My crusade for the new year is get everyone growing their own fruit and veg. I know that everyone is not lucky enough to have an allotment, a garden or even a patio. However, you can still grow your own food in even the smallest space, which is why I came up with the idea for my campaign – “Grow One Pot.” I want everyone to make a pledge to grow one thing this year and tell me what it is by leaving a comment below, and tweeting about it using the hashtag ‘#growonepot’

“Grow One Pot” came from the idea that you can using one pot or one container can produce a lot more fruit or veg than most people think.

Common things that people use are:
- A window box to grow herbs, or ‘cut and come again’ salads.

- A hanging basket to grow tumbling tomatoes

- A dustbin to grow your own potatoes

- Three canes to form a wigwam shape which can be used for all climbing plants such as peas, beans, etc to scramble up.

There are many wonderful reasons to garden partially or exclusively in containers. Growing crops in containers also gives you much more control over your plants. You can usually move them indoors if you are faced with an unexpected frost, or move them to another position if they do not appear happy where they are, perhaps getting too much sunlight? You can even grow some vegetables indoors if you have a suitable sunny or bright area where you can sit some pots. So it can be easy to have a fresh, year round supply of flowers, vegetables and herbs.

The great thing about container vegetable gardening is that, apart from buying a few essentials, like good quality compost, it can be done on a low budget and is extremely versatile. You can grow plants in virtually anything that holds some soil and has holes in the bottom for drainage. It’s only bounded by your imagination – a chance for some really creative recycling! I’ve used old bathtubs, 20-litre plastic containers with the tops cut off, baskets of various sizes lined with bin bags to hold the water in, milk cartons for seedlings, anything that comes to hand. I almost used some dumped toilet bowl …..only I didn’t like the colour as they were pink.

Using containers makes it possible to grow food in areas where it would otherwise be impossible, and by employing some simple and innovative methods covered in more detail in future blog posts, such as vertical gardening, raised bed gardening, and square foot gardening, you can extract some excellent, and money-saving crop yields from just a tiny amount of space.

I’ll also be resurrecting my monthly blog post of what to do in your garden each month, and include tips on what to grow in your ‘container garden’ that month.

So, start the new year by making a pledge to get your fingernails dirty and growing at least one crop this year. Don’t forget to tell me what it is by leaving a comment below, and by tweeting me (@wegrowourown) on Twitter, and using the hashtag #growonepot. I’ll retweet every one I see!

Happy gardening!

The runner bean is a great British summer vegetable that is easy to grow and delicious to eat, but it seems that it has been forgotten by a large number of people, dismissed as old fashioned, probably because they have been used to it being boiled to within an inch of its life by generations of school cooks!

The number of households buying British runner beans is declining with only 12% of households buying runner beans during 2010, down 22.7% in the last 5 years. When you consider that over 85% of households buy carrots, the number of us enjoying great British runners just doesn’t measure up!

The British Bean & Pea Campaign contacted me as they are spearheading a runner bean revival, reminding us that runner beans are delicious, crunchy beans that are incredibly versatile!

They can be sown now, and most varieties should be ready to pick in July, and can continue until the first frosts, or sometimes even longer if the plant is protected.

Runner beans, and other beans are ideal if you only have a small garden. Firstly sow one seed about 4cm deep in a small pot filled with compost. Then either keep them in a greenhouse until they germinate, or line them up on a sunny windowsill. They should all have germinated within three weeks.

Once you’re ready to plant them out, fill a large planter up with compost, then make a wigwam with tall canes lashed together with string at the top. Then wind the string around the canes until you reach the bottom, tie it tightly and put this into the planter. Your runner bean seedlings can then be planted at the bottom of the canes, and they will happily climb up to the top of the wigwam all summer long.

So it’s time to re-discover this great, traditional British veg. Just remember that if you are boiling them, they need no longer than ten minutes to become tender, rather than the best part of the morning like the school cook used to do.

As it’s getting towards the time of year when people think about planting potatoes, I thought I’d post my thoughts about how to get the best crop of home grown potatoes.

Before planting your potatoes, the ground will benefit from having some manure or compost dug into the soil. This will have two benefits, as firstly potatoes like to be fed, and also it will help the general texture and structure of your soil.

