Sprouting Salads
One of the delights of cooking is the ability to add your own homegrown ingredients. Nothing more so if you think you need green fingers! Growing seeds for eating and being able to harvest them with in a few weeks is within the grasp of anyone with a windowsill! The modern need for fresh eating has made this possible.
Watercress is one of the easy grown herbs or salad plants that can be grown this way. We pick this from a nearby flowing stream if the livestock have not beaten us to it! It grows very quickly and easily and in the wrong place a weed. The peppery flavours of the leaves are particularly nice in sandwiches. Watercress is a relative of the cabbage or Brassica family with genetic links to radish and mustard. While the cress we pick grows big, in some cases over a
metre in length, we never pick it if its flowering as the taste is too bitter.
The beauty of growing your own on a windowsill is any one can do it, seeds will grow in pots that just stand in water. Cut it at the size you want. Watercress is reputed to have many benefits including anti cancer properties, as well as containing calcium, iodine, and folic acid so it is well worth including in the daily diet if possible.
Mustard is another salad leaf growing quickly and easily at any time of the year. Mustard has been around for thousands of years and is mentioned in the Bible. Grow mustard seeds in a seed raising mix. Spread the seed out and cover with the soil mix and water gently. Keep seeds moist and the seedlings will normally appear within a week depending on conditions and warmth, earlier or later. They can be cut at any size but leaving the seedlings to
grow for three or four weeks until they reach 10-15 cm high, will provide a better return for your efforts and bigger sandwiches! Sow mustard seeds
successively at two to three week intervals so you have an ongoing supply.
Rocket lettuce or herbs are another quickly grown green. Like both Mustard and Watercress has a peppery taste. It is best to eat just at few weeks from sowing as it grows so fast the leaves take on a bitter taste if they are left to grow old. Grow it quickly with plenty of water, and sow successively for a continuing supply.
Watercress
Enjoy your homegrown greens, they are worth it!
Growing Eggplants or Aubergines in Containers
Varieties of eggplants
Eggplants or aubergines as they are called are becoming better known in the western world. Other names they are known by are eggfruit, brinjal and guinea squash. Eggplants originate from the Middle East and Asia, and are instantly recognizable by their shiny purple skins. Eggplants are from the same family as the tomato and potato, as the scientific name of Solanum melongena esculentum suggests. There are many varieties, coming loosely under three types. The multi colored, small and the familiar egg shaped fruit. The purple/deep red color predominates; the multicolored variety has shades of cream through to pink.
Growing eggplants from seed starts a few weeks before spring arrives. Choose a variety that suits your situation, whether it is an early variety or a main crop. The eggplants require a long warm growing season so a head start in growing seedlings is necessary. Allow at least 14-16 weeks. The fruit itself takes anywhere from 60-80 days to mature. Where you are in the world obviously dictates when your best sowing dates are. Grow the seeds in trays or punnets until the seeds reach 3-4 inches in height. When transplanting them into their final position handle carefully, avoid holding them by their stems.
Plant the seedlingsor seedling into a container at least 40 cm in width with reasonable depth. The height the plants grow is dependent on the variety used, with the taller varieties needing to be staked and protection from the wind.
The plants will need manure or compost added to their pot. Do not overdo the manure as you may end up with lots of leaves! Grow them in a sunny open area on a deck or patio where you can water them frequently and notice their overall health. Feed your plants with a water-based fertilizer according to
the instructions of the brand you are using. This can vary from fortnightly to monthly, this is important from flowering onward and during the fruiting
season.
You may prefer to limit the number of fruit of your plant, to maintain quality fruit but that is a personal preference. Once the fruit has reached maturity usually in the late summer, the skins will be well colored and shiny. This is the premium time to harvest, because once the skin starts wrinkling, the fruit is past its best for eating. Always use secateurs for cutting your fruit off the plants, as pulling them can damage the plant. It is very frustrating when you do it and it breaks the plant completely! Experience is a good teacher!
As they belong to the tomato family, eggplants are susceptible to fruit fly infestations. There are sprays available to limit the damage they cause, applied weekly the chemicals break down and are non-harmful if you time your harvesting accordingly. Another is verticillium wilt; unfortunately, the only cure for this fungal disease is removal. Do not use the same pot or garden bed again for growing aubergines.
Hot Choices! Capsicum or Chillies
Capsicums and Chillies
Capsicums and Chillies are the well-known peppers. The difference is that some are sweet peppers, the other hot peppers! Some of the small hot peppers can easily be grown in containers as houseplants, the fruit taking the starring role instead of flowers. They are a heat loving plant and grow well in warm climates or cooler places in a heated environment like a glasshouse or sunny conservatory.
