Speaking on the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine YouTube channel, Alan said: “You don’t need a vast allotment to grow veg. If all you’ve got is the doorstep or the tiniest of patios or balconies, you can still grow things to eat.
“What you need is a large pot. I say large because small ones tend to dry out and if you’re away all day at work, you’ll come back and find your plant is completely desiccated.”
Alan revealed he prefers to use ordinary peat-free multipurpose compost when planting vegetables. He ensures his large pot features adequate drainage holes so any “surplus water can escape”.
Additionally, he notes that while gardens can flourish from plants, it’s “even cheaper” to cultivate your vegetables from seeds. He highlighted radishes and spring onions as vegetables he has recently planted.
When sowing the seeds, he prefers to create a miniature drill, a type of furrow, in the soil using a piece of cane drawn across the surface. He then sprinkles his seeds, “almost like salt,” into his palm before positioning each seed half an inch apart.
He went on to explain: “Then pull the compost with your fingers, right the way across. I moistened this [soil] before I put them in to make it easier to do.”
Alan then waters his seeds to “settle them into position”. He concluded: “It’ll take you next to no time to do them but boy, will you feel proud when you’re picking your first crop.”
Alan previously revealed that grow bags are an excellent method for transforming your garden into a vegetable patch. Writing in the Express in 2015, he noted: “Lay two or three in a row along the foot of a wall, cut the tops open, following the directions, and loosen the compost with the prongs of a small hand fork. Then just sprinkle some salad seeds over the surface.”
He recommends providing your vegetables with both water and nutrients throughout their growth. Should you choose grow bags, Alan advises that they can be used again once your crops have been harvested.
He continued: “In eight or 10 weeks’ time, when your salad crop comes to an end, you can re-use the bags. Pull out the remains of the old plants into each bag, planting them in a straight line down the middle.”
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