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.

@flowerpower3618

Ай бұрын

Or gravel with a few drought tolerant scraggly bushes here in southern Calif. - they get weedy and never are maintained .

It's so nice to see a 'real' garden. Very few of us have the rolling acres commonly featured.

@GrowVeg

5 ай бұрын

Yes indeed. Mark offers so many ideas for what's quite a small space.

I immediately noticed how the containers are elevated, something my garden needs especially to save me from bending over.

@renel7303

6 ай бұрын

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. 😅

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

It does really help with maintaining everything, and offers good vertical interest too.

@user-uj3kw5wt3i

2 ай бұрын

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.

@GrowVeg

3 ай бұрын

He's a real inspiration isn't he! :-)

@sigilfredogaleano6568

Ай бұрын

Apples in the 9th fl? Amazing! And congratulation!

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

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

You're growing loads there - that's brilliant!

@Padraigp

4 ай бұрын

How hot is it in Nottingham? Must be a whole lot warmer than ireland!

@WeAreAllOneNature

2 ай бұрын

Have you managed to pick any tomatillos?

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❤,

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.

@renel7303

6 ай бұрын

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

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.

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.

@sb40a

6 ай бұрын

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Completely agree. We should all be able to grow food on our own properties. I can't see any downside to that!

@fatasiancat

2 ай бұрын

HOA needs to go away forever.

@Ladytee2024

Ай бұрын

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.

@donnabrooks1173

Ай бұрын

​@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.

When I am cutting up my veggies on the counter I like to say to myself, “It doesn’t get better than this.”

@sb40a

6 ай бұрын

🥰

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Absolutely!

Houses with trees and plants look so nice!!! With a garden it’s even better ! 🙏🏼❤️💐

Mark has been doing amazing work for so many years. His newsletter are great gardening reminders! (Vertical Veg Org UK)

@GrowVeg

3 ай бұрын

We were very fortunate to get a tour of his garden. :-)

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!

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

So pleased you found this video useful.:-)

@mbuhtz

6 ай бұрын

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!

@littlefairyland763

6 ай бұрын

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

That sounds fantastic - and so impressive to grow so many different types of tomato in a small space like that!

@valerieanne223

2 ай бұрын

I am sure he gave you some pea seeds!

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

It really is an inspirational space - so much in so little space!

@renel7303

6 ай бұрын

@@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’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 💜💜

@GrowVeg

4 ай бұрын

That's very kind of you to say. Mark has some superb ideas in his garden. :-)

Great work. He must be an exceptional gardener 💚💚💚

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

He certainly is!

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Hoping you get a fab series of harvests now the weather's (hopefully!) cooled off a bit.

I use Square Foot Gardening for spacing in my 5 gallon buckets.

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 💚🌱👩🏼‍🌾

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

The thing is you are growing now, which is all that matters! :-)

Great video Ben. Hope you didn’t wee in Mark’s compost when no one was looking ! 😂

@sb40a

6 ай бұрын

🤣

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

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. ☺

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

That's really great to hear - you can grow good food anywhere! :-)

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!

@GrowVeg

18 күн бұрын

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 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 💚🌱

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

So pleased this video has inspired - Mark is really generous with his advice and experience.

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 😃

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for watching. Happy gardening to you too! :-)

@lyndasimpson4085

6 ай бұрын

I would like more information on growing fruit trees in a pot but could we do dwarf

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. 😥

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Mark's a real inspiration - he offers a great example.

@reer5340

6 ай бұрын

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.

Great to see two of my favourite online gardeners talking together😀, Jinxy

Thank you so much for this one. I garden in a small backyard in containers and 2 raised beds. Very inspiring video. 💜💜💜

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

So pleased you enjoyed it - thanks for watching! :-)

My two favourite You Tube Gardeners in one video. What’s not to like! Thank you both

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for watching. :-)

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!

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

That's really super to hear David. :-)

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

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

He really is.

One of the best potted vege gardens and use of space I’ve seen! Fantastic work 😊

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching. :-)

Another testament to the teeming qualities of life. One only needs learn how to harness and nurture!

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Absolutely!

I have grown Hestia dwarf runner beans in containers and had a good crop off them.

This makes me excited for next season

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

That's a really superb result!

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

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.

Wow. This is really inspiring

Top marks guys! And a great reminder how easy it is to grow epicure quality food at little to no monetary cost 👏👏👏

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Mark's garden is very efficient in this regard. :-)

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.

@svetlanapil8089

6 ай бұрын

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

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!

