Grow Your Own Magazine

I moved into my current house about 18 months ago. My gardens have only been small 17' x 18' but now i have about doubled that 36'6" X 32'6" and want to try and utilise the space as much as possible. I have 5 young kids between ages of 11 and 4 which is making designs and ideas process a bit on the difficult side. I need to have room for them to play but also room to grow my veggies.

The garden is mainly lawn with a foot border to two sides. It is SW facing. 4' x 6' greenhouse is at the bottom and patio area near the house. I have containers on patio with toms, brussels, peas, mangetout and broad beans in. In the borders i have raspberry canes, blueberry, strawberries, pumpkin (eldest wanted to grow), blackberry, grapevine (in the corner), blackberry, blueberry, carrots, spinach, sweetcorn, more brussels and rhubarb. I also have a stella cherry in a large container, John Grieves, Granny Smith and Discovery in large containers (all to be put in when i have my garden design) couple of redcurrants in containers also and my greenhouse is fit to burst with more showings of lettuce, peas, beans, cabbage, broccoli etc.

I also have a front gardening area of 24' x 17' which again is mainly lawned with shrub borders this is NE facing so not sure what i could utilise this area for with fruit or veg.

I am looking to you all for ideas and inspiration so that i can have a productive garden but also keep the kids happy by giving them an area to play on - unless i can keep them all interested in the gardening and then just give them a plot of garden each.

Any ideas and suggestions greatly received.

Carrie

Not sure whether these pics are any good, but this is how the garden looks at the moment, hence the help needed in design lol.

Link
My Public Shoebox pictures from friends & fun photos on webshots

Post us some piccies & it will make it a bit easier (plus we are nosey & love looking at other people's gardens!)

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Newbie,
keen but clueless

Sounds like your doing a good job already. (Tho you have plenty of mouths to feed !)

I have only one word for you.... BALLS !

Can you limit ball games to the front patch, away from your veggies and greenhouse ? or some means of dividing up the space ?

What about a fruit cage (for the kids to play ball in

Giving them a plot each is not always a good idea. Me and my bro were encourgaged as kids to grow rather competetively and it wasn't long before sabotage became the order of the day !!

How about replacing your GH with a bigger tunnel ? Balls become less of a problem and you can extend the seasons further.

Don't rule out the front patch for salads over summer. By late May most of my leafy salad is in a north east facing area as it tends to bolt or shrivel in the heat elsewhere.

Hanging baskets and window boxes can utilise unused space and encourage 'browsing'.

Best advice for summer salad tho is successive sowing. (oh the guilt of having to compost a bin bag full of lettuce !)

Good luck

I have the same problem and started off with a small patio and a boggy lawn on clay - we solved this by putting in an "L" shaped patio and border on the long side for veg with the lawn inside the L for my son and his friends. my partner made some fab raised beds this year which allowed us far more space than pots had - he built wooden frames around two edges and panelled them with decking board, lining them on the inside with a heavyduty plastic liner and around 2" of large gravel in the bottom for drainage - minimal DIY skills need and far cheaper than anything we could afford ready made (and I think more attractive!). The main cost went on 30 sacks of compost and topsoil to fill them but they are heaving now with spinach, beans and courgettes.
good luck, i hope you end up with a bountiful garden that the kids will grow to appreciate, my 12 year old son is in the garden quicker than us now to spot the biggest courgettes and to monitor the pumpkin!