Garden Plants and Vegetables - How to Grow Guide from Van Meuwen

March 7, 2011 - PRLog -- How to Grow Potatoes

Growing potatoes in the ground
If you’d like to plant your potatoes in the ground, then simply break up the soil with a garden fork and dig in some organic matter such as compost (old or new), well rotted manure or recycled green waste. Plant your ‘chitted’ potatoes 30cm (1’) apart for first and second earlies and 45cm apart for maincrop types. Rows should be set out 60cm (2’) apart. Plant your potatoes with the sprouts upright, at a depth of about 10-15cm (3-6 inches). Cover the potatoes with soil and water them in. Once the plants are 25cm (10 inches) tall, draw up the soil around them about half way up the stem. This is called ‘earthing up’ and prevents potatoes near the surface from turning green and inedible.

Growing potatoes in containers
If you have limited space then try using Potato growing bags. You simply fill the bag one third full with multipurpose compost and place your chitted potatoes on the compost (1). Cover the potatoes with a further 15cm (6 inch) layer of compost then water them in. Once the shoots reach 25cm (10 inches) tall, top up your potato grow bag with more compost until you reach half way up the stems (2). You can keep adding compost as your potatoes grow (3). This mimics ‘earthing up’ as for potatoes grown in the ground, and prevents potatoes at the surface from turning green and inedible. Growing potatoes in bags reduces the risk of pests and diseases.

How to Grow Strawberries

Growing strawberries in the ground:
1. Strawberry plants grow best in a sheltered, sunny position.
2. Plant them in well drained, weed free soil, at a spacing of 45cm (18”) apart, leaving 75cm (30”) between rows.
3. Spread out their roots and place them in the soil, positioning them so that the crown of the plant is just poking above the surface. Try not to plant them too deeply as this can cause them to rot.
4. Water strawberries frequently throughout the growing season and weed regularly between rows.
5. In May, place straw either side of each plant to protect developing fruit from slugs and to raise the strawberries off of the ground. Cover your plants with a net to protect your crop from greedy birds!

Growing strawberries in containers:
1. Strawberries are ideal for growing in hanging baskets or in specially designed strawberry planters for the patio. You can even plant them in our vertical strawberry growing pouches against a wall. You can usually fit around 6 plants in a basket.
2. Water them regularly and feed them every 2 weeks with a high potassium plant fertiliser such as tomato food.
3. Remove any runners that are produced in early summer as these will weaken the plants vigour, (they look like a long flexible stem with a baby plant at the very end).

How to Grow Patio Fruit

Patio Fruit Trees
These dwarf patio fruit trees have been grafted on to a dwarfing rootstock to restrict their overall size (this doesn’t affect fruit size).

Planting - When growing dwarf fruit trees on the patio, you need a reasonable size container to grow them in - at least 30cm (12in) diameter. Fill your container with a soil based compost such as John Innes No. 3 as this will add stability to your container and won’t dry out as quickly as multi-purpose compost. Transplant your tree at the same soil level as it was in the original pot and water it in thoroughly.

Position - A south facing aspect is preferable for growing fruit trees and produces the most abundant crop. Plum trees, peaches and nectarines all flower early in the spring so ideally their blossoms need protecting from frost by throwing fleece over the tree at night or bringing it under cover. Remember to leave access for pollinating insects during the day.

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Established as a producer of tulip and daffodil bulbs in 1973, Van Meuwen diversified into mail order in 1977. Today Van meuwen is a horticultural mail order specialist, http://www.vanmeuwen.com