If you love a bit of crunch in your salad, then one of the easiest ways to get fresh produce is to grow your own oriental greens. There’s an enormous number of these, such as the popular Pak Choi.
Oriental greens have in common is they suitable for people with small gardens or no garden at all. They can be grown from seed in the late summer to provide loads of tasty leaves well into autumn and beyond.
If you are not sure where to start, then try and oriental salad leaf mix which contains plants such as red mustard and Mizuna, which looks similar to rocket, and can be eaten raw, steamed or stir-fried.
Pak Choi loves growing in cool conditions and will be fine in any soil as long as it isn’t dry. Like all member of the brassica family, such as cabbages, it needs to be protected from slugs and butterflies, so protect the plants by growing under a net and surrounded by gravel.
For an alternative to chives, the Welsh onion – which is native to Japan and China despite its name – is virtually evergreen and can be sown right up to September.
You can take root runners from strawberry plants that are over two years old. Strawberry plants are best replaced every four years, so by planning ahead and making new plants means you will never be short of fresh berries.
To grow your runners, fill small pots with compost and place the runner on top at the point where new leaves are emerging, and peg them down. Once they have rooted, sever them from the host plant. Strawberries can happily live in pots, as long as you ensure they are fed and watered.
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