Cottage Garden

Grow your own pots of produce

Even the smallest outside space can be filled with a wealth of colorful crops that will please the eye as well as the palate

What vegetables to grow in pots or containers

The following vegetables will all do well in pots or containers: herbs, salad leaves, spinach, dwarf runner/broad and French beans, radishes, peas, beetroot, compact courgettes (Summer Ball" and
Midnight'), potatoes, dwarf carrots ('Caracas' and 'Parmex'), aubergines, peppers and rhubarb, Thompson & Morgan, Dobies. Suttons and Chiltern Seeds offer vegetable seeds for growing in pots. Suttons has a Patio Vegetable Seed Collection of 15 varieties and 'Chiltern Seeds' Urban Selection has nine varieties suitable for containers.

Fruit trees in container

Some fruit trees, such as figs, enjoy having their roots restricted so are ideal for growing in pots, while others are suitable because they are grafted onto dwarfing root stock. such as M9 or M26 for apples and St Julien A for peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines. Use a large pot and fill it with heavy, soil-based compost for stability. Pruning and general tending is carried out in exactly the same way as for fruit in open ground. Recommended fruit varieties for growing in pots or containers: apple 'Bright Star', 'Falstaff and "Pixie"; nectarine Nectarella'; peach "Garden Lady'; fig 'Brown Turkey', pear Garden Pearl'.

Pots full of vegetable goodness

With just a few containers and pots outside your kitchen door, you can pick-your-own vegetables all summer long. Plus, you don't have far to go to tend them, which is ideal for things you use little and often, and you can also keep on top of pests and diseases. Regular watering and feeding vegetables in pots are essential but your efforts will be more than repaid by the satisfaction of stepping back into the kitchen with your home-grown produce.

Choose your compost for vegetables in pots

Good quality multi-purpose compost is fine for most vegetables and soft fruit in pots. Adding some well-rotted manure into the lower half of the containers or mixing in a humus-rich soil conditioner
such as Lakeland Gold will provide slow-release nutrients and improve moisture retention. Fruit trees, being more permanent plantings, need a soil-based compost such as John Innes No 3. Acid-loving blueberries planted in pots require ericaceous compost.

Seeing red vegetables in pots

Blight-resistant bush tomatoes such as sweet, cherry-sized 'Losetto' from Thompson & Morgan  thrive in hanging baskets and pots, and you don't need to pinch out any sideshoots; Vilma', which
only grows to 50-60cm tall, is also a good choice for vegetables in pots. For hanging vegetables in pots baskets, try Tumbling "Tom" and 'Hundreds and Thousands' (just as prolific as its name
implies). Find space for a few chilli plants, too: 'Basket of Fire' and Prairie Fire' are both compact and bushy vegetables in pots.

Soft fruit for pots

Strawberries, blueberries, redcurrants. white currants, blackcurrants, gooseberries and autumn raspberries can all be raised in pots and containers. You need a pot that is at least 45cm deep,
ideally in a sunny position for the vegetables in pots, although gooseberries and currants can cope in partial shade. Recommended varieties of soft fruit and berries for growing in pots: strawberry 'Flamenco'; blueberry Sunshine Blue'; redcurrant 'Rovada'; blackcurrant 'Ebony'; gooseberry 'Lady Sun'; raspberry 'Autumn Bliss".

Seeds or plants for veggies in pots?

You will get the widest, most economical range by raising plants from seed. However, you have to find space for the seed trays, plus raising seedlings takes time and dedication and there's an increased risk of them succumbing to slug attack before they're sturdy enough to cope. Alternatively, you can buy small plants. The main seed suppliers sell some of their ranges as young plants and the selection at nurseries is increasing.

Shoots and leaves

It's immensely satisfying to slip outside and snip off fresh leaves from the  vegetables in pots every day. The seed companies have made it simple with salad- leaf mixes in all conceivable combinations, from baby leaf and Oriental to bright and spicy. Stagger sowing every four weeks to produce a continuous supply. You can double up  vegetables in pots on space by sowing lettuce in gaps between other plants.

How to plant veggies, vegetables in pots.

WORDS BY PAULA McWATERS