How to... grow vegetables in pots
Penelope Bennett shows you how to get started with container gardening
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Q:
What is container gardening?
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A:
Very simply, it’s growing plants in containers. Flowers, herbs and even vegetables can all be grown in pots. Container gardens need less maintenance than more conventional flowerbeds because there is less change to the soil and fewer weed problems.
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Q:
I’ve only ever tried to grow herbs and trailing plants on my small balcony. Can I grow something more substantial?
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A:
Yes – even a window box or large flower pot can provide a home for fruit and vegetables. Don’t forget that horizontal areas, such as walls and railings, can also be used for supporting containers.
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Q:
Should I buy my fruit and vegetables as plants or sow them from seed?
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A:
Definitely the latter – if you adopt them when they are already plants, you miss three-quarters of the enjoyment. When I grew tomatoes, I found observing their development so interesting that I wrote a tomato germination diary.
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Q:
Which fruit and vegetables are good to begin with?
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A:
I started off with tomatoes, basil and rocket, being good taste companions, and seed potatoes. Then each year I tried something different. Several years later, growing on my small roof garden last winter were Swiss chard, Moroccan mint, Italian rocket, dwarf pak choi, perpetual spinach, two types of tomatoes, garlic chives, a New Zealand Maori purple potato, Greek and Italian basil, dwarf beans, Russian sorrel, saffron leaves, and the last of the wild and ‘tame’ strawberries.
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Q:
Is it expensive to install a balcony or container garden?
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A:
No – much of what you’ll need in the way of containers you’ll probably already have or you can improvise by using olive oil cans, flower pots and window boxes.
One of the main expenses is organic multipurpose compost. But if you start adding to it and enriching it with your own homemade compost, you’ll only have to buy it once.
If you decide to branch out and have a mini orchard, this will be the largest investment you’ll have to make. But if you choose self-fertile trees you’ll only have to buy one of each – despite their rather solitary, celibate lives they produce a generous harvest. -
Q:
Do you need any tools?
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A:
Not really – an old serving spoon and fork will do. But if it’s important for you to feel like a real gardener, you could buy a dibber (a wooden or metal implement for pricking out and transplanting seedlings), although a stick will do just as well.
What you definitely won’t need is that absurd wardrobe of gardeners’ multi-pocketed aprons, waterproof hats, gauntlet gloves and wellies. -
Q:
When can I start sowing seeds?
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A:
Indoors from about March or April, depending on the weather. In the meantime, there are several things you can do to organise yourself and plan ahead:
- Compost. Starting up your compost making sack is one of the most important bits of preparation. Use a sturdy plastic sack and pierce several air holes in it.
- Collect kitchen waste in the sack and it will turn into compost, just like a simplified economy version of a composting bin.
- Drainage holes. Unless you are creating a bog garden, the container must have drainage holes in the bottom. If not, the compost will become saturated, killing the plants.
- Paint outside of containers.
- Buy seeds and order mini trees and seed potatoes.
- Become a member of HDRA (Henry Doubleday Research Association). They offer support for novice and experienced gardeners, and their website is full of up-to-date information and fact sheets. They also sell organic seeds and gardening tools.
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