growing own veggies in bags and pots (Merged)

Horace

I use plastic tubs on my balcony (can be bought cheaply in pound shops and Lidl when they have them in). I grow cut and come again mixed salad leaves, herbs (rosemary, basil, thyme, chives etc), beetroot, leeks and carrots. The beets, leeks and carrots are a special patio variety but these seeds can be a bit pricey but they last quite a long time especially if you keep them in your fridge.

Go to a charity shop for a book on container gardening - I know there is a hardback one in my local shop for a quid.

Good luck.

alanobrien

I grow a lot of things in containers, veg included. I tend to buy a range of pot sizes all at once from ebay sellers. You can usually get them cheap that way (especially this time of year) and buying all sizes at once also cuts down on postage. Although i loathe plastic, i do use plastic pots as they are both durable and light. Large terracotta pots get seriously heavy which is ok as long as you dont need to move them. I also make my own containers from wood, pallets, whatever is around. Cleaned up and painted they look ok.

singlehouseholder

I say go for potaotes! Short turnaround time, think my last batch were ready in 12 weeks! As for a container, a humble grow bag does the trick, cheap as chips and portable, so could even be hidden in amongst existing pots so as to conceal the bag! Also, bewarea of garden centre's! I spent a small fortune of herbs and rocket last year, which ended up dying! I'd grown from seed year before and the rocket lasted months. Where possible, stock up on seeds, pound shop usually has a ok selection, and grow from scratch, then, if they dont like your garden, you haven't wasted much case! Also, I've bought herbs from supermarkets and planted them up, the woodier herbs do well, rosemary, thyme, basil and coriander are wimps though and cant take this climate, well in my garden anyhoo! Good luck!

nopot2pin

JAMIEDODGER wrote: »

hi:)

I would love to start growing my own veg in containers in my courtyard. Is there a certain way to go about it? What pots are best? And what veg should I start with?

I would like to do this as cheap as poss as I am on a very tight budget.

Any help or ideas would be fantastic!!

JD x

Thanks for asking this JAMIEDODGER...
I would also love to start doing this.
I have grown tomatoes in the past fairly successfully, but would love to expand on this...

singlehouseholder

Also, get yourself on freecycle, ask for free pots, they're always on my local one! I'm going to ask for the full shebang, pots, plants, anything thats going really, I hate to see plants thrown in skips-makes me sad...
I was lucky enough to source a belfast sink for free- looks fab, has late tom's that are still flowering!!

alanobrien

Just one point if you do decide to grow spuds in growbags or plastic bags of any kind make sure they are well drained right into the corners. If water builds up the spuds will most likely rot. Seen that many times

gwinnie

You can grow potatoes in barrels

To save money though, you can also use dustbins, although being smaller you might need more of these.

You need to drill drain holes into the base. Put the barrel on blocks and it's then for planting. Put in a layer of crocks. On this about six inches of soil in which you plant your seed potatoes. As the shoots come up, say when they reach approx 6 inches, add more soil, so the shoots are three quarters covered. Repeat though the seasonuntil your barrel is full. When the shoots die back, the potatoes should be ready for harvesting. Easiest way is to tip the barrel on its side.

JAMIEDODGER

fantastic gwinnie:D just the kind of thing i was looking for! i love potatoes:)

gwinnie

Me too I'm planning on doing two next season, to increase yield and to have different varieties.

two_sheds_2

Potatoes are, well, cheap as chips though. You'd save more money if you grew more expensive crops (as long as you eat them of course) like, um, French Beans, salads ... have a look at www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine if you want indepth advice.