Growing capsicum or Chillies is easy from seed. Choose the seeds that you require whether it is the sweet or hot peppers. The seeds chosen will respond in the same way. The windows of opportunity for growing the seeds is a small one and to get the best results, start growing your seedlings a month or six weeks before they are planted in their final place whether in a container or garden. Depending on your family’s requirements, four to six plants will supply enough peppers for an ordinary family. Capsicum plants are also available from nurseries if you cannot be bothered with growing from seeds. Just make sure they are healthy and not root bound. Once seedlings reach
about four inches in height, transplant them into to bigger pots for growing on. Plants have a reasonably deep root system, so they need regular and good watering.
Capsicums like most plants benefit from manure or compost worked into the soil or mix. Plant in a 35-40 cm diameter container or pot for growing on a patio or deck. Do not overdo the nitrogen-based fertilizer initially as all you will get are leaves and green growth. Once flowering and fruiting appear then is the time to sprinkle some
high nitrogen general fertilizer around the plant. Peppers are really nice plants to have on display. Capsicum that you have planted in the spring will start to bear fruit in mid summer and continue having fruit until the onset of the colder weather.
Peppers can be picked at any time you consider they are big enough or suitable for your purposes. When you have just a few plants, cut the fruit from the plant as pulling them may break the branches. Like beans, the more you pick them the higher the fruit production will be. The common bell shaped varieties can be left on the plant until they change color be it yellow or even longer red. Pick the Chillies once they reach 7-10 cm long. Pick these when they are young for the freshest taste, but if you choose, leave them to shrivel up and then grind for use as an ingredient for spicy cooking!
If you have a creative side, make ornamental decorations of the peppers by threading on a string or displaying them. Capsicums are usually trouble free and easy to grow; we used to grow acres of them! The things that are likely to affect them are mostly of the insect variety. Amongst them are aphids, white fly, caterpillars and the green
vegetable bug. Sprays suitable for the purpose control these, most of the sprays used do not have a long withholding period so the fruit can be eaten safely if you
know how long the required time is.
Capsicums can be frozen quickly from fresh with out prior preparation, apart from removing the seeds. This is fine for using as a casserole or added to soups. Done like this the pepper is not suitable for use as fresh in a salad.
Container Grown Beans are Easy!
Beans
Beans are wonderful vegetables to have in the garden or grow bags if you choose. Easy to grow given the right conditions to grow as vegetables do. There are four types of
beans to choose from that will benefit your garden whether it be large or small. Beans are wonderfully easy to freeze, and as they are usually prolific providers,
there is always more than enough and some left over for family meals.
The four types are Runner beans.
These are easy to grow and do well climbing up a support for that purpose. Ideal for the smaller garden they take up very little space and are easily grown in containers. Plant the runner beans in full sun with some shelter from winds. These beans are perennial which means after they have produced their beans in the summer they
will die back but regrow in the next season.
Broad beans.
Can handle the colder weather, and grow easily in most garden soils especially if it is sunny. These beans grow to about a metre tall and may need staking to assist them to remain upright. This depends on the variety of course, as they do vary in height. Plant these beans once the summer varieties are finished and there is space in the garden.
Dwarf French beans
These little guys grow into small bushes and can be superb croppers depending again on the variety planted. French beans are usually stringless and taste good. Give them a well manured/fertilized soil in their container or box and a sunny spot in the garden, and you will be well rewarded.
Climbing French beans
These bean flowers set with out the presence of bees for pollination. In addition, it makes the appearance of beans more reliable than those of the Scarlet runners do. Great for flavour these beans continue producing after the dwarf beans have finished.
All beans need the same soil preparation in order to produce well. They grow better on well-drained soils and containers with good drainage.They appreciate compost and fertilizer. Mulching over the hot weather, avoiding the stems, will help preserve the moisture and encourage continuing growth.
As I mentioned previously, protect beans from winds because strong winds can seriously spoil them. Dwarf beans are generally ready to pick six or eight weeks after sowing the seed, where the climbers may take up to ten or twelve weeks.
Grow climbing beans on a trellis, or wall that you have attached some wire or string. This allows the beans to have support while they are climbing. A wigwam arrangement is successful where several tall bamboo stakes or poles are tied in such a manner to look like a teepee or wigwam. Planting two or three seeds at the base of the stakes allows the beans to climb with support. This is an ideal arrangement for climbing beans grown in containers.
