You can grow fresh relatively clean vegetables in containers. This is useful for gardeners with restricted space or where you want vegetables close to the kitchen door.
Selecting Containers
- Growbags get there name for a good reason. They are the first container to consider for vegetables.
- Old large plant pots are fine as long as you clean them thoroughly. Disinfect with jeyes fluid in necessary.
- Your own selection of containers, troughs, window boxes, even old drain pipes may be brought into service.
- Depth for most crops should be at least 1 foot to avoid watering problems.
Compost or Soil
- To get good results we recommend using sterilised potting media
- John Innes No 3 holds nutrient, water and has some weight and body.
- Proprietary potting compost are equally of use.
- Good quality loam or garden soil will be fine but may lack nutrient, harbour insects and disease.
- Mix in 20% of well rotted manure if you wish to grow organically.
Crop Selection
- Sow Broad Beans from February 6-8″ apart.
- Round carrots like Nantes and Amsterdam sown from February to June. The pots height can stop or deter carrot root fly.
- Herbs and salad crops do well in containers. Small lettuce can be sown successively from January
- Potatoes are my favourite as they come out clean and problem free. You can grow lots of varieties this way. One tuber for every foot of container diameter.
- Peas with edible pods can be sown from March as can beetroot.
I start a few seed potatoes as soon as they arrive, end January/February.
I cover with fleece in very cold weather and happily move the pots for protection of the really early spuds. If the crop fails I have only lost a bit of effort and I can get on with full quantities in March
Hi (Brian?) – I just love the photo of the bag planters. If you don’t mind my asking, how have those been working out for you?
The bags were very good producing clean spuds quickly. It was a bit hard to water them but I didn’t fill the compost to the top so the fabric bent over. I will use them again!