Kentish Express Ashford & District
A little pottering around
Tom Harris explains how to combine edibles and flowers to create colour and flavour in containers
Throughout his life, plantsman Tom Harris has planted thousands of containers to enhance gardens nationwide and beyond. He’s perked up unpromising small spaces with both flowers and edibles, and says you can have a brilliantly colourful effect by combining both, as he demonstrates in his new book, Pots For All Seasons.
“People have different criteria when growing veg. I don’t approach it on the basis of what will provide me with the most food. I just find that many veg and herbs are just as ornamental, and if I get some crops from them, that’s a bonus.”
So, how do you go about growing plants such as lettuce, beetroot and tomatoes, alongside pretty annuals?
GO FOR GOOD-LOOKING VEG
“Firstly, look for goodlooking vegetables. I don’t grow anything which I don’t consider to be good looking,” he says.
“Tomatoes, aubergines and peppers provide brilliant colour in pots, while leafy veg and carrot tops provide the green you also need.”
“Some do better in pots than they would in the ground. Chillies and aubergines, for instance, tend not to do as well in the ground, while you can keep a better eye on leafy salads in containers, where you can crop them young and keep them protected off the ground.”
GROW THEM SEPARATELY
Tom recommends growing veg separately from flowers in pots, moving them around to experiment with what gives the best effect.
“Try to grow them in individual pots and group ornamental and foliage plants around veg, rather than putting them in the same pot,” he explains.
“Having said that, I had a great success planting lobelia and lettuce in a pot together. They work really well in a wall pot or a basket. Nasturtiums also work well with lettuce.
“Certain veg don’t like too much competition. Aubergines, for instance, resent anything else competing with them and look great in pots on their own. I grow them in old olive tins which make the fruits look that much more striking.
“Courgettes should be put singly in the largest pot you can. The yellow-fruited or round-fruited ones - I grow one called Greyzini which has beautifully marbled leaves and grey-green fruits - look great.
COMBINE HERBS
If you want your herb garden to be changeable, plant pots of basil, chives, thyme and parsley separately, then group all the small pots into a much bigger container, Tom suggests.
“Lots of herbs get too big, too quickly. Keeping them in their smaller individual pots allows you to pull them out and put something else back in and repot them, and helps keep rampant herbs like mint in check. Again, it’s about creating a picture; keeping herbs in a display, but neatly separated.”
THINK ABOUT POT HEIGHT
In a mixed display, make sure your pots are all at different heights, Tom suggests.
“Choose pots of different heights and different widths. I use anything from stacks of bricks with a paving slab, or upturned pots to raise my containers. You need some kind of variation in height and size to get a good look.
“Play around with the pots, rearranging them and placing one plant against another until you have the right combination.
“You might need to take something away or bring something else in.
“The display is all part of the fun.”