GREENS AT YOUR DOORSTEP

Container gardening is a cheap, fun, and accessible way to get more nutritious fresh greens into your diet. Gardener Rowena Fry shares her knowledge.

For the current price of a lettuce and a cucumber, you can be set up to continually grow greens outside your front door or on your deck, balcony, or patio for much of the year. Your garden can be just a few steps from your door, making it easy to pinch off a few leaves to add goodness to your meals.

Not only is a nearby pot of greens convenient but the flavour will always be superior to store bought as well as more nutrient dense. It’s also an excellent way to introduce children to the magic of what happens to seeds once they’ve been put into soil.

MOBILITY AND WELLNESS BENEFITS

Container gardening is perfect if you don’t have a diggable outdoor space or if you have limited mobility.

You can set it up at a level that works for you. For example, you could have your garden at waist level for some no-bend standing or at a lower level where you can harvest while sitting down. Pick what you need and leave the plant to keep producing for another day.

Confining your garden to pots also means there’s virtually no weeding involved. The plants grow close together, so weeds don’t really have a chance. This could be a game changer to those with arthritis in their hands or wrists.

Another benefit is that you get to share the goodness of fresh air and sunshine with your plants. Not only is it good for your physical health but brilliant for your mental wellbeing. You could even think of it as a gentle workout.

WHAT GREENS ARE BEST TO GROW?

Known as cut and come again or perpetual greens, these are plants that behave as their name suggests. Rather than needing to be harvested as an entire head of lettuce, you can just pick what you need on the day, meaning there’s no waste and no fright of discovering a forgotten, rotting pile of greens at the bottom of the fridge!

Mesclun is the umbrella term for a mix of salad greens. If you haven’t been a fan of edible leaves in the past, you might find you enjoy homegrown greens, as the younger and tender leaves are softer and tastier than their grown-up versions.

If you prefer cooking your greens, then there are plenty of dual-use leaves to choose from. Kale, spinach, silverbeet, and pak choi are the mainstays. All of them can be harvested when young and tender and eaten raw, or cooked into stir fries, soups, and curries among others.

BUYING SEEDS

With spring not far away, now is the perfect time to start planning your garden. In a month, the soil will start to warm up and seeds will be easy to germinate.

In an average pack of mesclun seeds, you’ll find a selection of common and lesser-known lettuces, as well as the baby leaves of vegetables such as radish and beetroot. You can buy these packs of seeds at the supermarket, at a garden centre, or online from seed companies. You can, of course, curate your own mix and add in herbs such as basil and coriander for a herby zing, and even spring onions.

With prices starting at a couple of dollars and with anywhere between 200 and 700 seeds in each pack, one pack will easily last a few seasons.

POTS AND POTTING MIX

First find yourself a few pots. You might already have some at home, but, if you don’t, then friends and neighbours often have some lying around – or at least an old bucket.

Anything that’s 15 to 20 centimetres deep is a good size to start with. You can even create your own pots by commandeering containers that are on their way to recycling. Plastic ice cream containers with holes drilled or cut into the base will do the job nicely. And, if you like the rustic look, then old cane or plastic baskets will do nicely.

As long as it holds soil and has drainage, then you can consider it a pot.

The size doesn’t matter too much as salad greens have shallow roots, so you don’t necessarily need a large or deep pot, although the bigger the pot then the more plants and the greater harvest you’ll have.

SOWING TIME

Once you’ve found yourself a container, fill most of it with potting mix and water well.

Pour out about half a teaspoon of seeds into the palm of your hand. Take a pinch and evenly sprinkle them over the soil. Gently press the tiny seeds against the mix but don’t push them in, as they actually need light to germinate.

Follow with a small sprinkling of potting mix and mist the surface using either a hose or a pump spray container. You’ll need to keep the soil evenly moist – but not waterlogged. So water in the morning and at the end of day, and, within two weeks, little green dots of new leaves will start to appear.

Your first harvest could be a week or so later when the plants have produced a few leaves. These are known as ‘microgreens’, but if you wait a few more weeks you’ll find you have a better and ongoing harvest.

KEEPING THE SOIL RICH

You don’t have to use new potting mix each time you sow seeds. In fact, you can often reuse old mix, but you need to replenish the goodness. You can do this in a number of ways: by adding some well-rotted manure, mixing in some homemade compost, or using a store-bought fertiliser such as blood and bone.

Supermarkets sell liquid plant food, and this can be also added when you water.

My favourite excuse for a beach walk is to collect a few handfuls of seaweed and then scatter them at the bottom of my pots. The seaweed works as an excellent natural fertiliser – and it helps to hold moisture as well.

SUN AND WEATHER

Keep your pots in a warm and sheltered spot but not in the shade, as they need some sun to grow. Greens are fairly tough and will put up with some wind, so if you live in a windy place you need not despair. However, they do draw the line at being frost-bitten, so keep the pots under the eaves of your home if you think a frost is coming.

KEEPING YOUR CROP GROWING

In 35 to 65 days, depending on your climate, your patience, and your appetite, you will have mature plants to harvest.

Once a space becomes available, just pop a new seed in and the cycle will begin again. You should be able to grow your greens from early spring right through to after Easter.

In the height of summer, you might need to water a few times a day. Otherwise, they’ll dry out and bolt, which leads to them tasting bitter and going to seed. Yes, you can collect the seed and sow in the next season.

Container gardening is not only tidier than digging in a garden plot but it’s also physically kinder to your body as well as being extremely easy care.

Best of all, this form of gardening is fairly quick to reward. Once you’ve fully harvested your bounty, you can start the process again, fertilise and re-seed. A packet of seeds, if kept dry and cool, will last a few years – that is, if you haven’t used them all up by growing good and nourishing kai for yourself and those close to you.

A FASTER OPTION

If you want quicker results than you get from seeds, you can of course buy bunches or punnets of seedlings at the supermarket or garden centre. Just pop them in the pot but not too close to each other as they’ll have too little room to expand. Give them a few weeks to establish their root system and grow before harvesting a few leaves at a time.

For recipe ideas for your homegrown greens, see page 30.