Growing Vegetables In Containers

The longest day happened this week, it’s hardly noticeable … unless you’re a plant, it makes a big difference to them because light is such a big factor in their growth. The good news is that there’s still time to plant, sow and grow vegetables.

Beetroot, radishes, lettuce, french and runner beans are all good for sowing in June, just don’t hang around. Beans and peas can be planted in pots and keept inside untill they grow into little plants, they germinate more quickly inside in the even temperatures, so it buys a bit of time.

Vegetables grow well in containers, which is handy if you just have a balcony or don’t have a space in your garden that’s dedicated to growing vegetables, and very useful for me as I patiently wait for the raised beds to be built in my garden.

I took the photos of these beautiful vegetables at the Chelsea Flower Show last month. I’m using them as inspiration …. the slugs are too.

There are big advantages in container growing:

• it’s useful if you have a very shady garden, containers can be positioned in the sunniest spot, although lettuce doesn’t mind some shade
• good quality growing compost can be used, rather than your garden soil which may not be ideal

Container dry out more quickly, so using good sized ones works better:

• I always use a compost mix of multi-purpose compost and John Innes loam based, the structure is a bit heavier and holds onto water for longer
• make sure the holes in the base are big enough to let water drain out

Freshly picked vegetables from your garden will be sweeter and taste better than shop bought ones. You’ll be sure that they haven’t been sprayed with chemicals or clocked lots of miles as they’re transported from grower to shops.

The alternatives are buying from farm shops or farmers market, though I know of farmers markets where the produce comes via Covent Garden from across the globe.

Enjoy the rest of the week, I’m off to the preview of Grow London, a contemporary garden and design show, tomorrow,

I’ll let you know all about it in the next post.

Jill

Update: what with huge amounts of rain, lightening that put the train signals out of action and cancelled trains, I got halfway to the Show and had to turn back…. very disappointing.

All photos Jill Anderson, the last one is courtesy of GROW London.