Peppers

• Pepper Gourmet Sweet pepper Gourmet is a dwarf plant with a compact habit that produces a huge crop of gorgeous sweet crispy peppers that turn orange when mature. Gourmet has been awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM) and can be grown outdoors in a sunny sheltered spot.
• Pepper Gypsy F1 Sweet pepper Gypsy produces a great crop of pointed peppers with an excellent flavour approximately 10cm or 4 inches in length that turn to red when fully mature. Grow outdoors in pots in a very sunny sheltered spot or in either a conservatory or greenhouse. Resistant to tobacco mosaic virus.
• Pepper Mohawk F1 Absolutely perfect for growing on a patio or in containers as Mohawk is a lovely compact plant producing a good harvest of orange coloured peppers.
• Pepper Redskin F1 A sister plant to Mohawk with the same compact growing habit producing beautiful red skinned peppers.

Pumpkins

• Pumkin Summer Ball F1 A British bred variety producing up to 20 baby pumpkins on a compact bushy plant making it ideal for growing in containers. The pumpkins can be harvested early as a summer squash or left to mature into 1kg (2lb) summer pumpkins.

Radish

• Radish Cherry Belle A fast maturing globe shaped variety with bright red skins and white flesh which is slow to go woody. Lovely crisp and sweet with a mild flavour.
• Radish French Breakfast 3 This variety produces red cylindrical roots of a medium length that have a white tip which are crisp but tender and have a mild flavour. Awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM).

Salad Onions / Spring Onions / Green Onions

• Salad Onion Ishikuro A Japanese bunching onion which does not form bulbs but just gradually grows thicker stems and stands well in the ground. Ishikuro can be harvest through the season from thin salad onions to thicker stemmed salad onions removing the need for successional sowing.
• Salad Onion White Lisbon One of the traditional bulbing varieties favoured by many gardeners. Successional sowing will provide a crop throughout the season.
• Salad Onion Deep Purple A vibrant deep red-purple salad onion creating interest to any salad dish.

Spinach

• Spinach Rhino F1 A slow bolting variety of spinach producing smooth broad leaves. Rhino is a slower maturing variety which makes it ideal for baby leaves.
• Spinach Galaxy F1 A mini vegetable variety producing glossy, dark green baby spinach leaves that is fully mildew resistant.

Squash

• Squash Sunburst F1 Sunburst is a summer squash producing beautiful mini, golden yellow coloured fruits with a slight scalloped edge. Extremely tender and tasty simply lightly steam and serve whole. Awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM).
• Squash Festival This winter squash is a trailing variety that can be left to scramble across the patio or it can be trained up supports where space is limited. Festival produces lovely nutty flavoured grapefruit sized squashes with a pale orange flesh that are great roasted. Stores well.
• Squash Gem Gem squashes are small, shiny green fruits with a delicious sweet flavour. A winter squash so it will store, very prolific and ideal for growing in containers as the vine can be trained up canes or an obelisk.

Swiss Chard / Seakale Beet

• Swiss Chard Bright Lights Probably one of the most colourful vegetables for the kitchen garden with stems ranging in colour from red, green, violet, white, pink, gold, orange and yellow. The leaves can be cooked like spinach with the stems needing slightly longer to cook. Awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM).

Tomatoes

• Tomato Ferline F1 Indeterminate (cordon). An extremely high yielding variety that produces very good sized tomatoes with a fabulous flavour over a long season. Ferline is blight tolerant, resistant to fusarium wilt and verticillium wilt. An excellent tomato that can be grown both in the greehouse and outdoors.
• Tomato Gartenperle Determinate (bush). A trailing variety so ideal for growing in hanging baskets and window boxes. Gartenperle produces a great harvest of red cherry sized juicy tomatoes throughout the season.
• Tomato Inca F1 Determinate (bush). A plum tomato variety which produces a huge crop of wonderfully tasty plum tomatoes both outdoors and in the greenhouse. The tomatoes have a thick meaty flesh making them excellent for cooking. Tolerance to fusasrium and verticillium wilts.
• Tomato Balconi Yellow Determinate (bush). This variety will trail when grown in hanging baskets producing a very heavy crop of sweet, delicious yellow cherry tomatoes. A sister plant to Balconi Red.

Cucumbers

• Cucumber Marketmore An excellent variety of cucumber for growing outdoors producing good sized juicy cucumbers that are crisp with a fabulous flavour. Awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM).
• Cucumber Green Fingers F1 These are ideal for the children’s lunch box. Green Fingers produces small finger sized 10cm or 4 inch cucumbers which have a smooth skin and are bitter free.

Leeks

• Leek King Richard An ideal variety for growing on the patio producing extra long slim leeks that can be sown direct and do not require earthing up. Grow King Richard leeks close together for delicious baby leeks.
• Leek Volta F1 An early variety with a good length stem that can be sown direct and used as tasty baby leeks.
• Leek Tornado Suitable for growing as baby leeks, Tornado produces good long stems that have some rust resistance.

