Imaginative ways to use grow bags in small spaces

IF you tend to grow your tomatoes and other veg in unsightly plastic grow bags, it might be time to think again. Self taught gardener Kevin Espiritu, author of a new book Grow Bag Gardening, offers a wealth of different growing ideas for alternative fabric grow bags, rather than just the typical black plastic ones you ordinarily see.

He says that most available fabric grow bags “are made from recycled plastic, which at the very least means they’ve already gone through the recycling process once and will last for quite a while.” Meanwhile, you’ll be able to track down others made of jute or hessian, which will degrade over time.

THE ADVANTAGES OF GROW BAGS

You’ll be able to find grow bags in an array of shapes and sizes which will accommodate the smallest space on a balcony or a tiny garden. And for Generation Rent, they’re also easy to move and cheaper than terracotta and other decorative containers.

While plants that outgrow their pots end up with a mass of roots circling the base of the plant, if you use a permeable grow bag, the roots get an air-rich environment low in water and nutrients, which causes the tips of the roots to die, signalling the plant to produce new roots elsewhere in the root system, he explains. This extends the length of time a plant.

Here, Espiritu offers gardeners some ideas on how to make the most of their grow bags...

1. STIR-FRY GROW BAG

Create your own stir-fry ready bag of veg and greens. “I have one now where you can grow sage, thyme, oregano, coriander and basil – then on the top I have Asian greens including pak choi, Asian mustard, so I could make a quick stir fry simply from that bag, which takes up very little space. If you’re a smallspace gardener, that’s a really good bet. That bag would take around 30 litres of compost.

“If some of your herbs, like coriander, bolt (run to seed), it’s easy to replenish. As you are cramming so many plants in one bag, harvest them more often, gently pull them out and plant a replacement into the pocket, so you can succession-plant as the season progresses. “Alternatively, plant herbs that are likely to bolt in their own bags, to place in a shadier spot during hot weather, to stop them bolting so quickly.”

An interesting idea for Scottish gardeners. “If you are in a relatively cold area, grow a citrus, which you could move in and out fairly easily in a grow bag. To grow a fruit tree, you’d need a big bag that would hold around 100 litres of compost. I would recommend buying a tree that’s on dwarfing rootstock, which is more naturally a small plant. They will live happily in a grow bag for around a decade, I reckon.

“With fruit trees you would need to top dress and feed with a granular fertiliser, because if you use soluble fertiliser and then water, you’ll water the nutrients right out of the bag, which is permeable. I would even mulch the surface with leaves or compost to protect the layer.”

3. MINI ALLOTMENT 2. FRUIT TREE IN A BAG

“If you are a renter with a small back garden, you can roll out a large grow bag and build a raised bed in seconds. I like making an artistic vegetable garden, so I have Chinese cabbage in the middle and mizunas in different colours at the sides and it almost looks like a little art piece.”

4. MULTIPLE MINTS AND STRAWBERRIES

“Mints are invasive, so you need to plant them on their own. I’d take a couple of varieties and plant them all together, then at least they won’t colonise anything else, so you could have a variety of minted teas or leaves to add to salads.

“Or you could plant strawberries, which throw out a lot of runners, in an individual grow bag, so they don’t take over a whole patch of ground.”

5. BALCONY CLIMBERS

“Grow vertically in a small space, adding bamboo trellises or canes into the grow bag, growing peas, sweet peas and ornamental climbers as well as French and runner beans. You’d only need as much soil as you would in a standard container, but the grow bag will be much lighter.”

WHERE TO BUY FABRIC GROW BAGS

You can buy a variety of grow bags in all shapes, sizes and materials, through stockists of Smart Pot (smartpots.com) and Haxnicks (haxnicks. co.uk), and through online retailers including Amazon (amazon.co.uk) and Crocus (crocus.co.uk).

Grow Bag Gardening by Kevin Espiritu, £14.99

WE all know about poor air quality in towns and cities, what with traffic, lack of green spaces and gardens being paved over to make way for hard landscaping and driveways.

Air pollution affects one in three people in the UK, according to a recent RHS survey of 2,056 adults, while long-term exposure to air pollution can lead to chronic cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

But there are particular super plants that can go some way to soaking up pollution in traffic hotspots, new RHS research has found.

“Plants have the amazing ability to do all these things unseen, but not all are equal. Some plants are particularly good at, for example supporting wildlife, but many are able to provide multiple benefits,” says RHS principal horticultural scientist Dr Tijana Blanusa.

Here, Blanusa and fellow RHS expert Leigh Hunt recommend ‘super plants’, environmental multi-taskers that could help soak up some of that pollution in different situations in your garden and home...

HEDGES

Hedges are great at filtering pollution from the air, trapping it on their rough/hairy leaves and stems, until it is washed to the ground by the rain or falls off with the leaves. One of the top plants is cotoneaster franchetii, which is at least 20% more effective at soaking up pollution compared with other shrubs.

It’s not a typical hedging plant, but trimmed into shape, it is a top performer. Other options include Thuja plicata (western red cedar) and Taxus baccata (yew). Plant between the source of pollution and where you are – so usually between the road and the house. Bigger is better, so aim for at least 1.5m high

and 1m wide.

POTS

Containers are useful for growing all manner of plants on areas of paving, balconies and if you rent, you can take them with you when you move. Include plants to support wildlife, from pollinating insects to invertebrates. Plants with different structures (shrubs, perennials, climbers) will all provide different habitat, with flowers and berries providing food.

Even a common climber such as ivy (Hedera helix), which could be trained from a pot up a house wall to create a green surface, will provide shelter, nectar and berries – and is a native plant. It also crucially helps with CO2 capture and dehumidification, and, where it is grown up the side of a building, can help with internal temperature regulation. Otherwise, try anything from the RHS Plants for Pollinators list (rhs.org.uk) that will fit into your containers.

BORDERS

Borders provide the most space. Bigger is better so if you have room for a tree (great air cleaners), plant one. A great small tree is hawthorn (above). As well as showy white flowers in late spring, there are fruits (haws) in the autumn. Alongside being a great plant for wildlife, it can help where flooding is an issue. The leaves and stems in the canopy capture rain, slowing its passage to the ground.

And this tree will also transpire water from its leaves, helping to suck excess moisture out of the ground when in growth. A shrub that can help is the cheery yellow-flowered forsythia.

GREEN ROOFS

These help cover hard roof surfaces that collect the sun’s heat in the day and give it off at night, making our urban areas warmer and more uncomfortable during, admittedly, rare Scottish heat waves.

Traditionally a green roof is a mat of sedums (above) that grow in 5cm of lightweight growing media. However, if you can include a deeper substrate, it’s worth considering other plants, including lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina), which actively cools the air by transpiring moisture (a bit like sweating) and is much more effective than sedum.

There’s no reason to limit lamb’s ears to the roof, you can plant it in pots and borders to get a localised cooling effect. Another top cooling plant is sage, which has the benefit of being perfect for the kitchen too.