START A MINI VEGGIE PATCH
Fed up with soaring fruit and vegie prices? You don’t need a backyard to grow your own...
CONSIDER SPROUTS
“If you’re trying to conjure up some ‘fast food’ at home, the simplest option is sprouts. They are super-quick crops ready to harvest in about four days,” Kirton suggests. “Gro Urban Oasis stock non-GMO and chemical-free sprouting seeds by Mr Fothergill’s, and their sprouting kits make growing them on your window sill hassle-free. Choose from the Asian greens, clover, hot and spicy, mung bean, salad, mustard, sandwich, wheatgrass and Snow Pea range.”
GIVE MICROGREENS A GO
Not to be confused with sprouts, microgreens are baby versions of plants you would normally find in a vegie patch. “These baby salads are sown into seed trays on your window sill and harvested in about three weeks, when plants are still only about five to 10cm tall,” Kirton explains. “Many plants can be harvested in this way, but some of the most popular are rocket, spinach, lettuce, basil, salad burnet, borage, celery, kale, dill, brassicas like broccoli, cabbage, Chinese cabbage and collards, as well as root veg like carrot, radish, kohlrabi and beetroot. Ideally you’re planting your seedlings outside in the full sun, but this can be in something like a Vegepod, or in raised gardens beds or pots.”
CREATE AN INDOOR ORCHARD
Yes, you heard that right – it turns out that a number of fruit varieties can be successfully grown indoors. “For fruit, look for dwarf citrus and stone fruit, berrying plants like strawberries and blueberries that grow in pots happily, and climbing fruit like passionfruit, goji berries and kiwi,” Kirton says.