Tips for success

Vegetables grown in pots have some easy-to-meet basic needs:

• Use good quality potting soil, incorporate additional palm peat for water retention and drainage, and organic slow-release 2:3:2 or 3:1:5 fertiliser.

• Choose well-sized pots; the smaller the pot, the faster it dries out.

• Morning sun and afternoon shade is best.

Don’t place pots against a hot, west-facing wall.

• Deal with pests immediately, using an organic insecticide.

• Water daily in hot weather and feed once a month with a liquid fertiliser.

Kitchen garden tasks

• Water regularly during hot, dry weather.

• Shelter tender leafy crops from midday sun with shade cloth.

• Fertilise fruiting crops with an organic 5:1:5 fertiliser or Ludwig’s Vigorosa.

• Harvest regularly to encourage new growth and more fruit.

• At the end of the month, start sowing autumn and winter veggies in seed trays.

• Remove the flowers on butternuts and other squashes so that plants put their energy into ripening existing fruit.