If you are short of space for growing your own vegetables, but are eager to give it a try there are lots of varieties you can grow on a patio or balcony. Marshalls Gro-Sacks make ideal containers for growing many vegetables as well as some delicious potatoes – they are even deep enough to grow carrots – try Rocket or Amsterdam Forcing for the earliest crops. Plenty of salad crops can be grown in containers or Gro-bags.
Cut and come again lettuce such as Salad Bowl or Baby Leaf Salad Mix with different coloured and textured leaves, look good as well as taste good. Tomato Garden Pearl is excellent for growing in a container – you can even grow it in a hanging basket! Runner Bean Hestia has been specially bred for container growing. It has stringless beans held well above the compact foliage and has pretty bi-coloured flowers too. If you fancy something a bit more exotic try the baby Aubergine Ophelia, it is a very pretty plant and the glossy dark purple fruit are freely produced.
Strawberries do really well in a large container and if you get one with planting holes round the sides giving you more plants and ultimately more fruit. Herbs make great container plants, the Herb Plant Collection containing Thyme, Sage, Tarragon, Rosemary, Marjoramand Pineapple Mint gives you enough plants for a couple of mixed pots to keep nice and handy by the back door.
Here’s a little tip to help with both watering and drainage when growing in large containers, when filling them with compost stand a piece of drainpipe or something similar upright in the centre and fill with gravel. As you fill with compost gradually remove the tube releasing the pebbles in the centre. This will help water reach all the way through the compost and also help with drainage to prevent it from becoming waterlogged. This is especially useful when planting in the sides as well as the top of containers such as a strawberry planter.
