Easy-to grow veg
Enjoy home-grown veg at your fingertips. It’ll not only taste delicious, but will look great displayed in patio pots and baskets, too
Tangy tomatoes
Displayed in ornamental containers or cascading from hanging baskets, these tumbling red toms make an attractive addition to any patio. Enjoy a bountiful crop of cherry-sized fruit from July right through to October. Sow March-May.
■ £3.99 (22 seeds) Suttons.co.uk
Ravishing radish
A perfect peppery addition to a crunchy salad, radishes are the fastest cropping veg you can grow and are well-suited to small pots, thanks to their shallow root system. Sow now and harvest red, purple, white and yellow root vegetables in just one month. Sow March-June. ■ £1.99 (500 seeds) dobbies.co.uk
Pretty peas
Attractive as it is tasty, the pea blauwschokker plant produces deep indigo blue flowers, followed by velvety purple pea pods that contain tender, sweet, green peas eaten as mangetout when young or as green peas as
they grow bigger. Sow March-June.
■ £2.50 (120 seeds)
Pepper ‘orange kiss’
Enjoy a taste of the tropics with these habanero-style peppers – minus the heat! The thin-fleshed, juicy fruits are a pale green when young but mature to a bright beautiful orange once ready to harvest. Sow April-May.
■ £9.99 (3 plug plants) suttons.co.uk
Bright lights
As the name suggests, this variety of Swiss chard boasts beautiful bright stems as it grows in pots and raised beds. Better still, the different colours also attract insects which pollinate nearby flowers of strawberries, tomatoes and other fruiting crops. Sow March-July.
■ £2.99 (80 seeds) thompson-morgan.com
Lovely Lodero
This red cabbage has iridescent mauve leaves and unlike other family members, it’s also resistant to club root – just water regularly. Sow March-May. ■ £1.79 (20 seeds) simplyseed.co.uk
Cucumber patio snacker
Enjoy small, crunchy cucumbers all summer. Perfect for growing outdoors in a pot as long as you give it an obelisk to clamber up. Sow May-June.
■ £2.30 (10 seeds) chilternseeds.co.uk
Sweetcorn honeydew
An extra robust variety due to increased cob-hardiness, withstanding damage when harvesting and tugging off cobs. Super-sweet and tender, it can be eaten raw. Sow May-June.
■ £2.79 (60 seeds) marshallsgarden.com
Clever courgettes
Perfect for large containers, courgettes are reliable, quick to mature and crop all summer with regular harvesting and watering. Harvest as baby courgettes or leave for big marrows!
■ £1.85 (20 seeds) mr-fothergills.co.uk
Sow now to reap your rewards in summer and autumn