New garden products let us sow and grow all-year-round, indoors as well as in the garden. Turn your windowsill or shelf into a garden for growing herbs for flavouring or garnishing and salad leaves for a sandwich.
I’ve always advised against late autumn sowing because low temperatures and light levels make growing almost impossible in Scotland. Many vegetables need a daytime temperature of between 12 and 21C and you get best results when the mercury doesn’t dip below 15C at night.
And the strength and length of daylight is important for photosynthesis. The colours of a rainbow, jointly known as the visible light spectrum, combine to form this light. Its strength or quality is measured in what’s known as spectral wavelength.
Plants need light’s spectral wavelength to lie between 400 and 700 to grow successfully and armed with this knowledge, I took my light meter into the garden just before writing this. At 12 noon on a sunny day the reading was 420, but within a couple of hours it had slipped to 170. Even in the greenhouse the levels ranged between 150 and 650. So although I can grow salading, it’s a long slow process.
Fortunately grow lights have come to the rescue. The LED system I established last year reads a steady 650 for the necessary 16 hours per day, and we enjoyed a fine leafy harvest. The glaring pink light, often associated with a different crop, was none too pleasant to the eye.
But white low energy 20 watt LED grow lights are now readily available, and they also generate 650 light for the required 16 hours. So, even in a flat, you can get into the GYO act and grow leaves and herbs such as basil, coriander and parsley, all-year round.
The new systems developed by the likes of IKEA and AeroGarden are attractive and easy to use. At least I hope so, having invested in an elegant IKEA unit. I’ll let you know later how I get on and will post updates on Twitter.
Both systems use the hydroponic method. Plants are grown in water with nutrients added according to size. I realise organic purists may disapprove of this technique as it is not soil-based and I have every sympathy with them. But it lets many people enjoy growing a little fresh food which they couldn’t do otherwise. GYO should be possible for everyone.
I found the IKEA unit easy to assemble and have it by a window in the office. The light is fairly strong and could be useful on a shelf or work unit in a kitchen-living area.
The AeroGarden system has some useful extra features including a timer to regulate lighting and a red light to let you know when to add water and nutrients.
When deciding which to buy, you need to know the kind of nibbles you’d like. AeroGarden provides 6 pots, each filled with multiple-sown small plants to give decent-sized little leaves.
IKEA gives a wider choice. You can sow up to 50 plugs of assorted plants. I have 10: loose leaf lettuce ‘Red Deer Tongue; rocket ‘Esme’; dill ‘Hera’; leaf beet ‘Flamingo Pink’; and coriander ‘Cilantro’. Either use the seedlings as micro greens, staggering sowing for continuous use, or pot on individually into the 8 containers provided. If the latter, you needn’t sow more than 12 plugs, to allow for any germination failures. A bean sprouter is also included. A 2-tier tray IKEA unit gives continuous cropping or 2 different plantings.
When allowing seedlings to develop, don’t overfeed or leave too long before use as they could become flabby, not attractively crisp.
Plant of the week
Pepperomia ‘Happy Bean’ Attractive foliage houseplant with semi-succulent bean-shaped leaves. Low-growing so ideal for a shelf.
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