Lettuce

• Lettuce Little Gem A deliciously sweet and crisp small lettuce with a solid head which is ideal for growing in containers.
• Lettuce Tom Thumb A compact, small butterhead type lettuce which has lovely, crunchy but soft leaves and is perfect for close spacing.
• Mixed Salad Leaves Most of the seed suppliers sell packets of mixed salad leaves which are ideal for container growing as a sprinkling of seeds will produce a harvest of various varieties, colours and flavours all in one container.

Mangetout

• Mangetout Oregon Sugar Pod This variety produces a heavy crop of large mangetout pea pods, also known as snow peas, which are crisp and delicious. The pods are stringless when young and are excellent stir fried. Growing to 90cm or 36 inches simply give the plants some twiggy pea sticks for support.
• Mangetout Norli Norli is a true French type mangetout pea which produces small dark green pods that taste so sweet and crisp. This variety is resistant to fusarium wilt and grows to 60cm or 24 inches. Again give the plants a little support from twiggy pea sticks.

Marrow

• Marrow Baby Bush A bush type marrow plant producing a great harvest of tasty baby marrows which are approximately three quarters the size of standard marrows.

Pak Choi

• Pak Choi Green Revolution F1 This is a compact variety of pak choi, which is slow to bolt, can be used as a tasty ‘baby leaf’ in salads or the heads can be left to mature.
• Pak Choi Hanakan F1 When mature Hanakan produces gorgeous green leaf baby heads of Pak Choi which are fabulous in stir fries.

Peas

• Pea Kelvedon Wonder A prolific cropping dwarf variety of pea producing huge crops of pods containing approximately seven extremely tasty peas that grows to just 45cm or 18 inches in height. Give some support with twiggy pea sticks. Resistant to pea wilt and tolerant to downy mildew. Awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM).
• Pea Half Pint Half Pint is a wonderful dwarf variety which will grow to only 30cm or 12 inches in height and requires no support. Continous picking of the pea pods will prolong the harvest. A great variety for children to grow.

Aubergines / Eggplants

• Baby Rosanna F1 Produces a prolific harvest of golf ball size aubergines which are bitter free. Growing to 60cms or 24 inches the plants need a sunny, sheltered position on a patio or in a conservatory.
• Baby Belle F1 A dwarf, compact, spine free plant growing to just 30cm or 12 inches in height producing a great harvest of small jet black aubergines. A sunny, sheltered spot is best.

Beans

• Dwarf (Bush) Borlotto Bean Firetongue Dwarf borlotto beans are a colourful addition to the vegetable garden with stricking bright red speckled pods up to 16cm or 6 inches in length containing red speckled beans that can be eaten fresh, dried or frozen.
• Dwarf (Bush) French Bean Kenyan Safari An excellent french bean that is very heavy cropping producing large clusters of beans which are held high making harvesting easier. The beans are the ‘filet’ type, very slender and stringless with a fabulous flavour. Awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM).
• Dwarf (Bush) French Bean Sprite An outstanding variety producing 15cm or 6 inches long dark green, fleshy pods which are completely stringless and taste great. Awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM).
• Dwarf Runner Bean Hestia A beautiful red and white flowering plant growing to just 45cm or 18 inches in height producing a bumper crop of delicious slim and totally stringless runner beans.

Beetroot

• Beetroot Pronto A baby globe beetroot variety, making it perfect for container growing, with a superb flavour and wonderful coloured foliage.
• Beetroot Pablo F1 This variety produces dark red round beetroots with only a small tap root making it ideal for tasty baby beets. Use the leaves as you would spinach.

Carrots

• Carrot Little Fingers This variety is as the name suggests, delightful little roots that are so sweet and full of flavour that can be harvested at only 9 weeks.
• Carrot Parmex A quick growing variety that produces golf ball sized carrots with an excellent flavour as good as any of the traditional carrot varieties. Awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM).
• Carrot Paris Market A really tasty bit sized carrot with smooth round roots that are fast to mature. Wonderful cooked whole in stews and casseroles.

Chili Peppers

• Chili Pepper Cheyenne F1 Hot! An early ripening compact variety that grows to 45cm or 18 inches in height. Cheyenne produces a large harvest of hot orange coloured fruits.
• Chili Pepper Demon Red Very hot! A very prolific dwarf variety producing masses of green chili peppers that turn bright red when mature.

