8 Tips for Growing Food at Home from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Be inspired by these tips and creative ideas for nurturing edible plants in your own outside space
If you’re interested in growing your own vegetables, fruit or herbs, this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show was packed with clever ideas and inspiration. From drought-proof plants to ‘edimentals’, water harvesting to small space solutions, these ideas will help you to kick-start your own food-growing journey.
The School Food Matters Garden designed by Harry Holding.
2. Mix edibles and ornamentals
Many of the gardens looked at ways to blend edible plants into an existing ornamental garden scheme, highlighting the aesthetic value of fruit, vegetables and herbs or ‘edimentals’. The Hamptons Mediterranean Garden by Filippo Dester placed an outdoor kitchen at the centre of the design, surrounding it with a mix of edible and ornamental plants.
Another garden that looked at ways of making food fun was The School Food Matters Garden by Harry Holding, seen here. The designer aimed to encourage children to explore and be inspired by the idea of edible plants by creating an immersive, forageable space.
Keen to bring in the skilled eye of a garden designer to make the most of your plot? Find one on Houzz today.
2. Mix edibles and ornamentals
Many of the gardens looked at ways to blend edible plants into an existing ornamental garden scheme, highlighting the aesthetic value of fruit, vegetables and herbs or ‘edimentals’. The Hamptons Mediterranean Garden by Filippo Dester placed an outdoor kitchen at the centre of the design, surrounding it with a mix of edible and ornamental plants.
Another garden that looked at ways of making food fun was The School Food Matters Garden by Harry Holding, seen here. The designer aimed to encourage children to explore and be inspired by the idea of edible plants by creating an immersive, forageable space.
Keen to bring in the skilled eye of a garden designer to make the most of your plot? Find one on Houzz today.
The Savills Garden designed by Mark Gregory.
3. Place raised beds close to the kitchen
If traditional vegetable growing is more your style, classic raised beds were still in evidence at the show and formed the heart of The Savills Garden designed by Mark Gregory, seen here.
Although ornamentals and edibles were combined in the garden, they were kept relatively separate by the use of a series of raised planters for the produce, which ensured they were easily distinguishable from the ornamental planting.
Placing the vegetable beds close to the food preparation area – in this case an outdoor kitchen, was designed to create a ‘plot-to-plate’ experience – something that could be recreated at home by placing a raised bed close to the kitchen door.
3. Place raised beds close to the kitchen
If traditional vegetable growing is more your style, classic raised beds were still in evidence at the show and formed the heart of The Savills Garden designed by Mark Gregory, seen here.
Although ornamentals and edibles were combined in the garden, they were kept relatively separate by the use of a series of raised planters for the produce, which ensured they were easily distinguishable from the ornamental planting.
Placing the vegetable beds close to the food preparation area – in this case an outdoor kitchen, was designed to create a ‘plot-to-plate’ experience – something that could be recreated at home by placing a raised bed close to the kitchen door.
The Alitex stand at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023.
4. Start small
While some gardens at Chelsea made room for large vegetable beds, other stands introduced edible plants in a smaller way.
The Alitex greenhouse stand was set up with small and easy ideas for branching into edible gardening. Seedlings sprouted from eggshells and cress grew in cupcake cases, both of which would be easy to recreate on a windowsill and good projects for children to get involved with.
More: 7 Trends from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023
4. Start small
While some gardens at Chelsea made room for large vegetable beds, other stands introduced edible plants in a smaller way.
The Alitex greenhouse stand was set up with small and easy ideas for branching into edible gardening. Seedlings sprouted from eggshells and cress grew in cupcake cases, both of which would be easy to recreate on a windowsill and good projects for children to get involved with.
More: 7 Trends from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023
Hamptons Mediterranean Garden designed by Filippo Dester.
5. Get creative with water harvesting
Growing food can require a lot of water and, with our increasingly hot summers, this is often a scarce resource. Many of the show gardens referenced this with creative water harvesting ideas.
The Hamptons Mediterranean Garden, seen here, featured a stone water channel that collected rainwater from a roof, which then flowed through the garden and into a storage reservoir below ground. The RSPCA Garden by Martyn Wilson, meanwhile, featured a rain chain to direct rainwater from the roof down into a water barrel.
More: How Much Would it Cost to Redesign My Garden?
5. Get creative with water harvesting
Growing food can require a lot of water and, with our increasingly hot summers, this is often a scarce resource. Many of the show gardens referenced this with creative water harvesting ideas.
The Hamptons Mediterranean Garden, seen here, featured a stone water channel that collected rainwater from a roof, which then flowed through the garden and into a storage reservoir below ground. The RSPCA Garden by Martyn Wilson, meanwhile, featured a rain chain to direct rainwater from the roof down into a water barrel.
More: How Much Would it Cost to Redesign My Garden?
The Platform Garden designed by Amelia Bouquet and Emilie Bausager.
6. Choose drought-proof varieties
Drought-tolerant planting goes hand in hand with careful water harvesting and this was something many of the designers at the show took into account.
In their The Platform Garden, seen here, designers Amelia Bouquet and Emilie Bausager used drought-tolerant edible plants, such as alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca), in conjunction with smart rainwater-gathering planters.
