There is nothing more satisfying than tasting your own homegrown produce. This week, I shared some of my favourite tips and tricks for growing tomatoes, potatoes, peas, beans, and even pest-free cabbages. Whether you have a large garden, a small balcony, or just a sunny windowsill, you can grow fresh, delicious food at home, saving money, reducing waste, and reconnecting with nature.

 

Tomatoes: Start with Seeds and a Banana Hack

Tomatoes don’t have to cost the earth. Instead of paying €3 for a plastic-wrapped pack in the supermarket, you can grow hundreds from a packet of seed costing the same.

Each seed produces around 25 fruits, and most packets contain 20–30 seeds.

To speed up germination, try this banana trick: press the seed into a slice of banana. The potassium in the fruit encourages strong root development.

Add a little compost and vermiculite for drainage, then place on a warm kitchen windowsill.

In a week or two you’ll see shoots, and by summer you’ll be eating your own tomatoes.

 Tip: Plant just a few seeds at a time to avoid a glut - succession sowing keeps crops manageable.

 

Potatoes: Grow in Bags for Big Harvests

Potatoes are simple, reliable, and rewarding.

Use certified seed potatoes (not supermarket spuds, which may carry disease).

Plant them in bags or hessian sacks with drainage holes.

Start with 6–8 inches of soil, place three seed potatoes inside, and cover lightly.

As shoots appear, keep topping up with compost until the bag is full.

By summer, you’ll have several dinners’ worth of delicious Home Guard potatoes, grown with no waste and no plastic.

 

Beans & Peas: Perfect for Small Spaces

Even if you only have a balcony, you can grow climbing crops like beans and peas.

Sow seeds around a support such as an ornamental obelisk or bamboo wigwam.

Plant seeds about an inch deep around the base.

Water well and let them climb naturally using their tendrils.

Choose colourful varieties (such as purple runner beans) for both harvest and beauty.

Pest-Free Cabbages with Companion Planting

Chemical sprays are a thing of the past. The safest, most effective way to protect your cabbages is companion planting:

Marigolds: deter greenfly and blackfly.

Nasturtiums: act as a “trap crop”, luring pests away from your cabbage.

This way you enjoy healthy crops without harmful pesticides — and add extra colour to the veg patch.

Quick Recap

Tomatoes: Try the banana slice trick, grow indoors, succession sow for steady crops.

Potatoes: Use certified seed potatoes, plant in bags, earth up as they grow.

Beans/Peas: Perfect for balconies, sow around an obelisk or wigwam.

Cabbages: Use companion planting with marigolds and nasturtiums to keep pests away.

 

Growing your own food is simple, rewarding, and full of flavour. From a sunny kitchen windowsill to a balcony or garden, you can enjoy fresh produce in just a few weeks.

Want tailored advice for your own space? Book an Online Garden Consultation with me, Peter Dowdall, at Garden Design Services Ireland - Expert Plans by Peter Dowdall – The Irish Gardener Store