Courgettes / Zucchinis

• Courgette Defender F1 Defender is an excellent British bred variety resistant to Cucumber Mosaic Virus that never fails to produce a huge crop of dark green superbly flavoured courgettes. Awarded the RHS Award Of Garden Merit (AGM).
• Courgette Black Forest F1 This is a climbing variety of courgette so it is perfect for patio’s and backyards producing tasty dark skinned courgettes.
• Courgette Midnight F1 Another British bred courgette which produces compact plants that are spine free so making it easier to harvest the delicious dark green glossy fruits.

Which Container To Use

There is no need to buy special potato growing bags or a potato barrel because virtually any container can be used to grow potatoes in as long as it is at least 30cm or 12 inches in diameter and depth. Buckets can be used, large flower pots, flower buckets from the local supermarket, dustbins and even empty compost bags turned inside out. But, you must ensure to make drainage holes in the bottom.

Planting The Potatoes

First put some broken pots in the bottom of the container to aide drainage then using a good multi compost place 10cm or 4 inches of compost in the bottom of your containers. If using a bucket or large flower pot simply place one seed potato with the sprouts facing upward on the compost and cover with a further 10cm or 4 inches of compost. Be sure to water well. When using a dustbin to grow your potatoes place large pieces of broken polystyrene, that is used for packaging, in the base to aide drainage. A dustbin should take four or five seed potatoes.

It is important to either wait until after the last spring frost before planting or protect your containers with fleece if a frost is forecast.

Growing On

When the potato shoots are 15cm or 6 inches tall you need to start earthing up. Add another 10cm or 4 inch layer of multi compost and continue earthing up this way until the potato plant is above the top of the container leaving a 4cm or 2 inch gap at the top of the container for watering. Potatoes need watering well especially when the tubers are growing as under watering can result in a poor crop but don’t drown the plants!

Harvesting

Harvesting is easy when growing one seed potato per bucket or pot, just tip out the entire contents of the bucket for fabulous, fresh and extremely tasty home grown potatoes. First early and second early varieties of potatoes should be ready to harvest after approximately 13 weeks when the foliage starts to turn yellow and die. If you harvest too early you might be disappointed by a small crop of tiny potatoes. Have a careful root through the compost to feel the size of the tubers if you are unsure whether or not the potatoes are ready to harvest.

Christmas Potatoes

Yes, it is possible to serve freshly harvested home grown potatoes with your Christmas Day meal. You will need to order second early seed potatoes from an online supplier which will be ready to plant out as soon as they arrive in July / early August. Be sure to water the plants well especially during a hot summer. The potatoes will be ready to harvest in October but leave them undisturbed in the containers they are growing in and you should enjoy the treat of a Christmas harvest.

If you are growing vegetables on your patio then any container or pot will do as long as it is at least 25cms or 10 inches in diameter and approximately 12 inches deep. Plastic pots are better than terracotta as the compost doesn’t dry out as fast but all pots and containers must have drainage holes.

There is no need to buy new pots – recycle where you can – potatoes can be grown in buckets, simply plant one seed potato per bucket. You will tip out a great harvest of lovely, clean potatoes!

Fill your containers with a good sterile compost which can be mixed with top soil to aid water retention but not garden soil as this can contain diseases. Putting a good layer of well rotted manure in the bottom of the containers not only acts as an organic fertilizer but also helps with water retention. If you have really deep containers you can place a thick layer of polystyrene in the bottom first. This will mean that you don’t use as much compost filling the containers up. Put copper tape around the top of the pots to stop slugs and snails which gives them an electric shock or use bird friendly slug pellets.

Remember that container grown vegetables will need watering properly and once every two weeks feed with a good organic general purpose fertilizer. Try to give them a sunny spot with a south or south west facing position.

The list of vegetables that you can successfully grow in containers is endless. I said earlier tomatoes can be grown in hanging baskets, one plant per basket, try Tumbling Tom or Balconi Yellow. Grow standard tomato plants in pots or grow bags – Bloody Butcher is an excellent tasting, heirloom tomato. One plant per pot or two plants in a grow bag with a cane stick for support.

Dwarf runner beans Hestia, dwarf french beans Purple Teepee and Kenyan Safari are great in pots and need no support. You could grow a climbing french bean, Blue Lake is good and use either cane sticks or an obelisk to support the plants. The more you pick the beans, the more they grow!

Courgettes and squashes can be grown and left to scramble across the patio or try Tromboncino courgettes and Festival squash which will both climb. These would look stunning growing up an obelisk. Defender is a good courgette variety that never fails to deliver tasty courgettes.

There are carrot varieties especially bred for growing in containers. Parmex is a round carrot and Little Finger is a small baby carrot. Give Pak Choi and beetroot a try. These are both easy to grow and the beetroot leaves can be cooked like spinach. One thing that you mustn’t forget is cut and come again salad leaves and salad onions. Buy a mixed selection of salad leaf seeds so you are guaranteed a colourful and tasty side salad.

Remember to water and feed the vegetables, enjoy growing them but most of all enjoy eating your own grown, organic vegetables!!