ST201906

COLOURFUL EATING

Uplifting orange Pot marigolds (such as

‘Indian Prince’); nasturtiums.

Bold blue Borage; cornflowers.

Scarlet Dwarf runner beans, such as

‘Hestia’.

Delicate white and pink Viola tricolor;

chives.

Grow your own

supermarket salad bag

We all love these collections of purple and

green springy leaves and stems but who

can finish a whole bag without half of it

turning to mush? Grow your own

(pictured, above right) and you’ll save

yourself a few pounds and always have a

fresh bowlful to cut. Either sow direct into

the windowbox or raise seedlings in small

pots and transplant them when big

enough to handle.

WHEN: Mid-spring to late summer

You will need

1 medium windowbox

Peat-free, organic, multi-purpose

compost

1 packet of spinach seeds

1 packet of lamb’s lettuce seeds

1 packet of red-stemmed ‘Rhubarb’

chard seeds

HOW: Fill the windowbox with compost

to within 5cm of the top and tap it on the

table to settle the compost. Visually

divide the container into three sections

and sprinkle the seeds evenly, about 3cm

apart. Cover the seeds with a handful of

compost so they are about 0.5cm deep.

Water well and place on a sunny window

sill. When the plants are large enough to

harvest, simply snip leaves as you want

them. Combined, these leaves make a

good side salad with raw beetroot,

chopped into matchsticks. Mix well and

drizzle with a tart salad dressing – citrus

or vinaigrette – before eating.

Edible f lowers

Growing a few flowers alongside your fruit

and vegetables is always a good idea, not

only because they look beautiful but

because they lure pollinating insects.

When they are also edible and can be

thrown on top of salads to transform

a pile of leaves, even better.

Windowboxes are ideal for growing

these plants because many varieties are

fairly drought-tolerant. Also, you can

see the flowers up close and snip a few

in their prime. Either buy young plants

in early summer or sow seed from

mid-spring in small pots.

Some flowers, such as the petals of

marigolds or whole viola flowers, taste of

little but look beautiful strewn over cold

dishes. Others, like nasturtium flowers

(pictured, above right), bring a silky

pepperiness to salads – and you can eat

the young leaves and crunchy seed pods,

too. Borage has a subtle cucumber taste

and the star-shaped flowers look amazing

suspended in ice cubes for impressive

drinks, while cornflowers have a spicy

kick. Chive flowers taste like chive leaves

and runner bean flowers, like bean pods.

By necessity, long, thin andshallow,

windowboxes tend to dry outquicklyand

it can be challenging to keepthemwell

watered in hot weather. Theymayneed

watering twice a day (earlyin themorning

and evening) especially if theyareon

a windy ledge in full sun.

If you have a ledge that isopento

rainfall, that will help but it’sstillworth

adding a handful of water-retaining

crystals to boxes in summerto keepthe

compost moist. Soil-basedcompoststend

to dry out more slowly thanmulti-purpose

ones, so these are worth considering– or

use a compost that containswool,as

these retain water better. Mulchingthe

surface reduces water loss through

evaporation. Slate chippingslookgreat,

and gravel or wood chips alsowork.

Boxes with integral reservoirsand/or

trays beneath are invaluable.Useshadier

sills for salads, keeping sunnyledgesfor

Mediterranean herbs. If youarea forgetful

windowbox waterer, try thesedrought-

tolerant plants: chillies, summerpurslane,

tarragon,thyme,rosemary,oregano.

HOW TO KEEP YOUR

WINDOWBOX HAPPY

Adapted from Crops in Tight Spots

by Alex Mitchell (Kyle Books).

Photography: Sarah Cuttle.

T

here’s something nice

about being able to lean out

of the window and pick a

handful of salad leaves or

snip a few edible f lowers.

If you have no outside

space there is still plenty you can grow

on window sills. Even if you have a

garden, how convenient to have herbs

and leaves literally outside the kitchen

door. The key to a successful harvest

from these exposed, shallow, containers

is to grow crops that suit them. Luckily,

as well as those mentioned here, there

are plenty of them; trailing tomatoes,

radishes, strawberries, chillies and

herbs all thrive in windowboxes.

GROWING