing.
Don't forget about espaliers and pruning trees and shrubs to a desirable size. We have rather large and empty space and still I was hesitant about planting too many trees, so I wouldn't block the view of the mountains, at the same time craving a luscious garden. I discovered recently that any tree can be shaped the way you want to, so I'm going to plant a lot of them coming spring.
So pleased Mark's example has inspired - he's a very inspiring fellow. :-)
Great job, Mark. So impressive that you can grow so much in a small space. A lesson for us all!
Top marks guys! And a great reminder how easy it is to grow epicure quality food at little to no monetary cost 👏👏👏
Mark's garden is very efficient in this regard. :-)
I will be recommending this video to all new gardening friends who are afraid to start gardening because they have no room, live in an apartment or tainted soil from commercial lawns. The section on the warm mash is near and dear to my heart as well. And even better you had them covered with cardboard. One of my Gold ingredients in the garden and worms love it. Kitchen waste is covered. I just loved this video Super Job 💯🌼🌼🌼
So pleased you enjoyed the video - thanks for watching. :-)
Hi JB, Steve would be so proud of how you are trying your best to keep your polytunnel in peak condition. I wouldn't leave the door open for the foxes anymore. They can be destructive. We have them on our site too, they are lovely. Myvraised beds are line with double black plastic. I have stapled it over the edge of the top and underneath too so the wood doesn't sit on the ground. The soil in your beds look lovely. It is lovely going to your plot in this cold dry weather & surprisingly how much work you do get done, so good for the soul. Thanks for sharing and take care 😊
Gardening is always good for the soul, agreed!
All pots cool.😊
Good work my dear brother
Great Video. I really appreciate the way you let the gardener do the talking.
Thanks for watching, appreciate it. :-)
This summer I spent a couple of hundreds of euros in setting up a small balcony garden and consumed tens of hours of gardening content from youtube. I got 5 small green tomatoes and some sort of syphilis ridden basils. But it was fun, I'll admit that.
Keep having fun, you might just get 5 red ones next time ☺️. Oh the trials and tribulations of starting out, I’m right there with you!
You grew something though - and each year will get better as your experience grows. Keep at it!
I really enjoyed this video. I teach men that have been incarcerated from nonviolent offenses in Alaska. Tks for sharing!
What a fantastic thing to do. I hope you/they might find this video inspiring. :-)
I love your garden and personality
Very inspiring! Thanks for the interview.
Very hopeful for everyone. Thank you. 👩🏻🌾
Excellent ideas for a small urban garden. Thanks!!
Wow. This is really inspiring
Loved this video , Thankyou. I am about to start a tiny front vege garden & this was so good for me to see 😊
Love to see the garden
How inspiring! I’m going to do this this year. My front garden is south facing as well. Thanks for this.
Great use of space, I'm going to use an old water heater for raised bed garden next spring. I've wondered about fruit trees in large containers and I'm getting some now.
Hopefully they establish well for you. :-)
Absolutely beautiful ❤ Thanks guys!! 🎉
Great job Mark Great video as always
Howdy Ben! I'm loving the gardens you are introducing us to!😃
So pleased Valorie - thanks for watching! :-)
Beautiful and useful!
Thankyou for sharing the different styles of gardening.
Thanks for watching. :-)
What makes me sad is that, if most people would love to garden as much as Mark, most of our problems would go away! Yet they chase destruction like humans have always done. 😥
Mark's a real inspiration - he offers a great example.
I could not agree more. Also with the all the greenwashing going on it is almost surprising how difficult is for the average person to grow one own's food without spending a ridiculous amount of money and effort on form: see allotments waiting lists, the pressure to conform to ancient standards of "proper" gardening and in general achieving some degree of autonomy is made almost impossible by the current regulatory climate.
I’m impressed, great work
Super cool to see what can be done with even the smallest of spaces!
Mark has a very inspiring garden. :-)
This is a huge inspiration. I am lucky that I do have a garden rather than a yard. The front right hand side is a flower garden with a lot of roses and a wild area with bushes for wildlife. It was lawn when I moved in. The left hand front lawn will eventually be a herb garden, possibly with some fruit bushes too and the back lawn is gradually being turned into a veg garden. The back garden has over half of the space as either gravel, patio or decking (mostly gravel) and this has always felt like wasted space. This has given me a lot of ideas for what to do with some of that space to green it up and make it a productive area. What a wonderful garden you have.
Mark will be thrilled to read this. He certainly is an inspiration isn't he!
Very inspiring 🌱 Thank you so much for sharing 👍
Awesome video
Lovely idea
I bought Mark’s book as I need to have a container garden and wanted some ideas. It’s an excellent book.
It's great isn't it! :-)
All pots cool.
