Last Updated on March 10, 2023
You can grow food in some unexpected places to get more out of a small garden! There are probably some sneaky spots in your yard you haven’t thought of where you could be growing delicious (and FREE) food. Read on to find the 9 ways I’ve made the most of a small garden to maximize the food my yard produces.
Small Space Garden Strategy: Grow Food Everywhere!
I live on a very small corner lot (⅕ of an acre), with about 8 feet of back and side yard, entirely in shade. Because I really wanted to grow some of my own food, I started gardening in my front yard, inspired by Fritz Haeg’s Edible Estates.
When I discovered that having a vegetable garden in Minnesota meant a lot of bare soil in spring (not very attractive in the front yard, and not great for erosion, either), I began looking into perennial food plants, many of which are beautiful.
Now I grow food everywhere!
I planted dwarf fruit trees anywhere they would fit and stuck rhubarb and berry bushes on my boulevard. In the picture above you can see an area next to the street that used to be nothing but weeds, where now I have rhubarb (see my post on uses for rhubarb to see why I’m putting this plant everywhere I can), gooseberries, serviceberries, several varieties of mint, alpine strawberries, and a few things that are edible if I bothered to do anything with them.
I’ve also been adding more perennial vegetables over the years, so we can have delicious greens and roots as well as yummy fruits without planting every season. Here are some of the fastest growing vegetables you might want to consider adding to an annual vegetable garden.
Small Space Garden Strategy: Know Your “Weeds”
The cool red plant poking in on the left is amaranth, which has edible leaves and seeds and self-seeds all over the yard. Even the weed that planted itself next to the curb is edible; purslane is a pretty amazing little plant, so I let it be, though with everything else to eat around here, it took awhile to get around to trying it. Now I wait eagerly for its appearance so I can use it in delicious and healthy green smoothies. Here are lots more purslane recipes from around the world.
Lots of other edible “weeds” are worth welcoming to your yard as well. My whole front yard is now covered in wild violets, which besides being an easy low-maintenance groundcover have some culinary and medicinal uses as well. Wood sorrel (better known as sour grass to some) and dandelions are delicious, versatile, and so nutritious. Here are more than 35 ways to use dandelions for food and medicine.
Related: Grass Alternatives ~ Why & How to Replace Your Lawn
Other common plants few of us realize are edible, like hostas and daylilies, can be harvested also. I have bee balm, yarrow, clover, and raspberry leaves that often find their way into my teapot. Cleavers and creeping Charlie have numerous medicinal properties worth getting to know.
Virginia waterleaf is a native plant that comes up especially early, a boon for eager foragers after winter.
Have conifers growing in your yard? Pine tea and spruce tea are delicious and full of medicinal compounds, and spruce tips can be harvested in spring as well.
Other trees like edible mulberry can be harvested as well. Both mulberry and ginkgo also have leaves that can be used medicinally. Here’s how to make mulberry leaf tea and ginkgo biloba tea.
When you start exploring the world of foraging, you discover tons of plants that can be used in your kitchen and medicine cabinet.
Follow my foraging and natural remedies board on Pinterest to see some of the incredible free food that’s probably right outside your door!
Related: 7 Remedies from Your Yard
Small Space Garden Strategy: Grow Food with Edible Ornamentals
Another part of the boulevard has a quintet of honeyberries (above), a very early elongated blueberry-type fruit that my little ones can’t get enough of. This area also has more rhubarb and an apple tree, and sometimes self-seeders borage and calendula, a medicinal herb with a lovely yellow flower.
I have containers to take advantage of sun where I don’t have a good spot to plant directly in the ground and grow pots of basil, tomatoes, and creeping rosemary (above, with a weed called wood sorrel, which is also edible and has a nice tangy flavor, good for salads when other greens are not yet plentiful).
Related: 40+ Vegetables that Grow in Shade!
