Grow Bags

Grow bags measure 35cm x 95cm (13in x 37in), take just 30 minutes to plant up and have enough space for three vegetable plants. They were introduced for use in the greenhouse, but can be used anywhere – and now planters can be bought to make them attractive enough for a spot on the patio. They are also useful where plants could become infected by soil-borne diseases.

Well known as a good way to grow tomatoes, grow-bags are also ideal for sweet peppers, chilli peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, and courgettes as well as saladings - any plants that don't have deep roots. In a greenhouse plant two to three in each bag in May, or June for planting outside, and you will be harvesting plump vegetables from July to September, or a succession of fresh salad leaves in a matter of days.

Top Tip: a good alternative to a specialist grow bag is a sack of multi-purpose compost, to give roots more room and stop them drying out in hot weather. For tomatoes, etc, allow two plants for a 60 litre bag of compost, or three plants for a 75 litre bag.

How to plant grow bags

 

- First soak the young plants in their pots thoroughly to help reduce root damage during transplanting.

- Meanwhile, shake the grow-bag to loosen the compost, breaking up any lumps you can feel through the plastic, and shape the bag into a plumped-up pillow, with some of the compost pushed into the corners of the bag

- Pierce the base of the bag for drainage

- For tomatoes, etc, cut out the pre-marked squares for 3 individual plants and plant up in the normal way, with the top of each root ball just below the top of the bag

- If you want to plant salads, cut out a long rectangle in the top of the bag and sow seeds in rows. Try sowing endive, lettuce, basil and rocket for a selection of salad leaves

- Water in well.

 

Watering: grow-bag manufacturers produce a reservoir on the end of a pierced pipe that is pushed into the bag before planting, meaning you only have to top up the reservoir and the pipe distributes the water directly to the roots for the length of the bag. Or you can bury a small flower pot or upturned plastic drinks bottle with the bottom cut off next to each plant, to do the same job. 

 

Aftercare

 

- Members of the tomato family (peppers, aubergines etc) will need to be staked. Push a cane into the bag next to each plant and attach the cane to a frame, preferably a proper grow-bag frame that is made to offer the necessary support. Tie the plant to the cane

- Keep the compost moist

- When flowers appear, begin to feed plants such as aubergine, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers with a high potash fertiliser

- The contents of cropped-out grow-bags can be recycled in the garden as soil conditioner