Growing in Tubs

If you are lucky enough to have a polytunnel on the allotment, or a greenhouse at home, you can get a head-start on the growing season if the weather is kind. This year, thanks to the mild February, my tiny greenhouse is already full!

I always plant a few first earlies in tubs under glass each month from January or February onwards, until it's time to start growing outdoors. We get lovely crops of clean new potatoes well before the ground-sown ones are ready to harvest. Potato sacks work well for this too.

This winter I experimented with growing semi-hardy broad beans in tubs, but this hasn't worked well so I'll do it differently next year. I also have deep trays sown with salad leaves, pea shoots, radishes, spring onions, carrots and early varieties of beetroot.

All the tubs and trays will gradually get moved outside to continue growing (with frost protection initially) to free up space for more seedlings and then the tomatoes and other summer crops grown in-situ. Without the luxury of a large polytunnel it's definitely a juggling act to find room for everything but worth it for those precious, fresh-tasting early harvests!

Submitted by  Jane, plot 9