Vegetables on the Patio
In the vegetable garden we mentioned that it's possible to grow your own produce almost anywhere.
The Patio is ideal for potted plants and many vegetables are no more unslightly than a lot of flowers which bloom for about three weeks, then leave a mess. No difference really!
There are not many vegetables you couldn't grow in Pots
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Potatoes grown in a bucket will crop well. Put the seed potato at the bottom, cover with a little earth and as soon as the growth appears, cover with more earth. Keep doing this for 12 weeks or so, empty the bucket and there's a few meals worth.
Courgettes and Squash thrive, see squash photo bottom right - this has 14 flowers on it - Roasted Squash soup, nothing like it!
Aubergines have a lovely purple flower before they develop and carrots are good.
The thing about sowing carrots in pots is that you can put good soil in avoiding small stones and they just love growing downwards!
A pot for all seasons!
It isn't just pots you can use either; buckets or the novelty!
Strawberries will grow out of special pots purchased at Garden Centres and are equally at home in thermal bricks, old sinks, baths and even rubber tyres.
The Patio can become very retro and designer if you want it
Another consideration are the walled shelving units made from stainless steel.
You can stack all the smaller plants such as lettuce, a few cabbages of the like.
Runner Beans are not excempt. Why not have them as a wall plant through the summer. They produce lovely red flowers and grow well mixed in with some sweet peas
But everyones favourite outside the back door are the tomatoes. Grow bags have ideal soil, but are a bit ugly with their yellow plastic and pictures of plants! Empty the soil into pots and grow them from there.
Buying grow bags for the compost soil is often cheaper than buying bags of compost itself.
Almost any herb can be grown in pots. Your Patio doesn't have to be redundant when you're not there, make it work for you.
Low cost living isn't just being the cheapskate, it's being clever with your money and resources.
Regardless of that, it's an adventure and there's nothing better than having vegetables 'on tap'.
Tap water is OK but has additives which the plants don't like so much
Rain is healthier for them and the rewards will be seen on your dinner plates.
Cost effectiveness, saving money, reducing expenditure in the home and at play