When we needed shade on our porch, I planted grapevines, which not only give us lovely shade in the heat of summer, but a bumper crop of Bluebell grapes. It turns out Japanese beetles think grape leaves are about the yummiest thing ever, so we’ve used a number of natural methods for controlling Japanese beetles.
The grapevines are underplanted with strawberries and serviceberry shrubs, because we can never have enough berries!
These delicate pink raspberries grow off to the side of my front yard, but the plants are pretty invasive, and a little rangy for a front-yard garden. I’m moving them to a more contained out-of-the-way location by our back door.
I underplant this area with strawberries, thyme, and borage, an odd-looking self-seeder with edible flowers and leaves that lend a melon-cucumber flavor to water and have some impressive medicinal properties.
My all-time favorite herb, lemon balm, joined the party as a single plant. In the years since, I’ve let it spread and have more than a dozen plants in different parts of the yard. (Read more about what’s so wonderful about lemon balm and how I get most of my plants for free.)
Who says veggies have to grow in a backyard? You can grow food everywhere!
In another area where the soil was badly compacted from installing our geothermal system, I set up 5 raised beds in a diamond pattern to up take advantage of one of the few spots in our yard that gets decent sun.
There, I grow kale for kale chips as well as squash, beans, and cucumbers, which grow up this easily-constructed teepee to add some visual interest and make use of vertical space, along with some volunteer tomato plants that tried to take over last summer. I’ve also tried growing three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) as well as some cabbage in other boxes.
This teepee will be covered with vines by season’s end (see after photo below). The wall of green in the background is made of grapevines that give us privacy and cooling shade on the porch, and of course, grapes!
Small Space Garden Strategy: Find Unexpected Places to Grow Food
Take a careful look around. If you can add trees, consider types with fruit for you and your family to enjoy. Dwarf plums, apples, and pears can yield quite a lot and require very little attention.
Consider vining plants like scarlet runner beans, cucumbers, or grapes, by fences, walls, and arbors. Sneak in fruiting shrubs wherever you can. (See my post on growing fruit for more specifics.)
Have space for a veggie garden? Dig up some grass (or better yet, try the lasagna method of gardening) or build a simple raised bed like the one here.
Renting or not ready to commit? Pots can grow everything from tomatoes to cucumbers to strawberries. One of my friends filled a kiddie pool with soil and grew all the veggies she wanted for summer on her concrete patio.
Check out Mel Bartholomew’s fabulous Square Foot Gardening for a simple and efficient way to grow a lot in a small space.
When the weather’s too cold, you can also grow food inside. Here’s what to know about how to grow vegetables indoors!
Related: Eco-Friendly Landscaping: How to Put Your Yard to Work for the Planet
Here are the strategies I use to grow food — lots of it — in my small garden:
9 Ways to Maximize Food in a Small Garden
- Scout out underutilized areas that could grow food. Is there a patch of lawn that you don’t actually use that could be turned over to grow food?
- Add dwarf fruit trees — apples, pears, peaches, oranges, whatever grows in your region.
- Plant fruiting shrubs like blueberries, raspberries, or hazelnuts.
- Tuck in small fruits like strawberries and groundcover raspberries.
- Add herbs like lemon balm, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and mint. And don’t forget that lots of weeds are edible, too!
- Find places vines like grapes, beans, and kiwis can climb.
- Grow herbs and vegetables in pots.
- Think vertical — cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes can be trained to grow up to make the most of limited space.
- Garden intensively to grow a lot in a little area. Companion planting is one way to get more crops into less space. Here are some zucchini companion plants, spinach companion plants, and companion plants for strawberries to consider.
Or if you’ve never grown anything before and aren’t sure where to begin, check out my FREE quick-start guide for newbie gardeners, Get Growing! and you’ll be enjoying your own home-grown food in no time.
If you really want to dive into edible landscaping, check out Angela England’s inspiring new book Gardening Like a Ninja: A Guide to Sneaking Delicious Edibles into Your Landscape. She’ll help you take your efforts to grow food everywhere to a whole new level.
Do you have a new spot where you could grow food this season? Leave your good ideas below!
