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RHS Garden Harlow Carr
The 3m x 3m Vegetable Plot
Originally conceived for the BBC television series Grow your Own Veg and its related book, the 3m x 3m plot demonstrates the range, quantity and quality of food it is possible to grow in a space small enough to fit into most urban gardens. It is designed to encourage people to have a go at growing their own vegetables at home. The design is based on raised beds for ease of maintenance.
There is enough space to grow salads, tomatoes or any vegetable that tastes best freshly picked, such as peas, beetroot and sweetcorn, as well as vegetables that can be expensive or difficult to find young, such as broad beans.
Heavy cropping or dwarf cultivars of vegetables or climbers grow up frames or trellis to make the most of the space, and a succession of crops is ensured by keeping a supply of young plants growing on, to fill spaces on the plot as crops are harvested. Herbs and edible flowers including nasturtiums, pot marigolds, violas and borage look good and attract beneficial insects and pest predators.
In the Harlow Carr plot, vegetables can be picked at their freshest, tastiest and healthiest, and are as local as you can get.