Growing vegetables in containers

My recent experiments with vegetable gardening in my tiny London garden also include growing vegetables in containers. The inspiration for this has come from a fabulous book Crops in Pots by Bob Purnell. This is packed with delicious photographs of fruit and vegetables growing decoratively in containers - they make most floral displays look bland in comparison.

The visual drama of bright red against green foliage from a display of tomatoes or peppers with some orange nasturtiums tumbling between them is stunning. You can even grow "Tumbling Tom" tomatoes in a hanging basket. Or for a more subtle colour combination, how about yellow courgettes with red leaved banana plants?


The book has some great tips on growing from seed, pests and diseases, planting and proposgation as well as guidance on the types of fruit and vegetable to grow. It is orgranised into Starters, Mains and Desserts and each double page is a different easy-to-do project with a beautiful full colour photo of the plant display, the list of "ingredients" you'll need to recreate it, a clear explanation of how to do it and a little recipe idea using the featured veg. There are also good ideas for unusual containers.


I defy you not to get inspired!