Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi
I am a novice gardener. For various reasons I haven't had a garden for several years. I now rent a property where the only sunny spot os concrete and the 'garden' is shallow earth and rubble. I am trying to save to buy a house and feel desperate to grow my own soft fruit and veg. Can anyone advise the best things to grow in pots?
thanks
Jo

Welcome to the grapevin JJR. You can grow a huge variety of things in pots if you are careful with feeding and watering. Some members here grow exclusively in pots for the same reason as you and do very well. Spuds, carrots, cabbages, onions, garlic - just about everything if you have a suitable sized container. This time of year you could try a few broad bean seeds (aquadulce claudia is usually recommended for over-wintering) although I'd hang back till November. Garlic can go in then too.
If you can find bare-rooted fruit bushes over the winter you can also grow them in pots.
Come the spring, the world's your lobster as they say!

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Thank you! Iam looking forward to a pot filled year next year!

Your best start would be to Google search on 'container vegetable gardening' although I've never found one good website with a complete list of veggies/fruits for growing in container.

Also do similar search on Amazon and their list will give an idea of books available that you can check at your local library. I did this and borrowed one called 'Edible Container Garden' and it has list of all the vegetables/fruits at the back with summarised details (whether they are suitable for container or not, minimum container depth, soil requirement, climate etc). I'm sure there'll be other similar books, doesn't have to be the same book.

Most vegetables can be grown in pots even Brassica (cabbage, cauli, broccoli) so long they're dwarf varieties but it may be more cost effective to grow a vegetable type that gives you more crops per given space e.g. fruiting vegetables like tomatoes/peppers. Also consider the 'cut and come again' variety of leafy veg that you don't have to pull out the whole plant for eating.

Most fruit trees can be raised in pots so long they're dwarf variety which may also be referred to as miniature or patio tree (though I heard pears are not keen on container). However do check them out before buying! Most fruit bushes lend themselves well to container growing except for blackberry, loganberry, tayberry and grapes. Obviously big containers more likely for these so do check them too.

Strawberry and tomato can be grown in hanging basket with the right trailing, tumbling type. Also cranberry I think (do check). If you have no veggie bed, container growing can work out expensive by the time you buy the compost and pots so also consider grow bags. I hear some people split a grow bag into two to get two pots, useful as some veg need deeper soil depth. Hope you'll have enough info to start you off with.

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Food for Free

You'd be surprised what you can grow successfully in pots.

First off, concentrate on things you really like, that are easily grown in pots with some minor care and attention: You could choose from, say... tomatoes, potatoes, herbs of various types, lettuce, french beans, small carrots and baby beetroot. Tomatoes need the most care out of these, but none should be difficult. Make sure that when you choose varieties you look for those which are compact rather than large and spreading - it makes things easier when you're starting out.

In terms of fruit, strawberries are a doddle. Buy them as small plants - seed is much trickier.

Once you have done a few "easy" ones, branch out a bit to other things you like. With a bigger container, you could have a courgette plant, for example. Calabrese (green broccoli) can work well and a really sunny spot would be a great home for peppers and chillis.

I have tried just about everything in containers and the only things I would suggest you avoid until you have some ground space include:

standard sweetcorn (it can be grown in containers, but you need a few plants which makes it more difficult).
purple sprouting broccoli - very big plants
brussel sprouts - big plants
perennial crops such as asparagus or artichokes.

Of course, a lot depends on the size of your containers - you can grow trees in pots if they are big enough!

Once you get going I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with what you can achieve in a small space. It's a really good time to be planning things, so start making a list and get some seed.

Thank you all!

I now have some very big pots with some soft fruit in them and a list of seeds to buy!

Jo

I was going to add a reply from my limited experience (and successes) of this year - but Cutecumber, as usual, has said it all so well!

I grew carrots, potatoes, french beans, courgettes, strawberries, assorted herbs, caulis, and tomatoes (until the blight) very successfully in pots of various shapes and sizes. Less successful were the onions and garlic, not sure whether it was the fault of being in pots or the weather - but I would say give anything you fancy eating a go, you never know until you try, and there are always knowledgeable and experienced folk on here to help you along with pot size, food requirements and the like. Good luck - let us know how you get on.

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Hi,

This is my first year of growing veg and we are restricted to pots as we only have a small patio.

Best ones were french beans - climbing and dwarf, carrots seem to be doing ok, and potatoes in patio planters which you can buy specially.

I think things like spinach might not be worth it considering the amount you will get in a couple of pots, where that space could be used for other things that will produce more food, but it's up to you.

