GET PLANNING FOR POTTED CROPS
The creative container GARDENER Think about the space you have and the food you want to grow - then get going and have fun!
FMark won landscape designer of the year 2020 and his book was published in September 2020. ebruary can be a dismal month. But with forward planning you can get ahead and make 2021 a year to remember. As a gardener, I was uplifted throughout last year by the number of people embracing growing their own, creating a new outdoor space, or simply picking up a trowel for the first time and having fun with the kids to grow veggies. And, in a lot of cases, this involved container growing or raised beds.
Last year saw record numbers of sales for seeds and even I, with more time on my hands, got back into growing from seed. I’ve always done it but being around and spending more time in the garden, especially my greenhouses, meant I could focus a ention on the smallest details – seeds being one of them.
Now’s the time to flick through seed catalogues, seduced by stunning photographs and enticing texts. If, like me, you order way too many, prepare by making a list of what you want to eat and enjoy. Of course, it’s always good practice to try something new each year, but keep these to maybe one or two packets of seeds. I should also point out that many of us, me too in the early days of gardening, forget that some packets contain hundreds of seeds – way too many to sow for the average household. Perhaps chat with neighbours, friends and family and see if you can share the cost and the seeds. I love the way gardening brings us together, and seed buying is a great place to start.
Whichever option you choose, measure the amount of space you have and work out how many plants you can grow on your windowsill, greenhouse staging or worktop by a window in a garden shed. It will take a few a empts to get to know how much you can grow, but think about how much and what kind of produce you want. As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life, and you don’t want to end up eating cabbages all year and nothing else! Finally, take into account the size of your raised bed or containers and grow plants that will fit them – it makes no sense growing a tall artichoke with a deep tap root if you only have a shallow container or bed.
Of course, there are some plants that grow quicker than others and, in the case of vegetables, can be harvested sooner, and these are great for filling in gaps or for sowing direct once the weather improves and the soil warms up. Radish, cress and cut-andcome-again le uces are perfect examples, and can fill containers and raised beds or mangers really quickly, cu ing down on weeding. For ornamentals, annual flowers, such as cornflowers and Californian poppies, also make great colourful fillers.
Whatever you decide to sow this year, ensure your containers and raised beds are big enough for the bounty of crops that you’ll grow and, finally, have fun!