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by: DaveTruman
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Most people think of a vegetable garden as a fairly large plot of land with rows stretching 15 or 20 feet each. The idea of a small container or tiny patch of land growing a viable vegetable garden seems foreign.

It's not only possible, however, it can be highly rewarding as well. You can do all kinds of things - grow tomatoes in pots on the patio, beans on a trellis on an apartment balcony, or watermelons along the side of your driveway, for example.

A space no larger than a card table can supply you with vegetables year-round. The trick is to create a garden that has the right growing conditions and to buy seeds that are well suited to smaller areas.

Luckily a number of seed companies have responded to the newly recognized demand for miniature or compact plants, and more new strains are being offered to the public every year, often grouped together under such headings as "space savers," "space misers" or "midgets."

Producing vegetables on a reduced scale, however, is basically a different proposition from other kinds of gardening. Small gardens devoted to woody ornamentals like dwarf conifers, rhododendrons or heathers or to miniature bulbs or alpines are arranged and managed largely for appearance: they exist to be decorative, to please the eye.

Vegetables are grown not to reward the eye so much as the taste buds. So while you might find corn stalks and bean bushes in the average vegetable garden, they're not a common sight in a well designed landscape garden.

The greatest difficulties are practical ones. Although the leafy greens, like lettuce, can do fairly well on only four hours of direct sunlight a day, any vegetable that produces a fruit (tomatoes, beans, corn and so on) must have a solid eight hours of warming sun or its yields will be disappointing or virtually nonexistent; but that bright light does not benefit dwarf azaleas.

A good mix of soil, with the proper fertilizer, is necessary for growing vegetables but may be too much for some dwarf plants that are supposed to stay small. The main problem however is the need to turn over the soil in a vegetable garden every year. This kind of heavy tilling just can't be done in some small garden areas, which is why a small scale vegetable garden usually needs to be separate from the average garden.

This said, there is no doubting the fact that the smaller vegetables are worth trying, especially if space for the larger kind is at a premium. It is important to choose, however, the kind of smallness desired, whether it is the fruit or produce itself that will be miniature, or the plant that yields it. Miniature vegetables as such are amusing and eye-catching, a novelty that many restaurants and imaginative cooks offer with great success. Some miniatures, for example, cherry tomatoes, are accepted for their own sake, while a number of vegetables are of course just naturally small - radishes, for example.

About the Author

Are you planning on growing vegetables this year? Plan your vegetable garden layout before you plant any seeds. Learn how to plan your garden and get my free reports on mulching, composting and pest control at http://www.vegetablegardeners.com

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