The big benefit of growing potatoes must be the taste and you have a choice of over 400 varieties to choose from. A few hundred more than you will ever find in the shops! So you need to decide what you want to grow. First of all, ask other growers in your area what they do well with and like. Different varieties will grow better in some areas than others.

There are various sites on the internet where you can get an idea of what types are best for what and you can often buy small packs of 10 seed potatoes so you can try different types and find what you like.

Do not just try and plant potatoes from the supermarket. More often than not you will be wasting your time and missing an opportunity to taste something really special for your efforts. They may well have been treated to stop them growing anyway.

First Early, Second Early and Maincrop Potatoes

These terms often sound mysterious but they’re not really. All the terms refer to is the time it takes from planting to getting a crop. First earlies are usually ready in around ten weeks, second earlies in around 13 weeks and maincrop after about 20 weeks.

Maincrop types tend to store better but they are at more risk of getting blight than the faster types, which are usually harvested before the blight periods begin.

Chitting Potatoes

There is no mystery to this process. All it means is that when you get your seed potatoes you put them in a cool but frost free place where they get some light but not direct sunlight. A north facing window is ideal in a frost free shed.

Each seed potato has a more rounded, blunt end that has a number of ‘eyes’. Stand the tubers with the blunt end uppermost in trays or old egg boxes, with plenty of natural light.

The potatoes will then grow short stubby shoots, which will get them off to a fast start when planted out. Some people suggest rubbing off all but three shoots to help get larger potatoes with the maincrops. There is some evidence that chitting doesn’t help greatly with maincrop potatoes but it certainly can’t hurt to chit them.

Frost

Frost is a big enemy so you need to keep an eye on the weather. Usually mid-March is about the right time to plant your earlies and you plant the maincrop a few weeks later. If after planting the leaves, also called haulm, start to show through and frost threatens you need to protect the plants. You can do this by pulling earth over the haulm from the side or covering with fleece.

Planting Potatoes

To plant you can just make a hole with a trowel or you can draw a trench (take a draw hoe and scrape a trench). You want it to be about 100mm deep. Handle your chitted tubers with care, gently setting them into the trench with the shoots pointing upwards, being careful not to break the shoots. Cover the potatoes lightly with soil.

If you have a comfrey patch try and get a cut of comfrey leaves, let them wilt for a day and just place them on the bottom of your trench, covering with a little soil. Comfrey will quickly rot down to provide fertiliser and it is almost perfect for potatoes and tomatoes.

Your first and second early potatoes should be planted about 300mm apart in rows about 600mm apart. The maincrop, being the heaviest cropper, need a bit more space so plant them about 400mm apart in rows 750mm apart.

Earthing Up Potatoes

As the plants grow you need to draw the earth from the sides of your rows over the plants. The potato tubers (that’s what we call the actual potato you eat) tend to grow towards the surface and if light gets to them they will go green. You do not want to eat green potatoes as they may give you upset stomach, so “earthing up” as this is called will cover these tubers and increase your crop.

It won’t hurt the plants when you cover some of the leaves by earthing up or slow down growth. You need to do this at regular intervals and by the end of the season each plant will have a small mound around it about 15cm (6in) high.

I mentioned they are greedy feeders and an additional dose of fertiliser after a month or so when they plants are established will really help. You can use specifically formulated potato fertiliser or an organic fertiliser such as fish, blood and bone. Good results can be had from using a liquid comfrey feed because the liquid is immediately available.

In dry weather keep them well watered. They produce a lot of crop and need their water. If the water supply is irregular the yield will be reduced and the potatoes can be cracked from uneven growth.

Harvesting

Your home-grown potatoes should be ready for lifting from June until September, depending on the varieties and the growing conditions. Earlies can be lifted and eaten as soon as they’re ready. This will be when above-ground growth is still green, and usually as soon as the flowers open.

Second and maincrop varieties can be kept in the ground much longer, until September, even though above-ground growth may well be looking past its best.

Two weeks before you lift the crop, cut the growth off at ground level. This should give the skins of the potatoes sufficient time to toughen up, making them far less prone to damage from lifting and easier to store.

