GrowingInASmallSpace

Growing in a Small Space

Quick and easy container veg

If you don’t have a garden or allotment, here are some quick and easy veg that can be sown now (late March onwards) and grown in a container:

• Baby carrots. ‘Paris Market’ is a good variety for containers as these are little, round carrots. Any small variety will do, though. Sprinkle seeds thinly in a pot or window box and harvest in 9-12 weeks.

• Beetroot. Look for a ‘baby’ variety to harvest in 12 weeks or so. Sow seeds 5cm (2 inches) apart.

• Salad leaves. Choose a ‘cut and come’ variety so you can harvest over a long period, from about 4-6 weeks after sowing. There are many varieties available, from tender salad lettuces to spicy stir-fry mixes. Don’t worry about rows--just sprinkle the seed over the surface of the pot. When it has grown to a reasonable size, snip off a few leaves from each plant, not too close to the base so the plant can regrow. Keep well watered.

• Radish. These are very quick-growing and can be harvested 4-6 weeks after sowing.

Remember that anything grown in a container will need watering more often than if those same plants were growing in the ground.

Text and photos by W Crowder 2020. Developed for Harbury Seed Share and Earthworms School Gardening Club.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.