latest poll

[solway cropper]

I've just seen the latest poll on container-grown crops and suspect that many of the replies are from people who've never actually done it!

Having successfully grown almost every type of veg in containers over many years I can assure everyone that it is certainly not expensive nor a waste of time. I recently managed to get six and a half pounds of usable parsnips from one 10 litre flower bucket. Beat that if you can, plot growers!!

The weight, by the way, was after trimming off all the skinny bits

[Westi]

Well you certainly beat my harvest in the ground - not one germinated from 3 attempts! (Free Trial Seeds). Got 3 in my big plastic bin at home though with excellent looking foliage - no doubt all show no root but can't harvest yet as a very late sowing.

Well done Solway Cropper that is what will encourage those on the forum that aren't so lucky to have a lottie!

Westi

[Primrose]

Well done ! You'll obviously need deeper containers next year! I find one of my most successful pot crops is bush tomatoes in patio containers. My secret is to chop up my kitchen compost peelings, etc. and dig it into the containers every autumn once the tomatoes have been pulled up. Everything rots down beautifully over autumn/winter and I have re-energised compost/soil for the next growing season. Sadly this technique never seems to have worked for me with potatoes in grow sacks. I always end up with tons of foliage but very few potatoes.

[solway cropper]

Thanks for the comments. I wish more people would realize that you don't actually need a garden or an allotment to grow healthy food. Although I do have a good sized garden what started as an experiment has taken over and I now grow well over half of my produce in containers, including 170lbs of spuds this year.

Primrose, you have the secret to successful container growing. It's all about the compost and the more organic matter you can get into it the better. Don't expect to get high yields from commercial MPC.

[ken]

I'd just like to add my word as someone with a garden where the only space for veg is an area of hard standing, and therefore I have to use containers. I agree that shop-bought veg are probably, but not always, cheaper, but the quality I get - salad stuff, carrots, peas, Frnch beans, potatoes, etc, is great. Among my collection of containers I have two raised 'mangers': this year, after the (very late) broad beans came out, I reinforced the bought compost with some home-made compost including bokashi, and planted up Chinese lettuce, pak choi, radishes and cut-and-come-again lettuce in one, and red russian kale, late sown and planted close together, in the other, under environmesh. They have all done brilliantly, and no pest damage apart from a little flea beetle damage on the oriental veg. (How do[u][/u] they get under the mesh?). There was a discussion earlier in the year about when to sow kale: I'm certainly in the school that prefers to sow late and have lots of smaller plants, rather than just one or two, 3ft apart.

[solway cropper]

I agree with Ken about kale spacing. After harvesting the potatoes from some 40l polypots I put 3 kale plants in each one and they are going great guns. Mind you, they are dwarf green curled which doesn't make a big plant anyway.