Harvesting of your beans should take place every day as frequent picking encourages more beans from the plant. Freeze those that are not required by slicing, blanching in boiling water for a couple of minutes and quickly chilling down. Lay on flat trays to freeze quickly. Laying them out on trays enables them to be free flowing once bagged.Don’t leave them after they are frozen on the trays because they will get burnt by the freezer and spoil .You then take what you need when you need some home grown vegetables over the winter months.
Silver Beet aka Chard
Silver beet growing in big drums
Its name is immaterial, called silver beet here or chard there, this vegetable remains one of nature’s nutrient rich products. A member of the beetroot family its scientific name is beta vulgaris cicla. This plant is sometimes confused with spinach but the leaves are much larger than spinach although both can be picked over a period of time if they are grown quickly.
These are the ideal fresh vegetable to grow in pots and containers. The plants are fast growing and like lettuce are best eaten while the leaves are young and tender. The leaves are removed from the outside of the plant to allow the new leaves to grow on in the centre of the plant thus giving a continual supply of tasty, fresh and nutritious food. Siler beet is a good source of iron so an invaluable food to have on your table. It saves you money as well being able to pick your own vegetable from a pot on your balcony or deck.
Temperature wise silver beet grows in most climates, in warmer areas the seed can be sown all year, but in the springtime for colder areas. The easiest way of growing chard is filling your container, preferably, a large well drained one with your multi purpose potting mix and planting your seed directly in the pot. The silver beet plants have a long taproot so a reasonably deep container is required.
If you have a source of different varieties or seed packets that come with mixed varieties, use them. It gives your containers a decorative edge while the plants grow. There are white and red stemmed plants. Plant more seeds than you will need, the seedlings appear in ten to fourteen days.
After a few weeks, you will notice which are the strongest plants, and time to thin out the weak ones. The seedlings are usually about 10 cms after this time so the small and weak plants will be obvious. Feed them well with either liquid feeds or
side dressings of granulated fertilizer that have an increased nitrogen
component. Access to chicken manure also works well for silver beet but is too
strong for using in pots. Silver beet requires little attention so bugs and
diseases are not usually a problem. You will of course, still have to wash
carefully before preparing for cooking because the small slugs get hidden in
the crinkles of the leaves.
Preparing silver beet or chard for meals requires a good washing under a tap, or soaking in a salt solution for half an hour to rid it of any small bugs. Lightly cook in a small amount of water for a few minutes or alternatively steam until cooked
then cover with butter. Butter is not the right thing these days with obesity becoming a problem but it tastes good! Another way if you like garlic, gently fry the chard with crushed garlic in a little oil, I use olive oil, until it is cooked.
Whichever way you choose to eat it, silver beet or chard is very good for you
and your family.
Lettuce Galore
Lettuce in Containers
Of all the vegetables to grow in pots, the lettuce is probably the most common, and the most easily grown vegetable. Not only that it comes in a variety of colours, textures and growth habits. Lettuce grows easily from seed. In doing so you get a variable period with early, late and the pick as you grow varieties! What could be simpler?
Bonuses include the variety of leaf shapes and sizes that add a useful decorative container on your balcony or deck. A taste of fresh green,
frilly or bronze colored lettuce everyday if you choose. The trick is to plant lettuce successively over the period that you wish to have them available. It
maybe just over the summer months, or year round.
Planting seed is the cheaper option, but today garden centers have punnets with different varieties in the, so you can grow several types to
try and enjoy. It gives the opportunity of trying lettuce to see which is your favourite, we all have favorites! While lettuce grows quickly, they can be
temperamental if they are hampered in anyway while growing. When you buy plants from the garden shop, make sure the seedlings are not pot bound when purchased. Plant your new seedlings as soon as possible in their containers after purchasing. Protect your plants from the
inevitable slugs and snails because even container-grown plants suffer from them.
The normal well-drained and manured pot will be just fine for lettuce. You must make sure that they are well watered, especially over the summer months. They will stress easily without water. I am sure you would be disappointed if your fresh salad was soft and droopy from lack of water. The beauty of containers is that they can be moved out of the sun into a shadier position so the plants are not in the full heat of the day. Lettuces that are not kept growing quickly may taste a little bitter in some varieties. Avoid over watering your lettuce, as they are equally likely to get rotted stems from sitting in wet soils for any length of time. Grow frilly leaved and the toned lettuces for an interesting display in pots, knowing that you can also eat them! Feed
them frequently with liquid food, or with a nitrogen-based fertilizer as a side dressing. Fresh lettuce keeps well in the refrigerator, but I find keeping them in a loose plastic bag in the crisper keeps them fresher than just leaving unwrapped.
