If you don’t have a huge plot of land to dig up and grow veggies on you might think it’s not worth while having a go. But you’d be very wrong. There’s a huge amount of veg you can grow in pots and tubs on a patio or in a small space.
Thompson & Morgan have a range of veggies you can grow on your patio
Aubergine : Orlando F1 Hybrid will be happy on a sunny patio in a pot!
Bean : Dwarf Runner Bean : Hestia – also happy in a pot
Beetroot : Pablo F1 Hybrid – you can pick the leaves whilst you’re waiting for the beets to grow – pick them young!
Broccoli : Kabuki F1 Hybrid (Mini Vegetable) has been developed for growing in closer spacing that normal broccoli plants so should work fine in a pot.
Cabbage : Redcap F1 Hybrid and Shelta F1 – you probably only want to put one per pot if they’re small pots but it can be done! You can also stick cabbages in the flower border where they will confuse everyone!
Carrot : Mini Finger – this is a T&M exclusive – Quick maturing to produce sweet carrots. Carrots grown in a pot can be kept higher up out of the way of carrot fly pest. That’s the theory anyway! And goes a long way to explain why on some allotments you’ll see boxes of carrots growing on top of compost bins!
Courgette : Black Forest F1 Hybrid and Midnight F1 Hybrid will both grow best on the patio in a container. Delicious to pick fresh courgettes regularly from!
You can grow lettuce in pots too. If you have seeds and a pot then why not experiment. There are some things that won’t work – like coriander – that likes having it’s roots in deep. But even trees and potatoes grow in tubs!
Advantages of growing things in tubs are: you don’t need a garden, just a balcony or patio. You have less work to do as there’s less area to weed. You don’t get muddy feet. You can move tubs round to make a pretty display.You should have less problem with slugs and it’s easier to deal with them. You can move problem plants to the back so they don’t look messy! You don’thave to dig! You don’t have to worry about crop rotation as you can replace the soil in the tubs if you are worried about pests.
Disadvantages – you need to water regularly! But it’s a great way of ensuring you get outside regularly without too much hard work.
