Glad you mentioned not to worry about cleaning old pots - you read guidance everywhere about cleaning sterilising pots and trays but complete waste of time ! Don't think I have ever washed pots etc unless caked in mud! And given there are fungal spores everywhere even if you cleaned them the spores would soon land on your pile of clean pots!
Glad you think this too, Sally. It's funny the things in gardening that get passed on without a lot of evidence - I still see people recommending pot cleaning from time to time. I guess there might occasionally be instances where it really is necessary? And perhaps this is where advice like this stems from. But generally, agreed, it's a waste of time!
I have definitely been guilty of sowing seeds too early in the past and ended up with either leggy seedlings or, since buying grow lights, tomato plants that have grown so large they have been difficult to repot outdoors after the frosts. I am starting everything later this year, though I might sow a few chillies and aubergines this month.
Speaking of aubergines, I actually get surprisingly good crops from medium sized containers kept outdoors. I am just outside York, so fairly well north. I like the dwarf varieties like Jackpot, Kaberi and Hansel.
I was interested what you said about broad beans. Last year I had several plants that grew well in containers over the winter, and they produced big pods, but the pods only had a couple of beans in each. I will try again, but perhaps you are right and they just aren't suited to growing this way.
I will look forward to your future posts, and try to get round to writing some of my own :-)
Hi Angie, really good to hear about your experience with aubergines. I definitely need to keep trying them - as I don’t think I’ve ever concentrated on them enough (I like chillies and tomatoes too much!). I will try one of the varieties you mentioned- do you have a favourite?
With broad beans, I had most success in containers with old, small fava bean or field bean types. They have really pretty purple flowers and produced lots of pods. But, overall, the yield of actual beans was still quite small. It’s possible there is a way to grow them productively so always worth trying. Of course, another reason to grow broad beans is that they fruit early enough to harvest them and then plant another crop like a courgette in the same pot.
Hi again Mark. Sorry if you have received this reply already - I wrote a reply earlier but I think it disappeared for some reason!
All these aubergine varieties are really good. Jackpot is the most readily available as you can get it from Thompson & Morgan, Suttons, etc. It produces lots of little black aubergines a bit bigger than an egg. They are lovely chopped up and added to pasta dishes and curries. Kaberi is very similar but more purple (I got those from MoreVeg). Hansel is different in that it produces long thin purple aubergines that just keep growing. You can harvest them small or large. It is hugely productive but a bit untidy - not as pretty as the others. I got that one from Nickys Nursery.
I also grow courgettes after the broad beans. I will try a different variety of bean next winter and see if I can get a better crop :-)
Thank you Angie - you've inspired me to try aubergines again. I think I'll try both jackpot and hansel - and maybe even get a grafted one later in the year - for comparison. In searching online for the seeds, I notice that Thompson and Morgan charge £8.99 for ONE aubergine plant! Shows that it is well worth growing them from seed.
Thank you, Mark! As always I learnt a lot from this and so reassuring to see what I don't need to do - like scrubbing every pot and container! I really must go through the rather random collection of seeds I've got in various tins and make a proper list. Every year I end up with several duplicate packets of some things and none of others. Liked the links you included to other gardeners - if I find any out of date seeds I will test their viability - good idea. And good to be reassured that it is only February - winter!
Thanks Anne - I also have experienced the issue of seeds spreading into lots of different boxes. And I have far too many - I think bought on the excuse that I should try different crops and different varieties! Every few years I have a ruthless sort out. Glad you liked Sally Morgan’s Substack - I learn something new from her every week.
Happy to have stumped onto your Substack. We grew a pretty good veggie garden two years ago but last year didn’t do too much and we are planning to jump back in this year. My son just helped me go through a seed catalog to sort out what we wanna look into for the year. Thanks for your knowledge ☺️
I am lucky enough to have a garden, but we have very little soil that is usable. It's very heavy clay, and resists almost everything, so I have a huge amount of containers instead.
We deliberately made our outdoor space into a 'won't need much maintenance' space and THEN I found out that I liked growing things. 😂
It's mostly in an effort to get tomatoes that taste like they should, and to get small cucumbers to eat as fresh as I possibly can.
What a touching moment- amazing the memories and feelings plants can evoke. I had a similar experience when a Thai lady smelled the lemon grass plant on a stall in London I was running- she said it brought back memories of growing up in Thailand.
Glad you mentioned not to worry about cleaning old pots - you read guidance everywhere about cleaning sterilising pots and trays but complete waste of time ! Don't think I have ever washed pots etc unless caked in mud! And given there are fungal spores everywhere even if you cleaned them the spores would soon land on your pile of clean pots!
