Gardening in Spain- Growing patio veg.

There's no excuse for not having just a little pot or two of something edible growing on any balcony, townhouse or duplex, even if the garden is only a windowbox.

Back in the UK people pay fortunes for the privilege of eating organic veg, grown and steamed by grossly overpaid chefs, when it's the simplest  food to grow and prepare that's really the best.

There's no flavour to compete with the sweetness of carrots that were growing in the garden half an hour ago, or the fresh intensity of basil that was sitting in the window box just seconds before you sprinkled it onto a bowlful of local tomatoes and ate with fresh, crusty bread and balsamic vinegar.

 

When taking the decision to grow patio vegetables in Spain, there are two important things to consider; understanding the effect of the climate on plants in pots and choosing the right plants to start with for the growing location that you have.

 

The heat here cooks plants in pots. A pot with the sun beating down on it all day will heat up, so the soil inside will heat up as well, slow roasting the roots.

It sounds too basic to be even discussing this point, but probably half of the plants that turn up at the gardening club with problems are in pots that are too small for them, the pots being virtually all root and no soil, so no nutrients for the plants.

Start off with a good sized pot, the largest you can find, and group pots, so that the shade from both plants and pots offers a little protection. The plants like a bit of company, so use them to help each other as supports or shade, or just because one looks good with another.

Unglazed terracotta pots absorb the heat more than glazed ones, but if you like the look of terracotta, use a plastic pot inside the terracotta and fill the gap between with broken crocks or stones, leaving a layer of circulating air between the two layers if possible to cut down on the heat.

Think carefully where you position the pots, as the full sun will scorch sensitive crops, whereas too much shade will prevent flowering and create leggy, unhealthy growth.

The ideal is light and warmth, but not too much full sun, so choose the location with care.

The next stage is to make sure that you put the plants in decent soil. Compost only dries out very quickly here, whereas most of the soil is so poor that it fuses into an unbreakable lump when dried out, no good at all for soft leaved vegetables, and a complete no-no for root crops such as carrots and turnips.

We mix one third compost , one third garden soil and one third from our own compost heap and the manure pile, adding a handful of water retentive granules and a small amount of slow release granular feed, all thoroughly mixed and rubbed in together. We'd like to preach the organic route, but for many its not practical to have compost heaps and manure pits on their back terraces, so don't be shy about adding these products to the soil, it gives them a good, healthy base to start with and prevents you from over-feeding as the plants grow. They really don't need artificial feeding later on if the soil is good to start with.

There's plenty of manure around, Cindy brings sackfuls to the meetings from time to time and all the riding stables will sell you a sack. If a sack is too much, don't forget that you can bring a carrierbag full to swap on the swaps table, or go on the forum and see if anyone else would like to split a sack with you, or bring a half bag to the meeting and sell the other half to someone else.

Before potting up the soil, put a few broken crocks or stones in the base of the pot to give drainage, as waterlogged plants will die as quickly as underwatered ones.

Pack the soil in well- the level of the pot will sink as it settles and you'll probably find the level a couple of cm lower than when you started.

Now the fun bit. What to grow.

We have successfully grown the following vegetables in pots. Honestly.

Carrots, courgettes, squashes, turnips, tomatoes, all manner of herbs, kale, cabbages, chard, spinach, beetroot, aubergines, lettuces and peppers, and certainly there are plenty more that will grow happily as well.

For this autumn, choose lettuces, cabbages, kales, turnips, beetroot, chard, herbs, radishes or spinach.

Its fun to blend colours, we've grown stunning red kales with striking orange marigolds and lollo rosso lettuce, the lettuce growing flat, whilst the kale achieves height and the orange flowers look stunning against the red of the other two plants.

We've also paired kale up with pansies, don't forget that both marigold and viola flowers are edible too, which looks stunning in pots, beetroot with lettuces or spinach and chards look fabulous in pots - some of the rainbow varieties with striking red, yellow, or white veined leaves combine beautifully with herbs.

If you want it to look good as well as taste good, grow on some younger plants in starter pots and as you pull out a few radishes, or crop a lettuce, there are always a few smaller plants waiting in the wings to fill the gaps.

Its also an absolute joy to grow a mixture of picking lettuces, simply crop the outer leaves and the plants keep growing.

Don't forget also that vegetables can be grown at the base of  other non-edible plants, or interplanted with flowers, and herbs can be grown almost anywhere, in even the smallest of pots.

Make it fun. Make it an art. Make it a challenge to grow something edible on the patio this autumn.

 

 

 

If you want to have a go, Suttons seeds have offered the gardening club a third off their seeds if we put together an order of more than fifty pounds, or 40% off if we go over 150.

Have a look online at their fabulous range at www.suttons.co.uk and we'll bring the catalogue along to the next meeting so you can have a look through that.

If anyone would like to volunteer to co-ordinate the order they'll receive some complimentary seeds for doing so, and if two or three want to buy a pack of something different each and then split them and swap at the meeting, that's what gardening clubs are all about!

At the next meeting we plan to talk about sharing the workload - if anyone else would like to get involved, we can each grow and pot on some young veg, then swap at the next meeting.

 

Bear in mind when looking at the catalogue that there will be a category in the May gardening show for the best planted pot or basket, and another for the best edible display, so lets get those competitive juices flowing!

 

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