Transplant your seedlings

It’s time to prick out your seedlings, says Lucy

Warming the pots of compost that your seedlings are being moved into helps deter rotting off. Also, use warm water when irrigating the seedlings. F you’re anything like me, you’ll be surrounded by trays and pots of veg seedlings at this time of year. To keep them healthy, it’s essential they don’t become congested. Lack of light or too much warmth will encourage overcrowding and leggy growth. This will result in weak seedlings

IIN times gone by, if you didn’t have a garden you didn’t even think about growing veg – thankfully, times have changed! Our knowledge of growing crops in pots is increasing, as is the range of varieties specifically bred for this purpose. Patios, window boxes, flat roofs, walls – every surface can be covered in veg, so what are the tricks of the trade?

Good-quality compost is key. I mix 50:50 by volume multi-purpose and John Innes No3 – the extra loam ensuring that pots don’t dry out too quickly. Thick-walled containers, such as wooden barrels and concrete pots, keep roots cool and moist, whereas unglazed Prick out your seedlings and grow on indoors until they’re ready to plant out that are vulnerable to rotting off.

Moving seedlings out of your propagator to somewhere cooler (say, from 18˚C to 15˚C) will help, and at the same time it pays to transplant the seedlings into individual modules or pots – a process described as ‘pricking out’. Here’s how to do it (see right).

terracotta dries out in a flash. Larger, deeper containers also keep moist for longer, so avoid lots of little pots, even though they look pretty.

Liquid feeding is important – your crops only get what nourishment you give them. Use liquid Growmore for leafy crops and tomato feed for pods and fruits. Grouping pots together helps keep roots cool and moist (consider installing an automatic watering system if irrigation is a pain). Impressive varieties include dwarf French bean ‘Speedy’, broad bean ‘The Sutton’, carrot ‘Caracas’, pea ‘Meteor’, tomato ‘Lizzano’, potato ‘Charlotte’ and courgette ‘Eight Ball’, but the choice is continually expanding. The bush tomato ‘Lizzano’ is also blight tolerant

Grow veg in pots