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Home grown (Filed: 19/05/2001)

How to grow your own food organically by Sarah Raven. This week: container vegetables

What to plant

NOT having a garden shouldn't stop you from growing veg.

A sunny balcony or terrace, or even a series of windowsills, will produce a good range of salad leaves, herbs and vegetables to feed yourselves throughout for eight or nine months of the year.

In some ways, containers are simpler than a garden. The limited choice of what to grow - some plants don't do well in a pot, and there won't be room for others - is a relief.

The basic rules are simple: grow plants that thrive in pots without intensive TLC, and choose ones that look good as well as being tasty. Most herbs fit the bill. Chard looks handsome in a pot, too - either the white-stemmed type, or the brightly coloured `Rainbow' - and I love the kale Cavalo nero in a pot, with its upstanding, crinkled, architectural grey-green leaves.

Grow crops that thrive in shade as well as sun. Lettuces and salad leaves do best with some shade. Mint and chervil are happier out of bright sun.

To make the best use of space, choose plenty of plants that will grow up canes and over arches, such as climbing French beans, peas and runner beans. With their scarlet flowers and bright foliage, these look superb clambering over trellis or canes, and they'll give any collection of pots vertical lift. Climbing nasturtiums look zingy too, and the flowers, small leaves and buds can be used to pep up a salad.

Put canes or poles in place before planting, since pushing them in near growing plants can damage the roots. And most plants will need to be tied in with raffia and/or twine. Once they reach the top of the frame, pinch out the growing tips to encourage them to bulk out.

Planting just one type of plant in each container looks good and works best. There's no need to worry about one plant growing more quickly than another, or needing more water or food.

Choose plenty of cut-and-come-again crops. This makes the best use of your space as you can continually harvest from something that takes up little room.

What to plant

Herbs - Many, such as rosemary, thyme and basil, prefer a free-draining soil and so are ideal for containers. Add one third grit to their compost. Invasive herbs such as comfrey and mint are also safer in the confines of a pot, but don't add the grit.

Cut-and-come-again salad leaves - need lots of room, but are perfect for containers and will give a harvest every day for two months. After that, you will need to resow. The plants get tired and flower as the summer warms up, but resowing is the work of five minutes. Mizuna, rocket [arugula], chicory, purslane or corn salad are perfect for pots. Just keep them well-picked.

Lettuce - Grow a loose-leafed continental kind, such as oak leaf or the handsome, shiny `Merveille de Quatre Saisons'. Keep picking leaves from the outside of the plant. Just pick what you want to eat.

Root crops - Carrots, beetroot and potatoes all do well. Put two tubers in a 10-litre pot and leave them to it. Turn out the pot and eat them after two or three months. It makes sense to grow root crops as baby veg, too - carrots, beetroot and turnips, as well as Florence fennel and leeks. Grow these close together and harvest young. The leeks, fennel and carrots should be no bigger than a finger, the beetroot and turnips about the size of a golf ball.

Dwarf French beans and broad beans - `The Sutton' and `Stereo' are excellent broad beans. Look out for the dwarf French bean `Rocquencourt', with its yellow pods, and the purple-black `Purple teepee'.

Peas - I've grown mangetout [snow peas] and tall-growing peas, such as `Carouby de Maussane' up bamboo canes in a pot.

Chard - Especially `Rainbow' or the white-stemmed `White Silver' Swiss chard. It has a long picking season.

Cavalo Nero - Its upright growth looks fantastic right through the autumn and winter. Grow it instead of cabbage.

Courgettes - One to a pot, they will be happy in a container provided it's big enough and you keep them well fed.

Tomatoes - You can grow any, but they do need moderate amounts of care. Rather than the tall cordon varieties, it's safer to go for the dwarf tumbler that hang down like fruit from a hanging basket.

Cucumber - Like runner beans, one or two cucumber plants are good for climbing a south-facing trellis or a bamboo teepee in a warm, sheltered spot. Choose trailing outdoor types, such as `Burpless Tasty Green'.

Garlic, onions, leeks, spring [green] onions - Go for the more ornamental, red-stemmed kinds of spring onion, such as `Santa Claus', and for the lovely, smoky-purple `Saint Victor'.

Aubergines [eggplants], chillis and peppers - You'll need a baking-hot sunny windowsill or a south-facing wall to grow these well. They look great but you won't get many meals from them.

What to avoid

Large cabbages and sprouts take up too much space. Parsnips need to be in the soil for too long. Celery, cauliflowers and spinach will also need a lot of space, unless sown in autumn or early spring.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2001