Allotments 4 All

Hi there all,
I've never grown veg that much and was wanting to try it this year after reading all your messages. It seems very rewarding! Although I have a large garden, thats full of weeds, I want to grow a small selection in pots. The only thing I've ever grown in a pot was a courgette years ago and it looked ace when it was in flower. I harvested 3 baby courgettes!
Anyway, could you guys please reccomend easy veg to grow in containers that is kinda pest free, summat I can just plant in the pots and watch it grow and then eat  ;D
Ideally veg that will look ornamental and I can have crops from too.

Thanks

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Look in the wiki, under methods of cultivation, container gardening

There are many veg that suit container growing and can give very good yields. You have already had some successes with courgette and that would be worth another try, give them loads of water though.

The classic would be tomatoes though, and the taste reward they give is exception. I would suggest a variety such as gardeners delight as it is easy to grow and yields well.

How about some salad crops? A pot or 2 of cut and come again lettuce will give a good few feeds and I do some every year this way.

Runner or French beans can be good too. You can get dwarf or climbing types and some varieties specifically for growing in pots. Personally I would use a climbing variety as it will give more yield. They are also attractive plants especially when in flower.

Chillies and peppers would also be worth a try, nice dark green attractive plants that look even better when the fruit is ripening.

I would also try a few early spuds, again something I do each year, if you search the board here you will find instructions of how to go about it.

There are also some root crops that will work, beetroot and carrots would be fine. You can either grow standard carrots such as early nantes or the stump rooted types such as parmex. Again these could look good in a pot.

So plenty of choice of things to grow.

The real secret to container growing is feeding and water, especially water. If you can add some manure to the base of the pot to help on both fronts or consider some of the water retentive gels you can get.

HTH

Jerry

Sanders has given some very good suggestions for container vegetables. If you are also interested in the appearance side of things - important in a small garden as everything tends to be very visible, the how about some leeks, these will give some robust foliage and I can imagine would look very presentable in a pot. Garlic is also profitable in pots, small ones are fine, and so can be tucked into various corners.

Try the following link

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,28/topic,7174.0

An excellent article on growing spuds in pots/containers

Thanks guys, that potato growing link was fab!
Could sandersj89 do it for all veg varieties! Am gonna have a go! Hope am not too late for seed potatoes!

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