growing own veggies in bags and pots (Merged)

Jack's_mummy

You dont' have to grow Marigolds along side carrots if the pot is high enough off the ground. The carrot fly only flies up to a certain height. In about May just sprinkle the seeds on the soil in the pot and give them a little water. I find I get a better germination rate if I cover the top of the pot with a sheet of glass but it's not essential.

what seeds did you get?

smithyjules

phew doesn't sound quite so terrifying now!i'll have to dig out the packets of seeds as i buried them away in a huff!any suggestions for varieties of veg that grow well in pots/troughs etc?thank you all for your replies so far!

smellymel74

yes, garlic is a goodie and now's the perfect time for planting. i've grown one clover per large-ish pot for the past few years and it's been easy. plant now but they won't be ready until july-ish - watch for the leaves going yellow and falling over as this is a sign they're ripe. then dig them up and hang them somewhere to dry out, then they'll keep for ages. and remember to save a few cloves from your produce to plant again next november.

also, parsnips are ok to grow about now. you can get small varieties for growing in pots. i saw a packet of pot variety seeds in B&Q the other day for about £1.50 i think.

you can also start planting peas now, so long as you keep them frost free when the really cold weather comes. if you plant now, they just crop slightly earlier than if you plant in spring. again, you can get small, bush varieties that are perfect for growing in pots.

i think there's also some winter salad leaves you can still try starting now - have alook in B&Q on the back of packets. i've never tried this but keep meaning to.

and when spring comes, the world is your oyster! most of my stuff is in pots and i've successfully grown:

* mint (from the 'living herb' plants sold in the supermarkets) - best in a pot as it's rampant in open earth!
* coriander, sage, basil and thyme (easy from seed)
* rosemary (from a baby plant but it keeps coming back year after year)
* peas (from dried seed)
* beans (from dried seed)
* strawberries (from runners taken from from mum's strawberry plants each each)
* tomatoes (from seed, both in growbags and a tumbling variety for hanging baskets to keep the slugs away)

i'm going to try potatoes next spring too. yum - can't wait!

hope that gives you some inspiration!

RAS

Hi

One of the first things you need to do is work out which way your veranda faces? if you go out at middayish, where is the sun? In front of you, in which case the veranda face south, etc.

the follwoing list is of stuff that will grow with minimal protection in winter. Depends how well protected your space is from the wind?



Get hold of Joy larkcoms excellent book on growing Your own Vegetables and read the article at the end on growing winter salads.

Try

Rocket
Landcress
Endives and chicories
Lamb's lettuce
Oriental greens
Also you can grow plain leaved kales and beets for salad leaves if you pick them small

For stir fries and veggies

Spring Onions
Mizuna
Mustard Giant red Wave
Spinach Beet
Swiss Chard

The other thing to think about is growing small pots of cut and come again lettuce and salad leaves in any south or west facing windows.

pbfhpunk

I'd like to grow our own veg and potatoes, we don't have a green house so everything would be outside, I don't want to plant beds as we rent, and also have chickens, so wondered if any one had any experience of growing stuf fin pots and also what sort of thing you can grow in pots?

Thanks

Helen

Farway

This was raised this week on Gardeners Question Time on R4

The quick answer is anything, and some things grow much better in pots, celery was one example they gave as you can keep the watering up, and use it as as pick & come again, just take one or two stalks and leave the rest

Carrots, beans, leeks, all good

A friends beans in pots did far better than mine in the ground, and they were ones I had given them from same sowing, next year my beans are in pots

Spuds of course, new salad type ones, large baker type are best bought in due to space required IMO


PS, you can listen to it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/gqt/

Larumbelle

You can grow any veg in pots, so long as the pots are large enough! I've even seen people growing in builder's rubble sacks on derelict ground in London! Give us some idea of what you want to grow and what size pots you have access to and people here can advise.

Takana

I'm also looking into growing veg in pots. I too rent but luckily live on the ground floor so have a 'garden'. Its concreted so I can't plant in the ground which is why I must have pots. I started the veg thing earlier this year and grew some potatoes, tomatoes and spring onions. All tasted great even though they got a little neglected But this time I want to go about it properly and start at the beginning of the year, or even now so I've got veg throughout the year. But I'm finding it hard to know where to start as there are so many varieties of different veg.

I grew the potatoes and the tomatoes in large blue tubs! The spring onions where done in a grow bag. I also have no idea tomato plants could grow so big!

On the topic of builders sacks, I was actually planning on using hessian sacks for growing potatoes next time. The tub I had really wasn't deep enough and didn't have good drainage. I read somewhere that they can be grown in sacks so thought I'd give it a try

moppet_217

Hi

I grew a fair bit of veg/salad last year in pots. Lettuce and rocket is always a good one very easy, and great if you use cut and come again varietys. Raddished and carrots went well. Chillis and tomatoes on the window ledge (still have chillies in my freezer as we got loads. I have a blueberry bush. I also grew mini sweet corn. Herbs are really easy to grow if you are new to growing your own. I did try squash but it did not go very well.

We got our keys to our allotment about two months ago so will be growing most veg there but will be growing lettuce, herbs and chillies at home again next year.

I got a book out of the local library last year called something like the patio/container vegetable garden. So check out your local library.

Hope that helps

savemoney

We chucked some old potato peelings away in the composter early this year and one of them rooted, I thought I pop it in too one of those cheap plastic flower post you get from Morrison's. At the end of August I pulled it and and was surprised that I got a few decent potatoes from it, and the costs nothing I used compost from the old composter