Crunching on Container Carrots
Carrots are the last thing people expect to come from a container! You can grow them as well as you can in the garden where
they take up a lot of room for a long time. The key is choosing the right type of carrot for the container you plan to use. Ideally plan to use the shorter, stumpy varieties of carrot. While growing the longer main crop carrots in larger containers is ok, it would be more productive to use the smaller ones. I guess it is more of personal preference, though.
Carrots seeds are sown anytime of the year in temperate climates such as we have here although they do better if planted in the cooler
seasons of the year avoiding the hot summers for planting. Plantings in the autumn – winter period run the risk of not rooting up. Solve that sort of issue
by trying them in your area. You do need to be aware that the young tops may be prone to frost bite if frosts are severe where you live.
A soil for planting carrots in containers requires a friable well-structured sand based potting mix. The carrots being a root crop appreciate a good soil to thrive. The use of compost is good but make sure it is well mixed through the soil to avoid the mis-shapen roots so loved by children for the ‘school morning talk’.
Carrot seed is quite a fine seed, and needs to be spread carefully about 2 cm apart. Just sprinkle on the surface of the soil if you wish and thin later when they are larger. An old trick is to sow radish with carrots, as radish mature faster than carrots. You use the radish when ready, pulling them
up leaves space for the carrots to grow. Cover with seed mix allowing a cover of ½ an inch (or 1cm). Depending on the type of carrot, you have chosen it will
be two to three weeks before the seedlings emerge.
Stagger your plantings so that you can provide a continuous supply of carrots for your family, as the first seedlings appear, plant another
lot in another container and so on. Keeping the soil damp at all times from planting the seed keeps growth at a steady pace. Do not over water, as over watering can promote more leaf growth, rather than the well-grown roots you require. Should the carrots containers dry out from
lack of watering, giving them a big drink is likely to cause the roots to split. Tomatoes do the same when suddenly watered after drying out. So keeping
the soil damp at all times, but not wet is beneficial for you and your carrots.
As they grow to about 5” in height start thinning them. Thinning means taking out some of the plants to allow others to grow unhindered. If you
choose wisely, you can pull those that will make nice eating as ‘baby carrots’. Truly yummy.
How to Grow Potatoes in a Container
Think how nice it would be to have an apartment and serve your friends fresh, early potatoes for a meal! As potatoes are very frost tender, the early potatoes lend themselves to being grown in a conservatory or warm patio until the frosts have passed. It is possible to do by growing potatoes in a large tub.
First, of course, you need the seed potatoes. Best for growing in tubs are the early season potatoes as they have the shortest growing period. Endeavour to buy the certified disease free seed potatoes so you know they are not carrying diseases that will affect your project. When you buy them, you will notice they each have “eyes” places where the shoots will protrude.
Once you have purchased your seed, potatoes you will need to “green “them. In the UK, it is called “chitting”. Two or three weeks before you plant your potatoes spread them out on trays, boxes or even egg cartons. Leave them in a bright spot in your home, but out of the sun. Doing this will make the potatoes and the shoots go green and harden up. Once the shoots are an inch or more in length, plant them into their pot.
Plant your potatoes with at least 6 or 8 inches between them, as of course the nature of them means they need space to send out the tubers. These will eventually become potatoes. If you have, an old grow bag that has had plants in it, you still have the mix, put it at the bottom of the container, and half fill. Of course don’t use it if there has been diseases from the previous plants. Lay your potatoes on the top and cover with more potting mix.
As the shoots start to poke through the old mix, add more potting mix this time with fertilizer and nutrients added. Repeat this until your pot is full and the potatoes growing well. Water them well over their growing season, keeping the soil moist but not wet as they may become diseased or rot. Liquid feed every week if you can. Potatoes do like to be well fed, but overdoing the feed may cause a lot of top growth or leaves and leave very few potatoes beneath.
The leaves will indicate just how well your potatoes are growing. Once your plant has flowered and the leaves are starting to turn yellow, it is time to start harvesting. It is possible to clear away some of the mix and just take what tubers you need, with out pulling up the whole plant. If you wish to store them, leave until the leaves have completely died down. Then store your potatoes in a cool dark place to stop them from greening. Green potatoes incidentally are poisonous. Potatoes are also very prone to a disease called blight when the leaves show signs of browning. The plant quickly rots and dies. If you maintain a spray program using a copper fungicde,you will reduce the likelyhood of getting the blight.
