What I'm Growing At Home This Summer

I am well and truly in my 'Grow Your Own' era. Last summer I dabbled in growing my own herbs and strawberries on my teeny tiny balcony patio. This wasn't a planned decision, more a spur of the moment "I'm bored of paying for fresh basil that dies within two hours of getting it home" decision. This led to me panic buying soil, b&q herb seedlings and planting pots and trays. I then discovered that a few flats down from me had about 10 strawberry plants they had left outside with a note saying 'free to take'. So, by some miracle, I became a plant mum.

I put a lot of love into my herb garden - see the attached photo. I got strawberries that were chunky and a beautiful shade of red and a lot of mint! All summer I was enjoying the benefits in jugs of Pimms. However, as soon as the colder weather rolled around, my plants were as dead as can be. Therefore, my grow your own goal for this year is to put a bit more planning into my green finger adventures and make my herbs survive all year round.

Here'e what I'm growing so far and what you can grow as well. Everything is flat friendly, as I myself am living in a flat, and I don't think I'm advanced enough to take care of a garden (yet!).

This is what I am attempting to grow this year:

Herbs:

Basil

• I've bought a grocery basil plant and to ensure that it survives past the end of the week I've split each individual stem into a larger pot to give the roots a bit more room and a happier chance at thriving.

Mint

• First things first, any mint I grow will be in a pot because this stuff is invasive as hell and I do not want it taking over my street. Same thing with the mint as with the basil - grocery store bought and repotted in a larger pot.

Oregano

• Now, this may be cheating a little bit, as I grew oregano last year and I left the pot outside over winter and come to my shock, last years plant is currently bloom with leaves. So, frankly, I'm leaving it to do its thing and just bottom watering it every so often.

Fruits:

Strawberries

• Similar to the oregano, my strawberry plant is also one from last year, and at the moment is sporting the most gorgeous flower and bright green leaves. All I've done is add a touch more soil to the top and I am just letting it be.

Peppers:

Red Bell Pepper / Sweet Peppers / Scotch Bonnet Chilli / Quickfire Chilli

• I bought four pepper plants from a garden centre a couple of week back and since, they have all been repotted into larger plants and put on the sunniest window sill in my flat. This is the first time I've grown peppers, but so far they look to be doing pretty good.