Keep it Contained : Vegetate

 

 

Growing Vegetables in containers.

 

The range of options for what to include in your pots and containers is really quite bewildering, particularly when you extend the possibilities to herbs and veg. 

 

 

A herb garden planted up outside the kitchen door is very handy and immediately available for picking as required.  Herbs thrive in pots and also look very attractive.  Mint shouldn’t be allowed the free run of your flower bed anyway as it’s invasive and will creep in and around where it’s not wanted.  The shallow rooting Mediterranean herbs don’t require rich nourishing compost, they can survive well in poor conditions so are aptly suited to the container life.
 

 

While container grown fruits and veggies are also a perfect solution for growing and rotating a huge variety of produce.  This isn’t just about living in a small urban space it has a lot more to do with variety, convenience and flexibility.  You can move the pots around as required so not only do they enjoy the sunshine to best effect but they are also easy and convenient for you, when and where you want them.

 

If you prepare in advance and get going early enough and with economy in mind the best way to begin is to start your own plants off from seed, rather than wait until commercially grown small plants are available in the shops.  That way the cost per plant equates to the price of a whole packet of seeds.  You can sow more than you’ll realistically need for contingency to cover any potential losses. 

 

We’ve started everything from seed ourselves here this year and the scope of varieties we have under way proves that a greenhouse is not a necessity. 

For a recap on the full list of what's coming on and how, see the next post 'How Grows It? (June)'.

There are so many obvious advantages to enjoying food

you’ve produced yourself.  Just the contemplation of it gives me a kind of little frisson of warm and fuzzy. 

There’s the satisfaction of knowing what you’ve grown yourself is fresh and nutritious.  It’s cheaper and of course you have total control over whether you choose to keep it 100% organic.  You’ll almost certainly end up with a glut as even one tomato plant produces an abundance and as it’s always nice to share you’ll have the added bonus of making yourself popular among friends and neighbours. 

 

There’s no denying that pottering about and shifting garden materials is an enjoyable and rewarding occupation, so you’re keeping active while producing nourishing food.  That’s a double plus and you’ll be learning all the time. 

 

 

Healthy body, healthy mind, but the taste is the real sensation as everything from the supermarket now tastes the same, have you noticed? 

Are you old enough to remember when a tomato tasted like a tomato, a cucumber tasted like a cucumber and spinach had a flavour.  Now everything, even once peppery radishes, are bleached of all individuality and pretty much homogenised into one tasteless corpus. 

Why is this? 

It’s because they are mass produced and forced on in depleted soil, eradicating much of the nutrition we associate with fresh vegetables.  In fact research has shown that levels of vitamins and minerals are up to 80% reduced on the food production of 40-50 years ago and this has a knock effect on the taste.

 

The ubiquitous variable as with almost all things gardening is the need for sunshine.  We’re so dependant on the aspect of the weather at every stage of the process from seed to table in our vegetable production.  Wind can also be very damaging not least because it can harm the plant together with its delicate crop but also because wind can harden the leaves which doesn’t make for tender tasty leafy veg such as lettuces. 

 

If you’re new to experimenting with growing your own you’ll learn as you go along but it’s best not to be too ambitious to start with.  Stick to simple salad crops which are by and large reliable and fun as some more demanding vegetable types are not suited to a container environment. 

Although if you’re determined to produce a potato crop this is a possibility as large potato bags are available for this purpose but you’ll have to decide if the outlay on compost and materials is an economic viability in the long run. 

 

So, what are you waiting for??  But just before you head off out to the potting shed a couple of hard and fast rules:

 

 

Always use good quality compost mix for maximum nutrition

 

Supplement with a weekly feed


Water well but DO NOT overwater.  The plants need to be kept moist but not water logged

 

Don’t scrimp on the size of the container.  The bigger the pot the bigger the crop

 

Plenty of sunshine

 

Let’s get growing