A miniature potager garden containing vegetables, herbs, flowers and many inspiring ideas for tiny gardens and young gardeners – was awarded a Silver Gilt at the Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair.
The Family Potager Garden, created by Garden Organic’s Head Gardener, Emma O’Neill, incorporated many ideas for families on tight budgets and with small plots, and was deemed a winning design at the Audley End House show in September.
The garden was the perfect demonstration of how gardening can be fun for the whole family. It featured a mini 30 cm-diameter pond to encourage beneficial insects and a child friendly ‘mud kitchen’ to give children the opportunity to have fun in the garden making mud pies.
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Visitors and the judges were impressed by the easily replicable ideas horticultural charity Garden Organic showed in the small space. The garden was divided into four vegetable beds where a combination of organic vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers were planted to yield fresh organic produce and encourage insects and wildlife.
The vegetables on show, including heritage varieties of chard, kale and beetroot, were grown from seed from Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library.
“We were really excited to show gardeners some easy projects for them to replicate at home – and delighted to win an award,” says Head Gardener, Emma. “The four bed potager is perfect for introducing variety and diversity to small gardens and ideal for encouraging family member to look after a section each, choosing the plants and tending to them.
“The interactive mud garden encourages little ones to get their hands dirty while making mud ‘pies’ and is designed to give children good memories in a garden from a young age”.
Clever Composting
There was also a clever composting area to provide organic material to improve soil quality, a bug hotel made from hanging baskets, and a seating area for mum and dad. With sustainability being a key consideration, much of the garden was built from reusable and recycled materials.
“The compost bay, made from two wooden pallets, provides extra planting space for growing vegetables, and shows that compost bins can be integrated into the heart of a garden. And no matter how small a planting space, a tiny pond can still effectively attract water flies and all important pollinators like bees”, says Emma.
For more information, hints and tips about organic gardening and other benefits of being a Garden Organic member, please visit www.gardenorganic.org.uk or follow @GardenOrganicUK on social media.