Cauliflowers in Containers
Cauliflowers are a popular vegetable but for children a nightmare. Well meaning parents try to encourage children to eat it but it is not high on children’s want to eat vegetable list! The unusual taste is definitely difficult to become accustomed to at young age. It is also a vegetable that is considered by wannabe gardeners as too hard to grow.The cauli has a difficult media persona!
Certainly, the cauliflowers need a certain amount of attention to grow them well.The cauliflower belongs to the Brassica family, as do broccoli, and cabbages. The plant produces a single head made up of meristems that if left to grow turn in to flowers.
Fill the container with mix of your choice perhaps using soil from a grow bag if you prefer and you do not want a grow bag display! Leafy crops like the Brassica family appreciate soil high in nitrogen planting with additional nitrogen during the growing season.
Cauliflower seeds can be sown in seed trays or pots and transplanted when the plants are big enough. They are generally big enough a month to 6 weeks after planting the seeds. Always read the instructions on the seed packet to ensure a good result. Cauliflower seeds can be sown directly in the soil provided slug bait has been scattered. Alternatives to slug bait that may be worth trying and crushed eggshells that have been baked in the oven for a couple of hours. Sand is worth trying as well to cut down attacks on the plants. Keeping weeds away from the plants also reduces the encouragement of slugs.
The companion plants for the Brassica family as well as carrots are Sage or Thyme. The strong smell of the herbs keeps the insects away. Whether or not the companion plants are effective is questionable, but there is this no harm in trying and making your own assessment if you see insects like greenfly or caterpillars, pick them off the plants and squash between fingers, or if you have chickens give them a treat.
Depending on the size of the pots, you may be able to fit two or three plants in a big container. Keep the plants weeded and watered well if you are growing over the summer months. Side dress with either general-purpose fertilizer or one containing higher nitrogen, midway during the growing season. In a pot, it is easier to keep an eye on insect problems. You will need to watch for caterpillars if a spray is not used.
Harvesting the cauliflowers is dependent on your requirements. As they start to form the heads, break the stems of the leaves closest to the head to shade them as the direct sun can cause the cauliflowers to go yellow, some gardeners even tie the top leaves together. Cut the cauliflowers while they are firm and white.
Cauliflowers keep well in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. If you are freezing them they are cut into 1” floweret’s blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes. I spread them on trays for freezing and as soon as the pieces are frozen pack into bags that have had the air removed. Do not leave any longer as freezer burn and drying the cauli is very likely and spoil them.
Container gardening, detailed info to grow your own veggies in limited spaces without digging and weeding. Helps save money on groceries and trips to the supermarket
Successful Container Gardening
Growing vegetables in containers, plants for showing off, or brightening a cold terrace with a selection of pots and containers filled with bright colorful flowers and trees.It is providing an interesting hobby and form of relaxation for millions of people who have no room for a garden in their apartments and home units.To grow plants of any variety pay attention to the specific needs of the plants.
Situation
Place the chosen plants in containers in the site best suited to their needs. The amount of sun a plant needs is very important most will need at least 4-6 hours of sunshine a day. Vegetables for example do best in a sunny situation, as most plants do. An apartment balcony that is windy exposed and on the cold side of a building is not going to be conducive to growing container plants.
Soil
Garden soil is not suitable in most containers as it does not drain easily, and tends to go solid and hard over time. Container plants need a mix that allows for free draining. There is a wide selection of various mixes available that will suit the plant range considered. Choose the best mix available as buying cheaply comes into “you get what you pay for” scenario. Take the time to plan your plants and their needs properly.Try not to be tempted into putting a small plant into a large pot, generally this does notwork. Plant into an appropriately sized pot, when the plant shows signs of roots coming out of the bottom drainage holes replant into a larger pot.
Watering
Growing plants in containers requires attention from their keeper! The plants will need constant care particularly over the summer months. Watering the containers is an essential as the plants roots are restricted by the pot, limiting their ability to take up water.The usual way is watering daily during the summer ensuring the pots are well watered.A large number of pots could be watered by an irrigation system. Your local garden hardware shop would provide all that you need from advice to materials.A guide is helpful, when planting in the containers leave half an inch to an inch from the top of the pot. This allows you to water to the pot rim and watch it drain through the plant.
Feeding
The porosity of the mix will mean that the plant will lose the nutrients required for growing. There are a number of varieties of fertilizer available for use. There is water soluble, controlled release, individual animals such as sheep or chicken available. Read instructions thoroughly as container plants react very quickly to them, sometimes disastrously!
