VEGETABLES - Vegetable, Fruit and Herb Growing in Small Spaces - page 51

Samantha is another well flavoured pointed variety like Hispi and Pixie but not as versatile
and Stallion is a compact ball-head for close spacing. April, Candisa and Durham Early are
all suitable for close spacing as well.
All the cabbages are best started in modules, moving on to 3 inch (8cm) and then to 5 inch
(12cm) pots until space is available for them. Best grown in the brassica mix (see page 51)
but they'll generally thrive in most composts so long as they're not acid. I always add a little
lime to the compost when growing on and if planting in soil, then a dusting of lime before
planting is beneficial.
Feed with a high nitrogen fertilizer to fuel the growth of the leaves. Cabbages are fairly
greedy and you will get much better results with regular feeding.
Carrots
If you've ever been to one of the top horticultural shows and seen displays of carrots where
the smallest is as tall as a man, then it may surprise you to know they were grown in contain-
ers.
The show growers use large barrels, sometimes one on top of another, filled with sand into
which they make boreholes and fill these with special composts, often secret mixes that they
never reveal lest their rivals find out and steal the coveted red card of the winner at the show
along with the £5 prize. Six carrots to the barrel is considered over-crowding by some, so not
really in keeping with maximizing crops for small spaces, but great fun anyway.
For table growing you'll be glad to know you don't need to go to these lengths. I actually
grow my carrots in bottomless food storage barrels cut into four slices, so about 15 inches
(33cm) deep but you can get away with a depth of 8 inches (20cm) or even 6 inches (15cm).
The reason I use cut down barrels, despite having an allotment, is that carrots don't like
heavy or stony soil which usually results in those strangely shaped forked carrots and I can
control the growing medium by using my carrot compost (see page 51). They'll still do well
in ordinary multipurpose compost though if given a little tomato feed to help them along.
Carrots, a little like potatoes, come in early varieties and main crop varieties. For contain-
ers only use the early varieties as these are smaller and faster. I also think they're better fla-
voured but that's a matter of individual taste.
They hate being transplanted, so sow in situ. There are two methods you can use. For a
trough of nothing but carrots, scatter the seeds thinly across the surface and just dust with
compost or a little sand to stop them blowing away. Water in and, when the seeds germinate,
thin out by just pulling the small seedlings to give them about half an inch (just over 1cm)
clear each.
As they grow on, pull out alternate small carrots which are fine to eat, leaving the rest to
grow on. A chef friend of mine commented that you'd pay a fortune for those thinnings in his
restaurant!