Grow Your Own Magazine

I've been collecting a lot of fruit punnets, standard size around 7"x5" with depth of 3", 4" and also 2" (but the last one is probably not deep enough). Could they not be put to really good use to grow shallow root vegetables that I could harvest as baby.

It would be handy to be able to save limited bed space if the quick growing vegetables can be grown in container but I don't want to spend more money buying pots . The florist bucket tends to be too deep and expensive with the cost of filling with compost. Also free pots that you acquire from buying plants aren't quite spacious as the punnet.

I think I already know what I can experiment with but I just wanted to get your opinions first. Maybe we all can benefit from free punnets.

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Food for Free

Maybe spring onions? Even baby carrots are going to struggle in pots that shallow - their main root is pretty long even if the edible bit is only the length of a finger. You might get away with cut and come again lettuce. The shallow one will be fine for cress or mustard or these trendy 'micro crops'. You could also fill the buckets halfway to conserve compost.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Definitely I shall try the spring onions, more spacious with practical shape than round pots. I wasn't thinking of any root vegetables, that would be pushing my luck a bit. I could get away with one lettuce per punnet but not exactly a spectucular return as spring onions or micro crops. 2" deep punnet should be alright for cress. I tend to reserve the florist buckets for tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and maybe even potato.

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Food for Free

They come in really handy for transporting harvested crops home from the allotment, or for putting crops in when you are giving them away to friends. I've also used them as seed trays as you can easily fit three into a propagator, but I can't think of much that could be grown to maturity in one. Bonsai enthusiasts use 'trainer pots' which are plastic versions of the final ceramic pot and I'm going to have a go at using a fruit punnet for that instead of forking out, assuming my bonsai seeds ever germinate that is.