12 November 2008

Grow your own greens

From this month’s Discovery magazine.

If you don’t have the garden space to grow your own veggies, you can grow them in just about any sunny spot with a bit of creative cultivating…

 

Harvest potatoes from hessian bags

Place one hessian bag (1m by 1.5m) inside another, and roll the sides of the bags down so that the seed potato – a regular potato that has begun to sprout – has 15cm of potting soil below and above it after sowing. As the plant grows, gradually unroll the sides as you add more potting mix to cover it. Potato plants take about 20 weeks to mature, and your sacks should produce about a pocket of potatoes, all from a single sprouter!

Make your own hanging garden

Grow tomatoes a la Babylon: take a sturdy plastic bucket that olds about 20 litres, with a tight fitting lid. Cut two holes five centimetres in diameter, one on the lid and one of the bottom of the bucket. Cover the holes by taping squares of cheesecloth over them, and then fill the bucket with lightweight potting soil. Put the lid on, and turn the bucket upside down. Make a small hole in the cheesecloth covering the bottom of the bucket and plant your tomato seedling. turn the bucket right way up and hang it in a sunny spot. the tomato plant will grow down out of the bottom of the bucket.

Grow herbs in kitchen containers

Colanders make for great drainage. Pack some sphagnum moss into the bottom and then plant seedlings into potting soil. place the colander on a saucer to catch excess water. Old enamel teapots can also be converted to quirky planters by drilling a few holes into their bottoms. set two or three teapots on a tray filled with river stones and you have your own handy herb garden.

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