I am on a steep learning curve were edibles are concerned. I acquired an allotment in November and have been muddling my way along ever since. I love those bags of salad leaves so I was keen to grow my own at the allotment. However, I can only get to the plot on average three times a week and I would like to eat salad leaves everyday. I haven’t found a good way yet of keeping the leaves I pick at the plot fresh at home for a couple of days. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that the only option was to find a way of growing them at home. I have been pondering getting a raised bed for the end of the patio to go in front of what is termed the succulent theatre! My son and I have discussed him building me a wooden raised bed but we hadn’t got far.
However, when I was watching some of the coverage of the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show I saw the answer to my problem. During some coverage of an edible garden called the Five A Day Garden I spotted some willow raised beds. How nice, just what I needed and it would make a nice change to more wood in that part of the patio. A little research and with some help from twitter friends who had been at the show and I discover that the Burgon and Ball were the suppliers for the showgarden and that I can buy the willow planters from their website in a range of sizes. A salad/herb planter was duly ordered.
I have filled my planter with a combination of peat free compost for vegetable growing and top soil. I added the top soil to give the compost more substance and also it had a better composition for sowing seeds into.
As you can see from the top picture I have cheated a little by buying some lettuce seedlings to get the planter going. I have also sown some more salad leaves, some Pak Choi and some spinach. I will report back and let you know how the crops do.
