What to grow

Ten great crops to grow in containers

May 3, 2013
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When growing in small spaces, you want a lot from the crops you grow. You want them to give you plenty to eat, to taste amazing, and ideally to look great, too. After experimenting with over fifty different vegetable crops, here are ten I’ve found to be amongst the very best. (Herbs and fruits to [...]

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How to grow pea shoots

July 13, 2012
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Pea shoots are great for small spaces – they grow fast, taste delicious and don’t need much sun. Easy to grow, they’re also perfect to try if you’re starting out. Seeing (and eating!) the fruits of your labour in just in two or three weeks is rewarding and motivating. Here, in simple steps (with video [...]

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What can you sow in July?

July 6, 2012
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Some of you have been in touch recently to ask ‘can you start growing now?’ And if so, what can you grow? The answer to the first question is YES. The answer to the second is LOTS. However, you do need to select the right crops. In the UK – and much of the Northern [...]

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Magic beans! How to grow runners successfully

May 22, 2012
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  Runner beans are one of the most productive and pretty crops for small spaces.  Here are some tips for growing them healthily (and beautifully) in containers.  Once the threat of frost has passed (now in the UK), it’s time to get your runner beans started! (These tips were first published for The Secret Seed [...]

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From radish flowers to huge tomatoes: 6 quick container growing tips

May 15, 2012
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If you like information in bite sized chunks, check out  Vertical Veg on Facebook, where I’ve started daily (well, almost daily!) tips. If you want to receive these in your Facebook news feed, simply come over and ‘Like’ the page.  If you don’t use Facebook, here are the most popular so far: 1. Radish flowers: edible [...]

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Salad leaf mixes for every season

April 13, 2012
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Here’s a piece I first wrote for City Planter Salads are amongst the most productive and worthwhile crops for growing in small spaces. They don’t need big containers, will thrive in shadier spots and grow quickly and easily. Most are ready to eat just six to eight weeks after sowing. When choosing which salads to [...]

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Edible Beauty: great looking crops for pots

March 8, 2012
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This is a version of a post first published in Fennel and Fern If you only have a small space to grow food in, you’ll probably be keen that it’s productive and looks good. In the past it was common to have enough space to grow both ornamental plants and to have a more functional [...]

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Six fun container veg to grow

January 23, 2012
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  Do you enjoy trying new crops and varieties? Have you discovered anything recently that you’d be happy to share? I’m always on the look out for productive, tasty and attractive edible plants to grow in containers.  Of course, not all my experiments are a success. Flops last year included the ‘wonder berry’, which grew well but [...]

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Where to find seeds pt 2 – exotic, heritage, on-line & local

January 13, 2012
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  Long, dark evenings are the perfect time of year to plan your growing and order seeds. Last week I shared my enthusiasm for seed swaps. We’re spoilt for choice for other great place to get seeds: here are a just few: 1. Exotic Seeds Supermarkets stock a small fraction of the vegetables that it [...]

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Where to buy seeds and why I love seed swaps

January 6, 2012

  If you are growing in a small space you may be wondering where to get your seeds this season. When I started growing, I had no idea! I headed first to the local garden centre. Confronted by a huge wall of seeds I remember a sense of confusion. Where to start? Which varieties work [...]

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Playing with colours

October 10, 2010

Growing your own gives you the chance to have fun with colour.  Why stick to the tired colours we find everyday in the shops when you can grow white beetroot, yellow carrots, purple chillies, yellow tomatoes, and chocolate peppers?

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Experimenting with the exotic

August 18, 2010

One of the pleasures of growing your own is experimenting with unusual crops. They add colour and interest to your pots and new flavours for your taste buds. Even in a small space you have so many possibilities. Here are a few you might try.    

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Marrow revelation

August 16, 2010

Does your heart sink when you are given a huge marrow? Mine does. I recall bland, watery, stuffed marrows, and  I feel at a loss about what to do with them. So when I got back from holiday to discover my courgette plant had put all its energy into a 3.6kg marrow, I was disappointed. [...]

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Homage to edible flowers

July 13, 2010

I love growing edible flowers. They look great in containers, attract bees and other insects and add wonderful colour to your salads. They are exotic and unusual, almost impossible to find in the shops, and they lift almost any salad. Some taste delicious. Nasturtiums have an addictive spicy flavour coupled with a pleasing, slightly crunchy [...]

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Veggies for a small space

June 1, 2010

One way to improve yields from your small space is to chose carefully what you grow. Key points to consider when trying to maximise your yield include: How much of the plant can you eat? Crops like potatoes and courgettes produce lots of inedible leaves, taking up space and energy in your small plot.  Salads [...]

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Will herb seed for cooking grow?

April 21, 2010

Five seed experiment Which herb seeds sold for cooking can you grow easily? And do their leaves taste any good? To find out, I went to my local health food shop, where they conveniently sell herbs loose – and splashed out 97 pence on a few grams of five herbs: coriander, fenugreek, white mustard, fennel, [...]

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