Page 21 - Oundle Life April 2024

GROWING
YOUR OWN
Vegetables in containers (part 2)
In the previous article I mentioned some of the vegetables that can be grown in containers, in this article I will cover some others.
The onion family includes onions, leeks, shallots, garlic and chives all of which can be
a trellis; as an alternative they will trail down if the container is above the ground. Both French and runner beans will grow in decent sized containers as long as you give them enough water and a weekly feed and will produce very
grown in containers. Onion sets can be
planted in March or April spaced 10
to 15cm apart unless you want giant
onions, place the sets so the top is at
soil level. Onion seed can be sown into
seed trays and pricked out into modules
and planted out when large enough.
Salad or spring onions can be sown
shallowly directly in the compost in the container and picked when big enough. Shallots and garlic are usually planted
in the autumn and overwintered outside as they are hardy. Leeks can be brought as plug plants or sown like onions and planted out when big enough.
Moving onto the bean family both climbing and dwarf beans can be grown in containers, the climbers can be trained up canes, sticks or
good crops. If you do not have space for climbers the dwarf French beans are very productive and a good size for large pots and similar containers. Peas and broad beans will grow in containers, but it is difficult to have enough plants to produce worthwhile crops.
If you have a deep enough container, you can grow parsnips, this is how the champion parsnip growers get their
1-metre-long roots! Sow three seeds 15cm apart each way in March / April, once they have germinated thin them out to one seedling. Keep them growing over the summer and they will be ready to harvest in the autumn / winter, wait until we have had a couple of frosts as this makes them sweeter to taste.
If you do not have space for climbers the dwarf French beans are very productive
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