It’s hard to imagine not being able to grow our own salad crops, whether we have allotments or not. All salady bits are easy to grow and are worth attempting to enjoy the ‘real’ flavours and tastes that only come with home-grown.
No matter if you have a garden or not, why not give something a go and enjoy the excitement of setting something for yourself and eating what you have grown?
So, what have you got? Of course, we will remind you that you can grow almost anything in anything so long as it is the right seed for the right sized container.
From old buckets to bras, plastic food containers (previously sold with fruit or other foods) to empty crisp packets… no matter what, just give it a go.
Firstly, lettuce. We rarely grow
lettuce directly in the ground but instead set the seeds in hanging baskets or tubs lifted off the floor as a ‘creature deterrent mechanism’.
Lettuce seeds germinate easily, so just sprinkle a few ‘Cut and Come Again’ seeds onto multi-purpose compost into a container and water. Then, cover with a sprinkling of compost and keep in a protected place out of the wind and watch.
Within a matter of weeks you will be nibbling on the lettuce leaves and taking what you need rather than a whole lettuce, so it’s a cost cutting exercise too!
And then there’s tomatoes. Usually, they are visualised growing high on the vine in greenhouses and yes, that is our preferred option, but it’s not essential.
Try the dwarf, compact varieties ‘Red Robin’ or ‘Veranda’. The plants are speedy to grow to their full height of around
10 inches and each will produce a profusion of tiny, cherry red tomatoes for you to pick direct from the plant grown on a windowsill. Neither of them need any pollinators nor any pricking out, or even any supports – as long as they are watered and kept in the light.
We grow tomatoes in bras too (not whilst we are wearing them) though more for entertainment than the amount of produce they give. Yet it proves the point, plants will grow!
To accompany the tomatoes must be a cucumber! Not the usual standard varieties that need trellising supports and plenty of humidity, but instead, try ‘Quick-Snack’.
Again, a dwarf, compact plant that grows to no more than 24 inches in height and which will supply you with around 25-30 fruits over the summer weeks, each about three inches in length.
They’re beautifully sweet and very crunchy and before you ask, no, these are most definitely cucumbers not gherkins!
What about beetroot? Try filling an old ‘bag for life’ with soil or compost and water well. Pop it outside in the sunshine and add a few beetroot seeds such as ‘Crimson Globe’. Cover with a smattering or soil or compost and in a few weeks, you will be eating the baby beetroots.
So go on – don’t say no to giving growing a go!
Kohl rabi
Few people grow this unusual looking vegetable, nor seem to know what it is or even what to do with it when they’ve grown it.
So, answering the points: they are a cross between a cabbage and a turnip and are available to grow in two different colours – purple and green (though they taste the same regardless of colour).
Due to being a brassica, kohl rabi need net protection (as do all the brassica family as soon as they are set in the ground) or you will be planting a feast for butterflies!
We set our seeds back in February in small seed trays filled with multipurpose compost and, as the seedlings grew to around three inches high, we pricked them out into individual pots. At the end of March, we planted them out into their final growing space on the plot in a sandy, well-drained raised bed.
Kohl rabi need very little care but do need plenty of water and protection from all the usual allotment pests.
Our plants remained in the soil until they appeared to be a similar size to a tennis ball and were then lifted. They do look like alien spaceships and, oddly, do appear to have a waterproof skin on the bulb.
And now what to do with them? Raw, they are crisp and juicy with the texture of an apple. They taste like a mild (but sweet) cross between a raw broccoli stem and a cabbage heart, slightly peppery with a similar structure to a radish. Perfect in a slaw as a replacement for the usual white cabbage!
When cooked, kohl rabi changes texture and flavour completely, becoming milder and sweeter and very similar to the flavour of a white cabbage.
Is it the most versatile vegetable of 2026? Try it!
Update on loofahs
As the loofah plants start to nestle into their final growing spaces in the greenhouses it’s tricky keeping up with the watering but water we must, for the sake of the growth and success of ‘The Midlands Loofah Line’!
Similar to cucumber plants, the loofahs seem to grow inches every day whilst continuing to throw out beautiful little yellow flowers through the knitted mass of greenery.
The flat, vine-shaped leaves themselves are unusual but distinct by their smell and once sniffed, never forgotten! The odour is familiar yet different – unless you cook cabbage on a regular basis!
Woolley hanging baskets
Have you ever been the ‘washing machine monster’ who accidently turned up the temperature on the wool cycle? Well, all is not lost for the life of your (now former) much loved woollen jumper!
Don’t throw it away if you can’t make the shrinkage fit on your coveted Sindy doll. Instead, think again of gardening. Get the scissors out and chop the jumper into small pieces and line the bottom of your hanging basket with the bits!
Wool is a pure fabric; it won’t cause any harm to the roots of your plants and is a perfect water retainer.
First potatoes
Of course it’s not a race, but by setting her first early seed potatoes back in January under the protection of the poly tunnel, Julia gained a head start with her potatoes compared to those growing outside.
We like to do a comparison of our crops and, in particular, of potatoes – just to see how they contrast. By growing them inside the poly tunnel the crop was brought forward by at least six weeks.
So, whilst the potato tops outside on the plot are still looking healthy, we admit that this year Julia is ‘first’ with her firsts!
Go to pottyplotters.co.uk for more or search for Potty Plotters Plotcast.
Share