Glad you think this too, Sally. It's funny the things in gardening that get passed on without a lot of evidence - I still see people recommending pot cleaning from time to time. I guess there might occasionally be instances where it really is necessary? And perhaps this is where advice like this stems from. But generally, agreed, it's a waste of time!
This article is informative and inspiring.
Oh thank you. Feedback and suggestions for improvement always welcome. I wondered if it might be a bit long?
Not for me 😊
Thanks for this informative post, Mark.
I have definitely been guilty of sowing seeds too early in the past and ended up with either leggy seedlings or, since buying grow lights, tomato plants that have grown so large they have been difficult to repot outdoors after the frosts. I am starting everything later this year, though I might sow a few chillies and aubergines this month.
Speaking of aubergines, I actually get surprisingly good crops from medium sized containers kept outdoors. I am just outside York, so fairly well north. I like the dwarf varieties like Jackpot, Kaberi and Hansel.
I was interested what you said about broad beans. Last year I had several plants that grew well in containers over the winter, and they produced big pods, but the pods only had a couple of beans in each. I will try again, but perhaps you are right and they just aren't suited to growing this way.
I will look forward to your future posts, and try to get round to writing some of my own :-)
Hi Angie, really good to hear about your experience with aubergines. I definitely need to keep trying them - as I don’t think I’ve ever concentrated on them enough (I like chillies and tomatoes too much!). I will try one of the varieties you mentioned- do you have a favourite?
With broad beans, I had most success in containers with old, small fava bean or field bean types. They have really pretty purple flowers and produced lots of pods. But, overall, the yield of actual beans was still quite small. It’s possible there is a way to grow them productively so always worth trying. Of course, another reason to grow broad beans is that they fruit early enough to harvest them and then plant another crop like a courgette in the same pot.
Hi again Mark. Sorry if you have received this reply already - I wrote a reply earlier but I think it disappeared for some reason!
All these aubergine varieties are really good. Jackpot is the most readily available as you can get it from Thompson & Morgan, Suttons, etc. It produces lots of little black aubergines a bit bigger than an egg. They are lovely chopped up and added to pasta dishes and curries. Kaberi is very similar but more purple (I got those from MoreVeg). Hansel is different in that it produces long thin purple aubergines that just keep growing. You can harvest them small or large. It is hugely productive but a bit untidy - not as pretty as the others. I got that one from Nickys Nursery.
I also grow courgettes after the broad beans. I will try a different variety of bean next winter and see if I can get a better crop :-)
Thank you Angie - you've inspired me to try aubergines again. I think I'll try both jackpot and hansel - and maybe even get a grafted one later in the year - for comparison. In searching online for the seeds, I notice that Thompson and Morgan charge £8.99 for ONE aubergine plant! Shows that it is well worth growing them from seed.
Thanks - definitely, and much more satisfying :-)
I will be very interested to hear how you get on with the aubergines. I will get round to writing about this year's sowing and growing efforts soon!
Thank you, Mark! As always I learnt a lot from this and so reassuring to see what I don't need to do - like scrubbing every pot and container! I really must go through the rather random collection of seeds I've got in various tins and make a proper list. Every year I end up with several duplicate packets of some things and none of others. Liked the links you included to other gardeners - if I find any out of date seeds I will test their viability - good idea. And good to be reassured that it is only February - winter!
Thanks Anne - I also have experienced the issue of seeds spreading into lots of different boxes. And I have far too many - I think bought on the excuse that I should try different crops and different varieties! Every few years I have a ruthless sort out. Glad you liked Sally Morgan’s Substack - I learn something new from her every week.
Happy to have stumped onto your Substack. We grew a pretty good veggie garden two years ago but last year didn’t do too much and we are planning to jump back in this year. My son just helped me go through a seed catalog to sort out what we wanna look into for the year. Thanks for your knowledge ☺️
Always fun going through seed catalogues and deciding what to grow isn’t it? Hope you found some things you’ll be excited to grow this year.
I am lucky enough to have a garden, but we have very little soil that is usable. It's very heavy clay, and resists almost everything, so I have a huge amount of containers instead.
We deliberately made our outdoor space into a 'won't need much maintenance' space and THEN I found out that I liked growing things. 😂
It's mostly in an effort to get tomatoes that taste like they should, and to get small cucumbers to eat as fresh as I possibly can.
Wonderful. Home grown cucumbers are a revelation aren’t they? They actually taste of something!
They do! I took some into work, and a Syrian lady tried one and it made her cry because she said it tasted of the home she'd been forced to leave.
What a touching moment- amazing the memories and feelings plants can evoke. I had a similar experience when a Thai lady smelled the lemon grass plant on a stall in London I was running- she said it brought back memories of growing up in Thailand.