BEST VEGES FOR POTS
MICROGREENS IN PAPER CUPS are quick and easy, even in winter. LYNDA HALLINAN tested three types of kale in a recent trial. “‘Chinese Red’ was mild and fast; Tuscan kale was ok, but the Mesclun blend of cavolo nero, ‘Red Russian’, ‘Pink Stem’ and ‘Squire’ was the best.”
Christchurch reader MARK
MOREL sowed multicoloured ‘Rainbow’ carrot seed from Oderings in a square shape, in a square 300mm deep planter. For success: “thin appropriately and water deeply,” he says.
MAREE LAWLOR went with seed tape for her carrots (‘Manchester Table’ from Yates), planted in a 30-litre plastic pot filled with half and half compost and potting mix. “Lay the tape around and across the pot,” says the Ashburton reader.
When it comes to pots, bigger isn’t always better, but large containers hold more soil, take longer to dry out and stay at a more even temperature than small containers. Small pots and hanging baskets can dry out super quickly and might need watering twice a day at the height of summer.
Gherkins are pickling cucumbers you pick small (it makes them easier to stack in jars). Grow one plant per (largish) pot and keep watering or they will quickly turn bitter.
For DEB HURST of Christchurch, the practicality of growing in containers extends further than most. She has the pots in the greenhouse and shadehouse so her peacocks can’t eat them first! “My favourite this winter was the cauliflower variety ‘Incline’ from Egmont – huge beautiful white heads,” she says. “When the head is forming, feed your plant and keep it well-watered.”
Garden writer and NZ Gardener columnist MARY LOVELL-SMITH says she often grows loose-leaf lettuces from seed in a pot near her kitchen door in Christchurch. “They’re not good for crowds but perfect when it’s just one or two of us for dinner, when I can pluck a handful of leaves. I usually buy a packet of mixed seed, such as Egmont Seeds Gourmet Salad Blend, which has 15 varieties. I grow them, maybe about eight plants, in a 20cm deep, 30cm terracotta pot, in a mix of compost, garden soil and potting mix. Being near the kitchen door means I water it daily with the dregs of my teapot.”
King Seeds’ GERARD MARTIN recommends cucumber ‘Iznik’, a hybrid baby cuc with a limited trailing habit. “The flowers are gynoecious meaning all flowers are female and develop into fruit and parthenocarpic meaning they set fruit without needing to be pollinated. The prolific 8-10cm fruit are often borne in clusters at each leaf node and they’re spineless with a pleasant flavour and crisp texture,” he explains. “You can let the vine trail to form a compact circular bushy plant habit. Just lift it and train it in a preferred direction or put a wire tepee up and grow it vertically.”
Don’t fill pots with pure compost – it’s too rich for tender seedlings. Potting mix designed for use in containers is usually more expensive than standard potting mix but it should also contain slow-release fertiliser and water storage crystals.
WAIKANAE READER, MARIE O’SULLIVAN found success with tomatoes in pots, particularly ‘Early Girl’, ‘Gardener’s Delight’, ‘Sweet 100’ and ‘Heirloom Yellow Teardrop’. “The yellow is always reliable and self-seeds everywhere from the compost,” she adds.
WHAT SIZE POT DO YOU NEED FOR TOMS? For regular tomatoes, which grow tall, make sure your pot is deep enough to take a sturdy stake. A 30L black plastic pot is a good option and works well with Tomtwist stakes. But dwarf tomatoes can be grown in smaller pots.
Chillies do extremely well in pots, and are prolific enough that one can supply the whole family! Good long-season varieties include ‘Habanero’, ‘Tabasco’ and ‘Rocoto’, but if you are in an area where the climate is marginal for them, go with ‘Early Jalapeno’, ‘Thai Super Chilli F1’, ‘Hungarian Yellow Wax’, ‘Cayenne’ and ‘Hot Cherry’.
Radishes do brilliantly in pots. Sow direct, spacing seeds 5cm apart in circles and give them morning sun, afternoon shade and lots of water. You should be harvesting in just five to seven weeks.
Auckland Botanic Gardens’ staff member EMMA BODLEY suggests silverbeet ‘Bright Lights’ for pots. “It produces a long, reliable harvest and its bright coloured stems are attractive.” Ideally give it sun, but it will cope in part shade.
Spring onions are always standout performers in pots. They can be planted quite close together in a group rather than spread out in rows. If you need just a little bit as a condiment in a dish, just snip them well above the roots, and they will come away again from that base.
PENNY BROOKER in Drury found success with the tomato ‘Window Box Red’ from Kings Seeds in a couple of pots on the deck. “They were excellent. The plants only grew to about 30cm, but the more tomatoes we picked, the more that grew and they were nice tasty small tomatoes.”
You can grow beetroot in a pot, but not too many or they crowd each other, and you end up with skinny roots rather than plump beets. Thin to about eight seedlings in a bucket-sized container.
You can also sow silverbeet thickly in containers and treat it as a baby salad green for the first six weeks or so, just snipping off leaves at the microgreen stage and adding it to salads or using it as a pretty garnish.
If you want early tomatoes, plant a couple of cherry varieties in large, black pots and keep them in the sunniest spot your garden offers. The black pots act as a heat sink, absorbing and retaining the warmth of the sun, and raising the soil temperature a crucial couple of degrees – which means these toms will ripen sooner than the ones you have growing in the ground. You can also use this exact same technique to grow other heat loving crops if you are in a climate where they’d otherwise be marginal.
You can grow dwarf beans in pots easily, but climbing beans do pretty well in containers too, and you’ll be able to harvest lots more beans from them. Just put up a trellis, make a tepee from stakes or place your pot near a growing frame or fence to give the beans something to climb.
It’s a myth that putting pot shards or pieces of broken china in the bottom of a pot will improve drainage. In fact a study in the UK found that a solid object such as a piece of terracotta was far more likely to block the drainage holes and increases the chance of the soil in the pot becoming waterlogged, plus it reduces the amount of soil for your plants to grow in!
CONTAINERS NEED DRAINAGE HOLES. Otherwise the soil becomes waterlogged, drowning the roots and killing the plant. If the pot you like doesn’t have holes to allow excess water to drain away, grow your plant in a smaller pot and sit it inside.