Mark has been working on a large-scale kitchen garden for the last few weeks.  This large plot has fantastic infrastructure – proper fencing, well laid out beds and paths, and a couple of large fruit cages, but had become badly neglected.  There were people around to work on the plot, albeit with competing pressures, so why did such a good set-up become so overgrown?  Is there something intrinsically difficult about growing fruit and vegetables, or do they require much more effort than other types of gardening.

On balance we don’t think that there is anything especially difficult about kitchen gardening.  Like ornamental gardening it is helpful to know about the habits and botany of the plants and the nature of your soil, pests and diseases and how to control them.

We also don’t think that it is necessarily harder work than ornamental gardening, but it does require planning and organisation.  Most kitchen gardening works on an annual cycle with fruit trees/bushes and some crops such as rhubarb, asparagus and globe artichokes being perennial.  The balance tends to be different in ornamental gardening with more permanent and perennial planting in place.  So for a given area, kitchen gardening probably requires more effort than ornamental gardening.  The important thing therefore is be realistic about the size of your plot and the effort that you’ll be able to put in at key times (soil preparation, propagation, planting, weeding, harvesting etc.)

Make sure that in the first instance you set something up that you are sure you can manage.  This is no different to making decisions about the balance between lawns and beds, or annuals and perennials in the ornamental garden.

It is far better to start with a small plot, or even a few containers that you can look after properly and enjoy the excitement of the growing process and the rewards of edible crops.  Once you experience success, and get to understand the work involved, you might be inspired to try more.  It is easy to use more spaces in the garden or add more containers to a productive base, but there are few things more dispiriting than a plot that gets out of control because you don’t have the time to manage it.

If you’re starting out on “Growing your own” our advice is think big, but start small.