Elsewhere, The School Food Matters Garden featured climate-adapted edible plants, as did the Hamptons Mediterranean Garden, which highlighted the use of herbs and plants suitable for a hot, dry climate.
6. Choose drought-proof varieties
Drought-tolerant planting goes hand in hand with careful water harvesting and this was something many of the designers at the show took into account.
In their The Platform Garden, seen here, designers Amelia Bouquet and Emilie Bausager used drought-tolerant edible plants, such as alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca), in conjunction with smart rainwater-gathering planters.
Elsewhere, The School Food Matters Garden featured climate-adapted edible plants, as did the Hamptons Mediterranean Garden, which highlighted the use of herbs and plants suitable for a hot, dry climate.
The St George ‘Alight Here’ Balcony Garden designed by Emma Tipping.
7. Maximise balcony space
Many of this year’s balcony gardens (2m x 5m) featured edible planting, showing that edibles can be grown in any kind of space. The St George ‘Alight Here’ Balcony Garden, seen here, featured pots of highly scented edible herbs, such as mint and thyme.
The Rustic Recipes Reimagined garden also highlighted plants that can be grown in small spaces. “Balconies and terraces provide ample space for plants such as thyme, dwarf courgettes and other cucurbits, and alpine strawberries,” Charlotte says, “and even slightly different plants, such as chamomile, salad burnet, and lemon balm, which can be harvested and used in both hot and cold beverages.”
7. Maximise balcony space
Many of this year’s balcony gardens (2m x 5m) featured edible planting, showing that edibles can be grown in any kind of space. The St George ‘Alight Here’ Balcony Garden, seen here, featured pots of highly scented edible herbs, such as mint and thyme.
The Rustic Recipes Reimagined garden also highlighted plants that can be grown in small spaces. “Balconies and terraces provide ample space for plants such as thyme, dwarf courgettes and other cucurbits, and alpine strawberries,” Charlotte says, “and even slightly different plants, such as chamomile, salad burnet, and lemon balm, which can be harvested and used in both hot and cold beverages.”
The Restorative Balcony Garden sponsored by Viking, designed by Christina Cobb.
8. Make space for wildlife, too
Wildlife gardening and edible gardening were linked together in many of the gardens at this year’s show, with creative ideas for wildlife habitats woven through the edible planting.
The Restorative Balcony Garden by Christina Cobb featured pollinator-friendly planting and a bird bath alongside edible and scented herbs, as did The School Food Matters Garden, which included brightly coloured pollinators and a wildlife-friendly water pool.
Attracting wildlife was also a core element of the Rustic Recipes Reimagined garden, which featured wildlife habitats, such as a beehive and hedgehog homes, alongside edible planting.
“Animals and insects such as hedgehogs, ladybirds and hoverflies are brilliant at keeping harmful pest populations down in the garden, which results in healthier, tastier and bigger edible plants,” Charlotte says. “This is why it’s so important to create spaces for wildlife, such as log piles and bird feeders, and plant a variety of hedging and flowering plants.”
Tell us…
Have you been inspired by any of the edible garden ideas at the Chelsea Flower Show this year? Share your thoughts and gardening tips in the Comments.
8. Make space for wildlife, too
Wildlife gardening and edible gardening were linked together in many of the gardens at this year’s show, with creative ideas for wildlife habitats woven through the edible planting.
The Restorative Balcony Garden by Christina Cobb featured pollinator-friendly planting and a bird bath alongside edible and scented herbs, as did The School Food Matters Garden, which included brightly coloured pollinators and a wildlife-friendly water pool.
Attracting wildlife was also a core element of the Rustic Recipes Reimagined garden, which featured wildlife habitats, such as a beehive and hedgehog homes, alongside edible planting.
“Animals and insects such as hedgehogs, ladybirds and hoverflies are brilliant at keeping harmful pest populations down in the garden, which results in healthier, tastier and bigger edible plants,” Charlotte says. “This is why it’s so important to create spaces for wildlife, such as log piles and bird feeders, and plant a variety of hedging and flowering plants.”
Tell us…
Have you been inspired by any of the edible garden ideas at the Chelsea Flower Show this year? Share your thoughts and gardening tips in the Comments.
1. Broaden your concept of edible plants
When planning a food garden, it pays to think a bit more creatively about what constitutes an edible plant. This was the concept behind the Rustic Recipes Reimagined garden by Sparsholt College, seen here, which was packed with surprising edible plants, many of which are often considered ornamentals or weeds.
“It can be estimated there are between 5,000 and 20,000 species of edible plants in the wild, yet we tend to stick to around 20 in our daily diets,” says Charlotte Cole, part of the team behind the garden. Some of the surprising edibles in the garden were hostas, which Charlotte says “can be eaten like asparagus”, and young leaves of the beech, Fagus sylvatica, which “taste brilliant in salads”.
“My personal favourite is wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella),” Charlotte says. “Its Latin name means ‘sour’. Its citrus taste makes it a favourite as a garnish in salads to replace plants such as cress, and it’s readily available, since it often grows as a weed in gardens.”
Many of these plants can be woven into an existing planting scheme – or may already be present in your garden. It must be noted, however, that correct identification of plants is paramount, so if in doubt, always use plant identification guides and consult professionals.