Pin to save these ways to grow food in a small garden for later!
Susannah is a proud garden geek and energy nerd who loves healthy food and natural remedies. Her work has appeared in Mother Earth Living, Ensia, Northern Gardener, Sierra, and on numerous websites. Her first book, Everything Elderberry, released in September 2020 and has been a #1 new release in holistic medicine, naturopathy, herb gardening, and other categories. Find out more and grab your copy here.
Hi, I'm Susannah, a garden geek, energy nerd, and fan of healthy food and natural remedies. Need some simple, practical solutions for living healthier and greener? You've come to the right place! More about me and my green projects
Carole says
We’re surrounded by trees here so no backyard, but I’m growing tomatoes and cucumbers and sweet peppers on my patio in four “Earth Boxes”. My daily harvest in August is amazing!
Alicia Owen says
If my husband had his way, the whole yard would be covered with productive plants instead of grass. We have a huge yard, though, and I’m the one who would be doing most of the work. 😉
healthygreensavvy says
Haha! I know how that goes 🙂 Wish I had a huge yard to fill with fruit trees and low-maintenance groundcovers, and some chickens to eat the weeds and pests. Lucky you!
Katy SkipTheBag says
Gardening is definitely a disease! We no longer look at buying anything for our garden unless it is edible (although maybe if it just smelled good it would count!). We are using most of your tactics: herbs, cages for our tomatoes and some squash to have them go up, and blueberry bushes. Hubby was just talking yesterday about how he wants to plant a garden in our front yard too! You can see what we planted here: http://skipthebag.blogspot.com/2016/05/planting-our-garden.html I really should do an update, everything looks so small in those pictures! Thanks for posting on #sustainablesunday!
Danielle @DIYDanielle says
Great tips! I’ve been wanting to do something similar for our front yard. We have some useless shrubs I’d like to replace with blueberry plants next year. And then plant strawberries around the ground. My husband said “That sounds expensive” teehee….
Thanks for linking up to #SustainableSundays!
Marla says
Hi Susannah,
Great tips and I love how you made utilized your space very creatively. We tried planted fruits a number of years ago but after a couple of years just when they were getting to the point of produced they died, we do plant sweet potatoes in barrels the last couple of years which has been successful and sometimes tomatoes which to well in pots. I have the room for garden and have tried it numerous years but the darn ground hogs and other animals would eat everything so we finally just went to buying local organically grown vegetable since they are readily available near us. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & tweeted!
Susannah says
We have a resident groundhog, too, but he only goes after certain crops and we still get plenty. They make electronic repellers that could help, in addition to things like garlic spray and cayenne (which also helps with bugs). And fencing is helpful if you have a space you can do that with. Do you know what killed your trees? We have a black walnut we have to be careful of, but there are plants that can tolerate their juglones. Hope you try again sometime!
Marla says
Hi Susannah,
We have no idea what killed are trees. We paid a lot of money for them too. I have many food allergies so I have to avoid many fruits and such. I do use cayenne pepper and my own DIY sprays for my flowers and the veggies that we do grow when necessary. We so far this year we have trapped at least 7 ground hogs and 2 raccoons and we still are seeing groundhogs. We also get fresh veggies from my Mother’s garden and plant a few things ourselves there and she is surrounded by Mennonites and Amish farms so we buy get our eggs and numerous food items including fresh veggies to freeze for the winter when we visit her which is regularly. It actually is cheaper for us to buy local organic then try to grow many things ourselves. A ground hog or raccoon can destroy a garden in one night and we have had it happen to often. I have tried the sprays and they do not stop always stop them from eating once they find something they like.
