Raised beds provide many benefits, from keeping your veggies away from pests, to preventing soil compaction, to providing accessibility for those who find it difficult to garden at a low level. Vegepods are really neat, smart-looking and functional innovation that makes growing edibles super easy for everyone! Here’s a simple guide to growing summer salads and edible flowers in a Vegepod…
How to grow summer salads and edible flowers using a Vegepod
Sowing summer salads and edibles can be back-breaking work if you’re kneeling over a ground-level bed, but with the Vegepod, you can simply stand or pull up a chair and sit at exactly the right height to sow without putting stress on your body!
Vegepods have a protective cover, which you can lift up to sow and maintain your produce, and then close to protect them from pests or the elements. As if it couldn’t make growing-your-own any easier, the Vegepod also features an attached hose and water reservoir, which can be used to self-water your produce whenever it needs a drink!
When getting started with your Vegepod, always buy the highest quality compost that you can afford. This is because it will hold in moisture and provide your plants with the right nutrients that they need to thrive. All you need to do is tip your compost into the Vegepod – and get going!
There are many ways that you can structure your plants inside a Vegepod. One way is to cut out some collars using coir (as seen in the below image) and using them as a guide by sprinkling the seeds inside them, so that the plants are separated from each other.
Sprinkle your seeds liberally inside each collar. Wondering how much to use? Think of sprinkling some black pepper on your dinner – that’s usually a good amount of seeds for each collar!
Always remember to label your plants right after sowing them! Once you’ve sown and labelled your seeds, remove the collars and cover the seeds over with a centimetre of compost.
Pull the protective cover down, and watch as your Vegepod self-waters and practically takes care of your plants for you!
What to plant in your Vegepod for summer
The world is your oyster when it comes to Vegepod planting! However, if you’re in need of some inspiration, here are some ideas for summer harvesting:
- Chives – great for a spring onion substitute!
- Edible flowers – such as cornflowers
- Radishes – you can pick these when they’re quite young and they’re still super tasty!
- Dill – perfect for pairing with fish and more
- Peas – push the seeds down into compost for successful planting
- Spinach – baby leaf or full size; it’s delicious either way!
Want to watch a demonstration of Vegepod planting? Watch my video below:
Michael has been involved with gardening and plants since he was just five years old. He is a self-professed Plant Geek, and was listed in the Sunday Times top 20 most influential people in the gardening world, thanks to his plant hunter role at Thompson & Morgan.
Michael was responsible for new plant introductions such as the Egg and Chips plant and the FuchsiaBerry and keeps busy travelling the world in search of new plants as well as lecturing worldwide, including stints in Japan. He is very active on social media – so why not give him a follow at @mr_plantgeek or Facebook – and writes a plant-focused Substack called Grow This, Not That.
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Chris
My Vegepod gas definitely been a learning curve. The only successful plants were carrots, lettuce and radish. My broccoli bolted, my turnips yielded beautiful leaves but no turnips, my spinach bolted when I was on holiday, my chillis died etc etc. I have a medium and a small, used compost, manure and Perlite. Where gave I gone wrong please. PS my follower garden is beautiful!!!