13 Most Productive Vegetables for a Balcony and Patio Garden

Veg Seed Sowing Plans for May To ensure a continuous harvest throughout the summer rather than a glut successional sowing of salads, radishes, beetroots, carrots, autumn giant leeks and spring onions and peas should continue. Sow basil, particularly alongside tomato seedlings to help draw white fly away plus spinach, rocket and ornamental salad leaves. Globe Artichokes and Swiss Chard for looks as well as food. Pole, French and above all Runner Beans Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Savoy Cabbage, Kale and Calabrese

I have a strong liking for Pelargoniums (which I will call Geraniums from now on). They are still producing lots of colour and variety late into October. Because we suffer strong winds and early frosts up on the Pennines of Yorkshire I am in the process of protecting the varieties I am keen to keep through winter.

Autumn sunshine sets off the traffic lights in the vegetable plot. A low angle for the rays of sunshine creates an extra opportunity to appreciate this vegetable. I like the leaf texture and think Chard can look so colourful that I will grow some amongst the flowers for next year.

Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.

Seeds that are sown in summer can either be planted out in winter as seasonal bedding (pansies), or stored over winter in a greenhouse, ready to plant out the following spring.  From annuals to biennials and perennials, sowing seeds is one of the cheapest ways to grow your favourite seasonal blooms and plants. Here are just a few examples of flower seeds to sow in summer.  Cornflowers — Cornflowers are attractive wildflowers that are easy to grow and even easier on the eye. They can be sown indoors over winter, ready to plant out in spring — or sown directly outdoors in early summer for a bout of blooms.

Swiss Chard (Beta vulgaris) is a colorful and easy-to-grow leafy green. It is the same species as beet, but without the swollen root, and shares the same earthy flavor.

Fresh foraged material adds a special touch to any entry, table-scape, or staircase during the holidays.

Gardening in the winter is somewhat challenging but doable. Many of the greens, some of the root vegetables, and herbs can be planted in the fall and will grow through the winter months. The saying is that greens are better after a frost.

Rabbit’s foot fern (Davallia solida var. fejeensis) is a favorite of mine and one of the easiest tropical houseplant ferns to grow. Native to Fiji, the genus name, Davallia, was derived in honor of the Swiss botanist Edmond Davall. This beautiful fern has lacy, graceful fonds along with furry rhizomes that grow over the top of the soil and will drape over the sides of a container. Be sure to plant in a container or hanging basket where the fuzzy rhizomes can be seen.

I PUT MY BEANS UP ON A PEDESTAL because they are one of the crops that’s finally producing here in the Year of Big Rains. In fact, I just planted another whole row of bush beans, along with more collards and kale, among many things. Welcome to Week 3 of the cross-blog Summer Fest 2009: Beans and Greens Week, a perfect time (if you hurry) to fine-tune the vegetable garden and eke out some produce for late summer, fall—and beyond.

It wasLia Babitch of Turtle Tree Seed, a biodynamic supplier situated in the next town to where I live, who recommended the snowpea called ‘Schweizer Riesen,’ which translates as Swiss Giant. She told me that this Swiss heirloom was one of Turtle Tree’s original offerings, and produces lots of paler but sweeter-than-average pods (below, in the photo next to an open pod of ‘Mayfair’), with various other tasty parts: purple blossoms, tender foliage and tendrils—something delicious and distinctive to add to your salad even before you have a single pod to pick. What a generous plant! (5-to-6 foot vines; 70 days to maturity, but enjoy trimmings much earlier.)When

I BOUGHT A PACKET of ‘Sugar Magnolia’ from Oregon-based Peace Seedlings a few months back, just one of what the company calls it many “woddities” (as in wonderful oddities). The first purple-podded snap pea to be introduced is the result of 15 years of breeding by Dr. Alan Kapuler, father to one of the Peace Seedlings proprietors. This is a vigorous grower—to about 8 feet—and has beautiful purple flowers, too.  The pods are tasty; sweet enough, if not the sweetest of all, maybe, but so stunning in a salad, in particular, that I am hooked.  I expect this variety will continue to evolve under Kapuler’s watchful eye, and I’ll be watching, too. (My recent interview with Peace Seedlings.)a big, sweet snow pea, ‘schweizer riesen’IF I COULD ONLY GROW one pea (perish that thought!) I suspect it would be ‘Schweizer Riesen,’ a Swiss heirloom snow pea that produces oversized green peas (above) on vigorous, tall, purple-flowered vines (below). I’ve never been much of a snow-pea person, but this one changed me, when I was introduced to it a couple of years ago by the biodynamic seed company called Turtle Tree Seed, whe