COLOURFUL CROPS TO CATCH THE EYE
A large container, wooden box or a small raised bed in a sunny position makes an ideal spot for colourful and compact veg and fruit.
The darker the fruit, the more health-giving antioxidants they’ll contain. If you love chillies, go for grafted plants because they have added vigour. Suttons (www.suttons. co.uk) has a good range of plugs and plants with ‘Medina’, for example, starting off green and ripening to red. If you’re a sweet pepper person, the red-fruited ‘Gypsy’ always does well.
Add a blight-tolerant tomato – the bushy, trailing container tomato ‘Losetto’ should give you fruit from July until September, as long as the pot has a warm position outdoors. ‘Tumbling Tom Red’ is another, and can be grown in a hanging basket or windowbox – the ultimate no-space plant! If you can’t find ready-grown plants, there’s still time to raise some from seeds on a windowsill.
Fill in gaps with a productive dwarf French bean, such as purple-podded ‘Purple Teepee’, or go for goldenpodded ‘Sonesta’. Why not go fruity with the new compact Americanbred blackberry ‘Black Cascade’? It’s thornless, so very child-friendly, and the large berries can be eaten raw or cooked. Three plants will fill a hanging basket, or you could use an ever-bearing strawberry such as ‘Flamenco’. The large, red fruits hang down very seductively.