Growing Potatoes In Containers

Some people question the wisdom of growing potatoes in a small garden as they take up quite a lot of space and potatoes can be bought incredibly cheaply in the supermarkets. However, once you have tasted organic freshly harvested potatoes from your own garden you will understand.

Even if you don’t even have a garden per se, just a backyard or patio area, it is possible to grow a usable crop of potatoes in containers such as old dustbins, large terracotta pots, a barrel, or even a large bag. And, it could not be easier to do.

Take for example an old dustbin or bucket. Drill 10 or 15 drainage holes in the bottom so that it does not become waterlogged. Fill the bottom of the bin with 5-10cm of crocks (old broken pots etc), and then add another 15cm of good potting compost. Put five seed potatoes on top with the sprouts pointing upwards. Cover the potatoes with more of the potting compost until they are just buried, and then water well. As the green foliage grows upwards add more compost. It does not matter if the leaves are covered as they will soon grow up through the compost again. If the compost is not very rich then add some fertilizer – for example chicken pellet fertilizer or well rotted manure to nourish the potatoes. Adding comfrey liquid or a foliar feed with extracts of seaweed every couple of weeks will also help.

The only things you really need to watch out for is that the leaves of the potatoes receive enough sunlight and enough water. If the container is very deep then no sunlight will ever hit the foliage and the potatoes will not do well. In this case either fill the container with a lot of compost before putting in the potatoes therefore raising the height at which they are planted, or reduce the height of the container. Compost in a container will dry out far faster than a vegetable plot so it is essential to keep an eye out. However, over-watered potatoes can have black or hollow centres, and potatoes which were irregularly watered end up knobbly.

So, whatever size garden you have, you can grow your own potatoes. I can guarantee that once you’ve tasted your own home grown spuds, you’ll never get them from a supermarket again!

As you will have picked up from yesterday’s post, I’m a big fan of Cafe Direct’s ‘Sow Your Own’ campaign.


So taking their ideas to heart, I started to have a look around what the previous tenants of our allotment had left behind.

My eyes lit up when I saw some solid old drawers from an old chest of drawers, and I immediately knew what I could do with them. I took the bottoms out of them, unscrewed the handles, and put them to use as raised beds!

It was obviously meant to be, as they are the same height as the other raised beds on my plot and fit in perfectly!

These were put to use straight away, and I planted my baby ‘Red Top’ turnip seedlings in the new raised beds.

I then turned my attention to what I could use at home to plant some more salad, as I like to do successional sowings throughout the summer to have a continuous supply.

For some bizarre reason, the previous owner of our house left behind one tyre, which had been lurking at the back of the garage for some time, and everytime I saw it, I made a mental note to get rid of it.

However, after a bit of hadywork, and a quick paint job, I had a nice little planter for the next sowing of my salad.

I’ve now got my eyes on the colander in the kitchen for my next ‘Sow Your Own’ creation, but I think my better half will break my fingers if I try!

As you know, I constantly go on and on about how I feel that everyone should grow their own veg if they can, even if it is just one tub of salad on their patio, or some herbs in their windowbox.

Well now those nice people at Cafe Direct have started a campaign called ‘Sow Your Own.’

In their own words “A host of celebrities have teamed up with Cafedirect to front ‘Sow Your Own’, a micro allotment campaign that will encourage garden-starved urbanites to give growing their own food a go this summer.”

If you have a look at their website there are lots of ideas about how everyday objects that you have never got round to throwing away can be turned into funky planters, so that you can grow and have delicious fresh veg at your fingertips, wherever you are.

Also, they teamed up with top Michelin Star Chef Michael Caines MBE to reward inventive home-grown efforts this summer. As part of Cafédirect’s Sow Your Own Campaign, the most imaginative transformation of an up-cycled everyday object into a ‘micro allotment’ will win the chance to spend the morning in the prestigious two Michelin Star Kitchen at the Gidleigh Park Hotel, including a lunch for two which incorporates some of the winner’s hand cultivated ingredients.

So now you have no excuse …. get planting and ‘Sow Your Own!’