This is not a news flash: as land prices continue to rise gardens are getting smaller and smaller with each new housing development. But as our outdoor space decreases, the cost of food increases. So how can we grow more vegetables in an ever-shrinking garden? Containers make for a perfect solution for those of us who are space-limited or live in apartments.
There are benefits to growing vegetables in containers. For instance, sowing your carrots in tall pots or raised over 18 inches off the ground will prevent your crop from being eaten alive by the larvae of the carrot root fly; the mature winged adults can’t achieve such loft altitudes to lay it’s eggs. Growing strawberries in hanging baskets will save your delicious fruits from slug and snail damage. You will be able to move your crop to catch more or less sunlight, avoid winds or cold snaps or nearer to your kitchen! You’ll not need to weed or till the ground and if you use a good organic, peat-free compost you’ll see a better, healthier yield with many vegetable crops. The list of reason why container gardening is so worth while goes on.
Container Vegetables
Dwarf Beans
Extra fine tasty beans on compact plants. Beans are held above the foliage for easy harvesting. Excellent source of folate and iron.
Carrots – Amsterdam
Fast growing with sweet flavour and good yields. Baby carrots with great colour and texture. Excellent source of vitamin A and antioxidants.
Courgettes – Buckingham
Producing compact plants with full size fruits, courgette buckingham is ideal for container growing. The thin skinned golden fruits with crisp flesh are an excellent source of vitamin C.
Courgettes – Midnight
High yields of glossy, tasty fruits on compact plants. Plants have very few spines making them easier to pick. Excellent source of vitamin C.
Lettuce – Gourmet Mixed
Superb tasty mix of different shapes and colours. Attractive in patio containers and in the garden. A good source of vitamin C and vitamin A.
Spring Onions – Sentry
Very slow to bulb, upright foliage ideal for close spacing. Easy to grow in patio pots for continuous crops. Good source of vitamin C.
Hot Pepper – Orange Wonder
Orange Wonder peppers produce masses of hot fruits from green to orange. They’re ideal for growing in pots on a warm patio or as space saving plants in the greenhouse.
Hot Pepper – Razzamatazz
Attractive, medium hot upward-facing peppers. Ideal for growing in pots on the patio or the greenhouse. Excellent source of vitamin C, antioxidants and fibre.
Sweet Pepper – Minimix
Compact plants with baby peppers is assorted colours. Ideal for growing in pots, on the patio or the greenhouse. Excellent source of vitamin C, antioxidants and fibre.
Rocket
Different shape leaves with a varying degree of bite. Easy and quick to grow, attractive in patio pots. Good source of vitamin C.
Strawberry – Cambridge
Best-loved varieties available. This mid-season strawberry produces a bumper crop of juicy orange-red fruits with an excellent flavour and texture from June to July. Reliable and tolerant of most situations and well suited to growing in containers for a space saving crop on the patio. Cropping periods can also be brought forward or extended if you are growing them in a greenhouse or polytunnel.
Tomato – Thumbling Tom Red
Juicy medium-sized cherry toms for baskets or tubs. Determinate, (bushy habit) best outdoors. Excellent source of vitamin C and antioxidants.
Tomato – Cherry Falls
Tomato Cherry Falls are an early variety of tomato with fabulous flavour. Ideal in baskets and tubs and gives high yields. Best grown outdoors. Excellent source of vitamin C and antioxidants.
Tomato – Tumbling Tom Yellow
Juicy medium- sized cherry toms for baskets or tubs. Determinate, (bushy habit) best outdoors. Excellent source of vitamin C and antioxidants.