I would say try and grow a few of as many different things as possible - you will learn a lot and get a good idea of what will do well in your garden so you can concentrate on those things the following year.

Oh, and get a lot of copper tape. A lot.

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Thanks Cornflake, helps me to decide to go for pots for French Beans next year (never really grown them before) and it's true you tend to need veggie bed space for leafy stuffs like Spinach.

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Food for Free

I didn't grow much in pots, but until this year when I got the plot, I could only grow in 1 pot and 1 hanging basket in the back garden.

So I used to put 3 tumbler cherry tomato plants in the hanging basket (which works very well - cropped for about 8 weeks and toddler was getting 6/7 daily as well as a few for us). I have heard this year that a basil plant in the basket is nice - both for the height and to mix with the tomatoes for eating.

I also grew peas (occasionally mixed with french beans) up a wigwam of bamboo poles - while not terribly prolific, there was usually enough to get a nice handful either for a spoonful each or to add to a mixed veg stirfry maybe once or twice a week for about 6-8 weeks. If you are careful choosing your variety and put plenty of seeds in the tub, then you could get a better yield.

Just remember to water well as containers dry out quicker than the soil. And I usually give them a liquid tomato feed every week-10 days.

I used long troughs, with 6 plants in each, obviously using canes for the climbers.

I think generally you'll get more yield from the climbers.

The varieties i used were Blue Lake and Masterpiece and I can recommend both, but as someone else said make sure you water them well - they need a lot.

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My organic gardening etc blog - http://thecornflake.blogspot.com

Something to bear in mind here is actually not to cram too much into a container.

I am in my 7th year of gardening in containers (I have a very small amount of ground space, too) and I would encourage you to experiment, on occasion, with fewer of certain crops rather than more. I am gradually reducing the number of plants in my pots (except for potatoes, interestingly, where I am increasing them!!) and my yield has increased.

There are some particular things to consider here:

there is no doubt that seeds and plants get off to a good start in containers - often away from pests and in a good growing media - but you need to consider their long term prospects. It is not the same as close spacing in the ground.

Take carrots in a container.
Sow them thinly. In fact, I now place the seeds individually, or in a tiny pinch, evenly on the surface of the compost. If you are growing in containers, you aren't unlikely to be doing masses, so it is not a chore. It is true that just sprinkling them on will give you lots of carrots, but you will have to thin and my recent experience suggests that they bulk up more slowly. The thinnings, in my experience are pleasant but only a mouthful, so I try and leave well alone now.

Beetroot.
In the ground, small block-sown beetroot push apart well and roots that are left bulk up ok. In pots, the first ones appear to take the nutrients and when they are pulled, the remainder don't reach the same size. I recently tried planting single plug-grown beetroot in a pot, spacing them widely. I got a bigger crop overall because the root swelled quickly and evenly.

So, for beetroot and carrot I am now growing fewer in a pot, but they are a better size and I am having more crops in a year. Successional sowing is the way to go.

I am also producing better cauliflower, calabrese and lettuce now - larger, quicker growing plants with a heavier yield.

Be generous with your container space if you can.

Hiya JJR!
I tend to grow my salad leaves in window boxes which always do well, tomatoes in hanging baskets and pots these did well but the ones i planted in the garden got blight. Potatoes did well, courgette not so good, Carrots and beetroot did very well!

Good luck in your endevour!
LL

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To add to Cutecumber's post about carrots - I grew (for the first time so have no previous experience to back me up) Amsterdam Forcing carrots in the open ground and in large-ish pots and am still eating both now. Those in the ground pushed each other apart and grew lovely and straight, those in containers are very small, weedy looking specimans of all sorts of strange shapes. I would have thought the opposite would have happened, but there you go! Equally, my two courgettes in pots were over a couple of weeks ago after giving me a very good crop for about 6 weeks, while those in the ground are just coming to their end now - I guess its a question of nutrients? Beans, peas, caulis, potatoes and lettuce all grew very successfully in their pots and I shall definitely be doing the same again next year.

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Hi JJR,

I am pretty new in growing too, some of the veggies I grow this year are totally experimental( but turn out to be very good ) Among things I have tried in pots are : spring onion and all kind of herbs ( they are doing very well), tomatoes, cucumber, several types of pak choy , leaf amaranths, lettuces,parmex carrot, chillies, mache, rucolla, potatoes & water cresses they are all doing very well but aubergines are not ( but I think it is because of the bad weather ). As for courgettes, all kinds of beans, corn, squashes and all the rest are in the ground.

Momol

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