Great Video. I really appreciate the way you let the gardener do the talking.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching, appreciate it. :-)

Very inspiring! Thanks for the interview.

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 💯🌼🌼🌼

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

So pleased you enjoyed the video - thanks for watching. :-)

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.

@sb40a

6 ай бұрын

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!

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

You grew something though - and each year will get better as your experience grows. Keep at it!

Absolutely beautiful ❤ Thanks guys!! 🎉

I really enjoyed this video. I teach men that have been incarcerated from nonviolent offenses in Alaska. Tks for sharing!

@GrowVeg

5 ай бұрын

What a fantastic thing to do. I hope you/they might find this video inspiring. :-)

All pots cool.😊

Excellent ideas for a small urban garden. Thanks!!

Very hopeful for everyone. Thank you. 👩🏻‍🌾

Good work my dear brother

Beautiful and useful!

Great job Mark Great video as always

Very inspiring 🌱 Thank you so much for sharing 👍

I love your garden and personality

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

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 😊

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Gardening is always good for the soul, agreed!

Mark seems like a genuine great person

@GrowVeg

2 ай бұрын

He's a lovely fellow! :-)

How inspiring! I’m going to do this this year. My front garden is south facing as well. Thanks for this.

Awesome video

What great information!

I’m impressed, great work

Thankyou for sharing the different styles of gardening.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching. :-)

Thank you for this! 😊

Super cool to see what can be done with even the smallest of spaces!

@GrowVeg

4 ай бұрын

Mark has a very inspiring garden. :-)

Howdy Ben! I'm loving the gardens you are introducing us to!😃

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

So pleased Valorie - thanks for watching! :-)

loves the bees... they will definately come when there are flowers n i geta lot of birds too.

Fabulously inspirational!

Very inspiring! Thank you!

Lovely idea

Thank you 😇👍

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Hopefully they establish well for you. :-)

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!

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.

@GrowVeg

2 ай бұрын

Mark will be thrilled to read this. He certainly is an inspiration isn't he!

I bought Mark’s book as I need to have a container garden and wanted some ideas. It’s an excellent book.

@GrowVeg

5 ай бұрын

It's great isn't it! :-)

Beautiful garden

@GrowVeg

5 ай бұрын

Thank you so much. :-)

Great video. Inspirational.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Mark's garden is quite something! Thanks for watching. :-)

This is not a small (let alone a tiny) space? It’s lovely and thanks for the informations!

I've got Mark's book!

All pots cool.

Enjoyed this, thank you. BC Canada

I love that organic

Beautiful garden. Why the dollar sign?

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

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! :-)

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.

@GrowVeg

3 ай бұрын

That's a great idea. Hope you get a good harvest from them. :-)

I love Garden

Good video

I've been watching this channel for a while and just realized Ben reminds me of Robert Webb. 😆

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Haha - you're not the first person to mention that!

This is fantastic! Now interview someone with only a balcony of 6 m²!

@alisonburden223

6 ай бұрын

The cloud gardener in Manchester has a balcony. Admittedly it’s a bit larger!

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

That's a really great recommendation - thank you!

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!

@GrowVeg

Ай бұрын

I reckon it would be a good addition to a compost pile.

@echognomecal6742

Ай бұрын

@@GrowVeg Exactly :)

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching. :-)

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.

@GrowVeg

2 ай бұрын

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! :-)

Excuse me sir, we use sterling pound and have front gardens (said in posh British accent) ❤

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!

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

Good job to be making a go of you garden - top work! Will give you a shout if in NI! :-)

ARGH. This is the second pea variety I've seen on your program that is not sold in the States!!! Major bummer. Good on the container dude though. My neighborhood is full of people with huge yards and no veggie gardens. I guess they like spending money at the grocery store. I have beds and containers all over the place, even though there are few flat areas around here. Mountainous high desert (clay and decomposed granite, ugh), but I manage. I just don't get some people. I save seeds, and I can't even give them away. I try to give away growable food (sunchokes, etc), and no takers. I guess most people hereabouts are like my friend's wife and daughter, who won't eat anything out of his garden. The food must come from a grocery store, or they won't eat it. Mental.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

That is really frustrating - I feel your annoyance!

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.

@GrowVeg

4 ай бұрын

Sounds like a lovely garden. :-)

The value saved is overall health.. even organic produce in markets is no longer truly organic or super fresh😊

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.

@GrowVeg

6 ай бұрын

That's a great recommendation, thank you.