Container Gardening by Mick

by Mick Colein
(Stratford on Avon UK)

Hi Rick
I live in the UK in Stratford on Avon and have been growing veg in containers for a year or two now, sorry no pictures.
I have a small 6 x 6 greenhouse and can easily get in 12 tomatoes and 3 or 4 chilli/pepper plants.
Plus I start off all my bedding flower plants in there as well which is normally in the region of 700 to 800 plants for hanging baskets and tubs,just takes a bit of planning.
Down the outside of the greenhouse I plant 15 runner bean plants in 5 plastic pots which gives me loads to eat and plenty to give away to family and friends.
A tip for runner beans is start them in empty cardboard toilet rolls, that way you can plant them straight into the pot/ground without disturbing the roots, this gets them off to a good start and the cardboard will eventually rot down.
Last year I tried garlic for the first time in pots which done reasonably well but I was late putting them in and a bit eager to get them up to have a look, so hoping for better this year, they tasted better than any shop bought by the way.
Also last year I built a raised bed along the fence which was approx 8 feet by 2 1/2 feet and I used this mainly for salad crops lettuce, radish, spring onions, carrots and even beetroot.
Used the cut and come lettuce just take what leaves you want and the rest keeps growing.
To be honest we had to give a lot of it away because there was just too much of it.
Looking at making another raised bed this year, I will take some pictures and let you know how I get on.