End of the summer season

The summer season is over for another year and the garden is being cleared for its winter rest. This type of gardening is a form of temporary gardening installed each spring to take advantage of the growing season then packed away each winter. This particularly suits people in rented property or with only temporary access to growing space.

The raised bed (5m by 1m) is the main growing area of the garden. A raised bed can be a temporary or permanent structure, simply made and used for the season, then dismantled and removed afterwards if necessary. Most gardens can accommodate a raised bed without any structural changes or disruptions. Some new raised bed systems work on balconies and paved areas (see below).

Container gardening and vertical gardening are often the key to successful city gardening where space is restricted. By combining several levels of plants growing (herbs, peppers and salad at ground level, climbing beans, cucumbers and tomatoes above) a temporary garden can be created without damaging walls or surfaces.

In cities it is all about finding unusual spaces for gardening that otherwise are overlooked. Stairwells and basements are a good example as are balconies and even window sills. Of course the main overlooked space in cities is on rooftops. Constructing container gardens (securely fixed) on roof spaces is the future for urban vegetable growing.

It is important to recognise the skills picked up in a small city garden or balcony are easily scaled up for larger gardens, allotments, community gardens or rooftop systems. The basic techniques remain the same. The real challenge for the urban gardener is to find the more unusual growing spaces hidden all around the city.

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