Fabulously inspirational!
this is really really inspirational! Yes, more salads in trays etc :) Blueberries, not thought of growing them in the garden :)) Great share, thank you so much!
What great information!
Mark seems like a genuine great person
He's a lovely fellow! :-)
Beautiful garden
Thank you so much. :-)
Thank you for this! 😊
What an inspiring video! We have 20 acres of land, but live on a steep slope so growing vegetables has been difficult. Switching to more container gardening seems like a good way to supplement what little I can grow.
That's a great idea. Hope you get a good harvest from them. :-)
This is not a small (let alone a tiny) space? It’s lovely and thanks for the informations!
Very inspiring! Thank you!
Thank you 😇👍
I love that organic
Fantastic. Such an enjoyable watch & so informative. I have a creek nearby & have thought about gathering a bit of the overgrown algae. Thoughts on this are more than welcome!
I reckon it would be a good addition to a compost pile.
@@GrowVeg Exactly :)
I've got Mark's book!
Very beautiful and encouraging for small spaces! I love that he is practical and frugal but also that he is doing it because he enjoys it. I'd love to know how he does about using his worm bin.
He basically empties out the worm castings once they've built up and mixes them in with his potting mix/compost. I love how much he's crammed into his space. He's quite an inspiration! :-)
Enjoyed this, thank you. BC Canada
Great video. Inspirational.
Mark's garden is quite something! Thanks for watching. :-)
I love Garden
Good video
When I hear Brit, I think of gardens. Sometimes in some british show I hear " I don't have a green tumb" and have to laugh.
Thanks for watching. :-)
I have bought seeds for a bush variety of pumpkin called Amoro. The plants grow like courgettes so I'm going to try growing them in containers next year.
That's a great recommendation, thank you.
I am trying to grow food on my balcony, but they don't grow well. The only things I've actually had really good success with so far are potatoes and sweet potatoes, but I guess they are just tougher crops that aren't that picky. I've never had success with other things like lettuce, beans, etc. since they only make it just passed a month or so after germination and then they slowly die off and never get any bigger... Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I give them water, make sure they aren't without sun, and the soil is always new potting mix. I've spent way too much on soil and seeds for them to keep dying on me.
Sounds like damping off? I had the same problem with spinach. It's caused by too much water & / or poor drainage.
I'm also thinking damping off. Sounds like either too much water or not enough. That could just be erratic watering. Also are you using a bit of fertilizer in the soil. Depending on how big these plants are getting in containers they exhaust the food rather quickly. I made that mistake last year.
@@renel7303 I have no clue why I can't grow spinach. I use fertilizer at planting but whether it's in pots or in the ground it grows to a certain point and then shrivels and dies, so next year I am going to start them inside and see what happens! If that doesn't work I'm done growing spinach!
Hmmm, I've had a similar problem but with hydrophobic soil. I grow in the ground in an unheated greenhouse but with some crops, like lettuces for example, they started off great and then died off. With hydrophobic soil, the water is not getting to the roots. There is always something new to learn about though isn't there? @@sherriianiro747
@@sherriianiro747 just for fun try a different variety. It's been years since I grew spinach. IIRC it wasn't great. Probably planted too late. 9b, central California, we can have a few 90F days show up in mid February. Cool weather plants are so challenging here. I'm actually planting spinach this weekend. My 1st winter veggie garden. It's an experiment that I can hopefully eat.
I've been watching this channel for a while and just realized Ben reminds me of Robert Webb. 😆
Haha - you're not the first person to mention that!
loves the bees... they will definately come when there are flowers n i geta lot of birds too.
One of my friends has turned her garden over to produce. She's lucky to have the space for 1/2 doz small fruit trees, beneath them is everything else- its jammed with veg and herbs, self-seeders etc. Some raised beds have been added because the neighbour has an incredibly invasive tree and its roots have become a maintenance issue.
Sounds like a lovely garden. :-)
Beautiful garden. Why the dollar sign?
Just because the US dollar is broadly understood by most people, but the £ sign less so. It's so our international audience know what we're on about! :-)
I'm loving the layering idea. Mark you've given me some great inspiration. Top work. Meat can't really be composted. However bones can be burned if you have somewhere to have a small fire and then smashed up as a bone meal and make your own pot ash and bone meal mix.
What a great idea to make the most of bones!
If you're ever in NI, give me shout! I'd love you to see my garden and get your eyes on it haha. It's hard doing shift work managing even a small garden, but I've been giving it a good go because of your videos!
Good job to be making a go of you garden - top work! Will give you a shout if in NI! :-)
This is fantastic! Now interview someone with only a balcony of 6 m²!
The cloud gardener in Manchester has a balcony. Admittedly it’s a bit larger!
That's a really great recommendation - thank you!
thanks you
I got some salad greens for the first time since Spring, £16 a kilo. It's not long adding up.
Absolutely! :-)