Tips to make a vegetable garden?

I have a small front courtyard and a back above ground lanai that is roughly 17' X 8'. I'd like to do some kind of mini vegetable garden there because there's lots of sun. I'd like to do a water element in the front corner of my courtyard utilizing 2 large clam shells that my father procured while diving. Workable area would be about 5X5. Tips please.

  5 answers
  • Johnavallance82 Johnavallance82 on May 27, 2018

    Grow Runner Beans or climbing veg up Bamboo poles (In a line or an Arch or a Wigwam shape). or up a trellis. Grow small Salad stuff in Window boxes.

    Water Feature: either buy a large Solar Fountain and use with the Clam Shells and maybe sink a Large Bowl or pond underneath for holding the water.

  • Nancy Turner Nancy Turner on May 27, 2018

    You can use pots in your lanai to grow vegetables. You can use hanging pots for the low growing herbs that spread and for things like strawberries. You can get large plastic pots cheaply at places like Walmart and Home depot. I plant six leaf lettuce in one really large pot. By keeping those out of a lot of direct sun during the hottest hours of the sun, mine kept producing and didn't bolt until fall. A tomato with a tall cage will do well in a very large pot, last year I had a patio early girl that was five foot tall and produced a huge crop through out the season until first frost. I have planted three pepper plants in large pots. My herbs are planted in ten to twelve inch pots the just grew incredibly large. I used potting soil with peat moss added and used extended release fertilizer for tomatoes and vegetables. You can plant vining crops like cucumbers and squash, etc. as long as you provide a trellis for them to grow up. You should be able to grow whatever like, but take in mind the time of year in your growing area and what grows best this time of year.

  • Anne Wingate Anne Wingate on Jun 01, 2018

    I gather that you are in Jaws or Florida? That means that many ideas that would work elsewhere won't be right for you. But there are many free gardening books on Kindle. It doesn't matter if you don't have a Kindle, as you can download a free Kindle app for your computer. Also, your library is full of gardening books. Good luck!

  • Anne Wingate Anne Wingate on Jun 01, 2018

    Oops. I entered Hawaii and the tablet "corrected" it to Jaws. Duuh!