Susannah says
Wow, sounds like quite an interesting place to live! Glad you found a solution that works for you 🙂
Jamie @ Medium Sized Family says
Great tips! I put in some raspberry plants, but I wasn’t sure they’d do well. I’ve heard they don’t grow in our area. Well those things have taken off! I planted them along a fence row, but you’re right about them taking over. Of course, I can’t complain about the wealth of free berries for little effort year after year. 😉
Marla says
Hi Susannah,
Just a note to let you know that I have chosen your post as one of my features for this weeks Real Food Fridays blog hop that goes live every Thursday @ 7pm EST. Thank you for sharing your valuable information with us on Real Food Fridays and helping us to make this world a little bit healthier!
Penny O says
Great post with so much relevant advice. I love the dwarf fruit tree advice…fruit trees can be messy, but if they’re small they might be more manageable. Thank you!!
Jamie @ Medium Sized Family says
You’ve got quite a few plants here that I hadn’t heard of before. I’ll have to look into those honeyberries!
Susannah says
They’re nice because they’re ready so early, but they’re an acquired taste, not so sweet and flavorful as blueberries. But just weeks after the frost, we’ll take whatever we can get! What zone are you in?
test says
Good article! We will be linking to this great post on our website.
Keep up the good writing.
Susannah says
Thanks for the compliment! Is your site about gardening?
Rosie (@greenrosielife) says
I am lucky and have plenty of space to grow fruit and veg outside but I am always looking to cram more into my polytunnel so these ideas are great. #WasteLessWednesday
Lace Faerie says
So glad I found your sight from Pinterest. I will be adding it to my Bloglovin feed.
I wish you could relocate or remove the circles of social media buttons on the left side of the site. I blocks my view and I have to guess at what I’m seeing.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Susannah says
Thanks for the feedback! You can shrink the percent size you’re viewing and it’s all visible, but I’ve been discussing with my developer how to make that more responsive to different size screens.
Would love to know what issues interest you and what solutions you’re looking for! Small space gardening? Self-sufficiency tips? Do leave another comment when you get a chance 🙂
Vanessa says
This was a great read! I’m excited to keep finding new spaces to grow food this year.
Susannah says
Great question! I’ll check with Michelle and let you know.
Susannah says
Vanessa, Michelle says: “Yes, dried honeysuckle will work, but the flavor is likely to be more subtle.” Hope your syrup comes out well!
Susannah says
Hope you find some good ones! Let me know if you come up any sneaky ideas 🙂
Cynthia Parker says
I grew up near Bemidji, Minnesota. I live in Oklahoma now, and while I love our long growing season, our soil is practically pure clay. How I would love to have the beautiful sandy loam we had up there!
We live in a small town where we have 3 lots. My husband and I are both 70. We have 4 raised garden beds and the rest of the area is mostly lawn, which we are planning on turning into a nice little food forest. (Who wants to mow all the time, anyway?) We will be starting a “Postage Stamp Orchard” from Burgess Seeds and Plants this spring, and raspberry plants along the eastern side of the area. Eventually we want to have our entire property surrounded with a hedge of edible bushes. The area will also be a Certified Wildlife Habitat to help protect our resident Armadillo, birds, and beneficial insects..
I am enjoying your blogs on edible weeds. We have dandelions, of course, but also cleavers, chickweed, henbit, purple dead nettle, wood sorrel, lots of white clover and lamb’s quarters. We also get a few plantain, but sadly no mullein, the soil is just too heavy I guess. The birds are helping, though. We had to cut down an old hackberry tree, but we left a 4-foot stump because of old fencing embedded in the tree. The birds liked sitting on the stump, so when saplings started sprouting around the stump we just let them grow as cover for the birds. Imagine our surprise when the “hackberry” saplings bore mulberries last year! This spring I discovered we have a nice patch of wild dewberries growing where none were before
I’m planning on incorporating quite a few of your excellent suggestions into the future Parker’s Paradise.
Susannah says
Sounds utterly fantastic, Cynthia! I’m just working on upcoming posts on wood sorrel and lambsquarters, as it happens 🙂 Oklahoma is prime elderberry country, and elderberries are a natural for your food forest. Hope you’ll consider them as well. Here’s info on growing elderberry and choosing elderberry varieties if you’re interested. Best of luck and keep us posted on progress!