Eats, shoots and leaves

You don't need a garden to grow your own vegetables – a sunny windowsill or patio will do, writes JANE POWERS

MY GREAT GARDENING discovery this year was the pea shoot. Nothing could be easier to grow. You don’t even need a garden, just a sunny windowsill, a seed tray of potting compost, and a box of marrowfat peas from the supermarket. Fill up the tray with compost, poke in a couple of handfuls of peas, one pea per square inch, water, and wait. The peas sprout remarkably quickly – within a couple of days. In another few days, when they are as long as your index finger, you can make your first harvest by nipping out the tops, tendrils and all. Continue to harvest for about four weeks, after which they get a little tired and wiry. Delicately flavoured and pretty to look at, the fresh green shoots add a posh note to salads or garnishes.

You won’t feed a family by farming peas on the windowsill, but the process is engrossing and educational, and – in a small way – it promotes a feeling of doing something significant by growing your own food. It is for this reason – the reestablishing of the link between growing and eating – that I believe that everyone should cultivate some kind of food, even if it is only a handful of rocket leaves to add to the salad bowl.

It’s not essential to have a garden to raise crops. If you have a balcony, a terrace, a patio, a doorstep or a windowsill, you can grow a variety of good things to eat. Among the edibles that are happy in containers are: aubergines, beetroot, dwarf French beans, dwarf runner beans, carrots, chard, courgettes, leeks, spring onions, dwarf peas, peppers (both hot and sweet), potatoes, radish, spinach, tomatoes, baby turnips and a host of different salad leaves. Certain flowers are also edible, including nasturtium, viola, pot marigold (Calendula), cornflower and Dianthus – and can be added to salads and desserts, or used to decorate foods that need a bit of cheering up.

Most herbs, of course, are perfect pot specimens, especially if you can give them a sunny spot. And, speaking of sun, tender crops (tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and courgettes) won’t thrive unless they are in a warm and sheltered position. The following leafy plants, however, are less demanding of sunlight, and will put up with some shade: lettuce, spinach, sorrel, mizuna, mint and parsley.

CHOOSING CONTAINERS

Large containers are usually better than small ones for raising vegetables, especially for bulky plants such as beans and tomatoes, for which you will need a depth of about 45 centimetres. The greater volume of potting compost stays moist for longer and – if you are growing top-heavy plants – its weight helps stabilise the pot. You can get away with shallower receptacles (15 to 30 centimetres) for quick-maturing crops such as salad leaves, spring onions and radishes. Terracotta pots are pretty, but because they are porous, they lose moisture more readily than containers made of plastic, metal or composite materials. Lining clay pots with heavy polythene (perhaps cut from an old compost bag) stops the moisture evaporating. Recycled containers allow you to save the world while also saving your wallet, and include wine crates, Belfast sinks, galvanised water tanks, buckets, bins and baskets. Just make sure to put in drainage holes first, and to line with polythene if they’re permeable. If you have a very large container, it may not be necessary to fill the whole thing with compost: you can occupy dead space at the bottom with chunks of polystyrene or with plastic drinks bottles. And, remember to put heavy containers into position before you start loading them with compost.

WHAT COMPOST?

Peat-based composts are being phased out in the UK, but here, we’re still blithely ripping up the bogs for horticultural purposes. Unfortunately, some of the peat-free compost on the market leaves a lot to be desired. And, even the good stuff (such as the excellent New Horizon) behaves differently from the peat-based kind, which causes some gardeners to give up on it. It is easy to overwater, because the surface may appear dry while there is still plenty of moisture a little lower down. For growing crops in pots, I mix New Horizon peat-free with our own garden compost, but it can be used on its own. For hungry crops (tomatoes, beans, spinach, courgettes), well-rotted farmyard manure or pelleted poultry manure added to the lower part of the container feeds the plant as it matures. A little top soil can add bulk to the mixture, and help retain water.

‘The Royal Horticultural Society recommends a homemade mix for containerised veg: two parts soil, one part well-rotted organic matter and a sprinkling of fertiliser. If you have heavy soil, however, you will need to add grit or coarse sand for drainage.

SOWING AND PLANTING NOW

Sow these in pots now: beetroot, carrot, French beans, pak choi, mibuna, mizuna, peas, turnip, spring onions, radish, lettuce and other salad leaves. Plant these now (baby plants are available in some garden centres): leeks, courgette, tomato, aubergine, peppers and herbs.