What to do in May

May 17, 2013
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May is one of the busiest and most exciting months in the container garden. If you’re new to growing, May is also one of the best months to start. You can sow most crops directly outside now, the seeds will germinate more easily, and everything just grows! This month What you can sow now Other [...]

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How to make your own container with water reservoir

May 14, 2013
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Using old recycling boxes and pvc piping Step by step instructions  In this post you’ll learn how to make a long lasting, high performance container with water reservoir. Level of difficulty: moderate Water reservoirs make watering easier and dramatically improve yields. You can add reservoirs in various ways. One simple way is to add a [...]

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Ten great crops to grow in containers

May 3, 2013
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When growing in small spaces, you want a lot from the crops you grow. You want them to give you plenty to eat, to taste amazing, and ideally to look great, too. After experimenting with over fifty different vegetable crops, here are ten I’ve found to be amongst the very best. (Herbs and fruits to [...]

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What to do in April

April 8, 2013
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In April, it is normally all systems go in the container garden. But the unusually cold weather in the UK (and much of Europe), has brought a slower, more tentative start to the year. Fortunately, at last, it looks set to become a bit warmer and seed sowing can start in earnest! Although the season [...]

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What to do in March

March 10, 2013
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Life is beginning to stir in the container garden in March. Perennial herbs like chives and mint that die back over winter start to put on new, fresh growth, returning again, like old faithful friends. Salads that have bravely survived over winter start to grow lush again.  If you sowed some seeds last month, you [...]

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Four tricks to ensure your seedlings get enough light

March 8, 2013
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If you’ve tried starting seeds on a window sill inside, you might have found that they grow thin and weak looking? If so, this is a common issue, particularly in urban areas. Surrounding buildings or trees cast shade, reducing the light. This creates a problem if you’re trying to raise seedlings inside as they need [...]

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What to do in February

February 18, 2013
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February is a month of expectation in the container garden. Spring is tantalisingly close. You can also start sowing some seeds now. The miracle of seeds  emerging never ceases to be joyful and exciting to watch – a perfect  cure for any lingering winter blues.  But you may chose to hold off on sowing seeds [...]

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What to do in January?

January 30, 2013
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What can you do in your container garden or vertical allotment in January? Here’s the first in a new, monthly series (In future to be published on the first or second Friday of the month, not at the end of the month!). And if you’re feeling confused or overwhelmed by information, skip to the end [...]

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How to make a genuinely ‘self-watering’ container garden

January 29, 2013
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DIY Project: Level 3 (Harder) If you’re looking for a highly productive and elegant growing system that is genuinely ‘self watering’, this system from Canada is brilliant!  I’ve graded it ‘Harder’ because you need a few specialist tools and some practical DIY skills. But anyone who’s happy to tackle simple carpentry or plumbing jobs at [...]

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Where to buy seeds and UK seed swaps 2013

January 18, 2013
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If you are growing in a small urban space you may be wondering where to get your seeds this season. When I started growing, I had no idea! I headed first to the local garden centre. Confronted by a huge wall of seeds I remember a sense of confusion. Where to start? Which varieties work [...]

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6 easy steps to sprout heaven

December 7, 2012
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What can you grow from seed when the days are cold, dark and short? Answer: bean sprouts! Why sprout? Sprouts can be grown at any time of year in even the smallest home, and on the smallest budget.  What’s more they’re packed with vitamins and nutrients, good for your health and fighting off those pesky [...]

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Hidden beauty: natural wood in the city

November 9, 2012
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Sourcing materials to build your vertical allotment can be a headache in urban places. Big garden centres are often expensive or packed with mass produced products shipped thousands of miles. Skips can offer good pickings in more affluent cities if you have time to search them – but can’t be relied on to produce the [...]

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How to look after and feed your wormery

October 12, 2012
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(Including a downloadable worm menu – with gourmet treats!) It’s easy once you know how Wormeries are easy to run once you get the knack – you just need a bit of practise and info to get you on the right track. I must confess to killing two whole colonies (traumatic days!) before I went [...]

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Six lessons from a difficult growing year

September 26, 2012
Tomato with early blight

If you’ve had a difficult year trying to grow food, you’re not alone. In the UK, low light levels and a cold, wet summer have made it one of the worst growing years for decades. For those of you growing in other parts of the world, you may have experienced even more difficult challenges. If [...]

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Crops with a view: container gardens from across the world

September 14, 2012
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You don’t need much space to grow food in a city. And to highlight this, Vertical Veg is collecting images of ‘crops with a view’ from cities around the world. These will be made into a collage – with the aim of showing what is possible and inspiring others. So whatever city you live in, [...]

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Winter growing: it’s time to plan and sow

August 3, 2012

August (and early September) is the time to plan and start sowing seeds for your winter crops. If you haven’t grown in winter before, here are three reasons to give it a go! Harvesting food from your small space in the coldest months is hugely rewarding – and some leaves actually taste better when grown [...]

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