GrowingHQ

Crops for a new-build garden

Compacted subsoil under a thin layer of imported topsoil is the commonest garden soil in new housing and the least written about. The constraint is compaction rather than texture, which changes both the crop list and the remedy. Set to `tolerated` rather than the `preferred` every other soil list uses, and the exception is the point: made ground is a DAMAGED soil rather than a soil type, so 'which crops do better here than elsewhere' describes exactly one crop and nothing useful. Nothing prefers compacted subsoil. What a reader standing on it needs is the list that copes, and then the soil page, which is about fixing the ground rather than working round it.

How this list was built

Generated from the catalogue by the same engine that powers What can I grow? — 24 of the 102 edible plants qualify. It is published because it names a question people ask, returns enough plants to be useful, does not return most of the group it is about, and rests on fields that are actually populated. Lists that fail any of those are on the coverage page instead.

24 plants
PlantTypeLightSpacingMin. pot depthIn a container
BlackcurrantRibes nigrumFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade150–180 cm40 cmworkable
Broad beanVicia fabaVegetableStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade20–23 cm30 cmworkable
BroccoliBrassica oleraceaVegetableSome care neededFull sun, Partial shade30–45 cm30 cmworkable
CabbageBrassica oleraceaVegetableSome care neededFull sun, Partial shade30–45 cm30 cmworkable
CauliflowerBrassica oleraceaVegetableDemandingFull sun, Partial shade60–75 cm40 cmmarginal
CeleriacApium graveolens var. rapaceumVegetableDemandingFull sun, Partial shade30–38 cm30 cmmarginal
CeleryApium graveolensVegetableDemandingFull sun, Partial shade23–27 cm25 cmmarginal
ChardBeta vulgaris subsp. vulgarisVegetableStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade25–30 cm25 cmwell suited
ChervilAnthriscus cerefoliumHerbSome care neededPartial shade, Dappled shade20–25 cm20 cmwell suited
GooseberryRibes uva-crispaFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade150 cm35 cmworkable
KaleBrassica oleraceaVegetableStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade45 cm30 cmwell suited
Land cressBarbarea vernaVegetableStraightforwardPartial shade, Dappled shade, Full sun15–20 cm15 cmwell suited
LeekAllium ampeloprasumVegetableStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade15–23 cm30 cmworkable
LemongrassCymbopogon citratusHerbSome care neededFull sun—25 cmwell suited
LovageLevisticum officinaleHerbStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade60–90 cm60 cmmarginal
MintMenthaHerbStraightforwardPartial shade, Full sun, Dappled shade30–45 cm20 cmwell suited
Pak choiBrassica rapaVegetableStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade20–25 cm20 cmwell suited
ParsleyPetroselinum crispumHerbSome care neededFull sun, Partial shade20–25 cm25 cmwell suited
PotatoSolanum tuberosumVegetableStraightforwardFull sun30–38 cm40 cmwell suited
RedcurrantRibes rubrumFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade150 cm35 cmworkable
SorrelRumex acetosaHerbStraightforwardPartial shade, Full sun, Dappled shade30–38 cm25 cmwell suited
SwedeBrassica napusVegetableStraightforwardFull sun23–30 cm40 cmmarginal
Vietnamese corianderPersicaria odorataHerbSome care neededPartial shade, Full sun30–40 cm20 cmwell suited
WhitecurrantRibes rubrumFruitStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade150 cm35 cmworkable