If you are starting from scratch you should plan the location of items such as the greenhouse, tool shed, oil tank, coal or log storage, compost and rubbish bins, so that some sort of amalgamation is achieved, rather than an ever increasing number of small structures dotted around the site.
It is arguable that the actual saving through growing your own vegetables in a small garden is marginal. Perversely, the saving may be greater in the countryside, since the distributive system favours large areas of population and often results in cheaper and more plentiful vegetables in towns. Naturally, the more vegetables you grow, the more economic the proposition becomes.
To give some indication of the amount of space which vegetables take up: an area of 84 sq m (300 sq ft) would provide a family of four with sufficient lettuces, runner beans, peas, carrots and turnips in summer, and with leeks, cabbages and sprouts in winter. But of course great pleasure can be obtained from growing your own produce, even if you do not have enough space to make the enterprise really economic, and the fresh taste of homegrown vegetables is reward in itself.
Lawn running right up to the flower beds is attractive, though maintenance is easier when a line of paving runs along the edge, so that mowing stops about 400 mm (1 ft 3 in) short of the border. Convenience of mowing should be taken into account when planning areas of grass. Allow room to turn the mowing machine and, if you plan a grass slope, bear in mind the maximum gradient of 1 : 1 or 45 ˚ for cutting with a hand mower and 1 : 1 or 33 for a smaller power-driven machine.
There are many varieties of lettuce worth growing and a few outdoor tomato plants in a sheltered place can be rewarding. Fruit bushes can be trained along a fence or grown against a wall, where they will benefit from the heat retained and gently released by the wall.
However, since all planting is important in drawing and directing the cyc, you should be thinking in terms of the approximate height and density of plant varieties; these should he selected for their overall impact in the design as much as for their purely horticultural interest. The width of beds and borders will obviously depend on the space you have, but bear in mind two general points. If beds or borders greatly exceed about two metres (a little over 6 ft) in width, it may prove difficult to hoe between the plants without trampling all over the bed. On the other hand, beds must be sufficiently wide to allow for an effective arrangement of plants. For example, if you want a herbaceous border which maintains a colour display for most of the year, you need enough space to arrange plants so that when one group stops flowering another takes its place.
It is arguable that the actual saving through growing your own vegetables in a small garden is marginal. Perversely, the saving may be greater in the countryside, since the distributive system favours large areas of population and often results in cheaper and more plentiful vegetables in towns. Naturally, the more vegetables you grow, the more economic the proposition becomes.
To give some indication of the amount of space which vegetables take up: an area of 84 sq m (300 sq ft) would provide a family of four with sufficient lettuces, runner beans, peas, carrots and turnips in summer, and with leeks, cabbages and sprouts in winter. But of course great pleasure can be obtained from growing your own produce, even if you do not have enough space to make the enterprise really economic, and the fresh taste of homegrown vegetables is reward in itself.
Lawn running right up to the flower beds is attractive, though maintenance is easier when a line of paving runs along the edge, so that mowing stops about 400 mm (1 ft 3 in) short of the border. Convenience of mowing should be taken into account when planning areas of grass. Allow room to turn the mowing machine and, if you plan a grass slope, bear in mind the maximum gradient of 1 : 1 or 45 ˚ for cutting with a hand mower and 1 : 1 or 33 for a smaller power-driven machine.
There are many varieties of lettuce worth growing and a few outdoor tomato plants in a sheltered place can be rewarding. Fruit bushes can be trained along a fence or grown against a wall, where they will benefit from the heat retained and gently released by the wall.
However, since all planting is important in drawing and directing the cyc, you should be thinking in terms of the approximate height and density of plant varieties; these should he selected for their overall impact in the design as much as for their purely horticultural interest. The width of beds and borders will obviously depend on the space you have, but bear in mind two general points. If beds or borders greatly exceed about two metres (a little over 6 ft) in width, it may prove difficult to hoe between the plants without trampling all over the bed. On the other hand, beds must be sufficiently wide to allow for an effective arrangement of plants. For example, if you want a herbaceous border which maintains a colour display for most of the year, you need enough space to arrange plants so that when one group stops flowering another takes its place.
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