5 THINGS YOU CAN GROW WITHOUT A GARDEN
One of our favourite sayings is, “plant seeds and grow dreams”, but how can you do this without a garden? In the UK, there are plenty of ways to grow your own food without the need for a garden or outside space. Delicious fruit and vegetables can be grown in a number of remarkably easy and innovative ways. So here are five things you can grow without a garden.
- Strawberries
The taste of British summertime, strawberries are perfect for salads, healthy snacks or to enjoy drizzled in chocolate sauce. You can grow strawberries easily at home and is a great fruit to begin with. To grow strawberries in a kitchen or a patio, you’ll first need seeds. Strawberry seeds need to be planted between April and May. All you’ll need to plant the seeds is a wall planter such as the TJ Hughes plastic wall planter. Fill with soil and plant the strawberry seeds 30cm apart. Hang up the planter in a warm sunny spot in your home where they will get lots of natural light. Once flowering, water well. When the strawberries turn red, they’re good to eat.
- Mint
Mint is a fantastic herb to grow at home and can be ideal for window boxes. With an aromatic flavour, mint can be used to make mint tea, mint sauce or even added to a bowl of yoghurt and strawberries. To grow mint at home, use a window box such as the Whitefurze 49cm window box from TJ Hughes. The easiest way to have mint on hand at home is to purchase a mint plant from your local supermarket. Remove the plant from the plastic container and re-plant in the window box. Water often to keep the soil damp and watch your mint plant thrive.
- Cherry tomatoes
As a sub-tropical plant, tomatoes need a sunny home. Growing against a wall or fence will give cherry tomatoes a better chance of success, so the TJ Hughes black wire hanging basket with coco liner is a good choice. Add soil and two to three tomato plants to the hanging basket and hang in a sunny spot outside your home. Starting with tomato plants rather than tomato seeds will save you a lot of time, as seeds need to germinate inside the home during March and April, before they can be planted.
- Chilli
Add a little heat to your cooking with indoor chilli plants. Chillies can be grown in small pots in the kitchen and require minimal maintenance. The TJ Hughes Terracotta Chilli Grow Set comes with everything you need to grow three hot chilli plants at home. Pop the terracotta pots close to a window so that the chillies can enjoy as much sunlight and warmth as possible.
- Salad Leaves
Enjoy fresh salad every day by growing salad leaves at home. Salad can be grown all year round in a greenhouse that is kept warm and also on sunny windowsills, but make sure that the plants don’t get too hot and dry out. Salad leaves will produce crops from late spring through to autumn, giving you delicious home-grown food for several months. TJ Hughes sell greenhouses for more ambitious gardeners as well as pretty wicker planters, ideal for growing lettuce in a sunny spot inside the home. Fill the wicker planters with soil and add salad plants. Water and harvest the leaves during the morning when they are at their freshest.