Wellness Warrior TV: Growing Food In Pots With Nicola Chatham
I asked my friend Nicola Chatham to come over on Sunday so that I could get her to give us a run down on growing organic food in pots. Nicola is an organic gardening expert, and my go-to person for anything to do with growing organic food.
Nic makes the whole process so easy and FUN, which is why I love her style.
In this video, Nic and I chat about some of the benefits of growing food in pots, and how you can learn how to do it yourself.
Get Nicola’s free video training ‘The 5 Secrets to Growing Abundant Organic Food in Pots’ here and learn more about her course.
Positive affirmation for the day: I am worthy of everything I can dream of.
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POSTED IN: herb garden, herbs, organic, organic food, vegetables
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I’ve always wanted to have my own veggie patch, but so don’t have the space/time, so this is a great idea!
I had just heard this great quote about organic food yesterday (which is probably old news to lots of people but was new to me!) – organic food isn’t too expensive; conventional food is too cheap.
It rings so true to me. Conventional produce is so cheap for a reason – it is mass produced with petro-chemicals and pesticides. It may be cheap, but we will pay the price later, whether it’s in our bodies or our waterways or the environment in general…
Great vid!
Jess @ Sparrow + Sea » I love that quote! It’s so true. I feel exactly the same way. I don’t even bother looking at the price of conventional food, because to me it isn’t really food. Thanks Jess x
I love that quote too Jess @ Sparrow + Sea 
And I love to think that when you grow it yourself, organic food is almost FREE! For dinner last night I picked kale, spinach, lettuce, rocket, coriander, sorrel, dill and a little bit of mint, cooked an egg, dressed the salad with some olive oil and tamari, and it was dinner! And all I had to pay for was the organic egg and the dressing.
Plus, it tasted aaahhhmmaaaazzing 
Organic homegrown food is even tastier than organic food from the shops.
Thanks for sharing your comment! I hope I help inspire you to grow some leafy greens at your place – it really doesn’t take much time or space. xx
Nicola – you don’t have chooks? 1.5 acres is more than enough room! Great for (free) happy organic eggs and also great for organic compost
Hi Louise! I know! It’s almost like blasphemy… a Permaculturist who doesn’t have chickens! ;P
I had chooks in my rental property in Brisbane and LOVED them, but at this stage in my life I’m travelling away a lot and I don’t want the responsibility of any gorgeous laying girls right now. Maybe one day soon They’re sure a great addition to an organic gardening system.
Great post Jess! This is my first ever comment and I feel this is an appropriate place to leave it as it is an issue close to my heart! I rent in inner-city Melbourne and it is surprisingly easy to grow lots of food in small places and not particularly time consuming either when it’s all in pots!
For those of you that do have bigger plots however and often produce excess amounts of food I have recently stumbled across a concept called The Urban Orchard for whom I now volunteer. The idea is you bring in your excess produce (not just veggies and fruit but flowers, eggs, anything!) and swap it for produce other people have left behind.
Ceres Urban Farm in Melbourne runs the project every Saturday at their organic food market. Their website below lists similar concepts in other parts of Australia too.
http://www.ceres.org.au/farmandfood/urbanorchard.html
Wow Nat! What an awesome project!!! I love it!!!!!
I know I grow far more food than I can eat myself, and lots of gardeners are in the same boat. What a great way to share it around. It’s a very ‘Permaculture’ concept of involving community in growing food. Thanks for sharing about it and congrats on your potted garden in Melbourne. xxx
Ladies:
You are both gorgeous–one testament to eating and growing organic food! After I saw the documentary Dirt! I almost want only to grow soil. I’m a little odd in many things so being a dirt farmer when I can’t garden is sometimes the best I can do . My issue with gardening is usually watering the veggies–even pots is time consuming and I’m not very successful with it. What sort (if any) of water conservation techniques do you use and recommend?
Great question about watering Evergreen And I LOVE that you’re farming soil. It’s pretty much the most important resource we have.
Here are some tips to help save you time with watering and make it super easy!
1. Keep your pots where you see them everyday (where they also get sunshine) so you see when they need watering.
2. Make it SUPER easy to water them by either keeping a FULL watering can next to the pots so you can just pick it up and give them a drink when they look thirsty, or do what I love to do, install a simple little irrigation system (it’s not as daunting as I first thought, in fact it’s a bit like playing with macano (sp??)) and use an automatic timer. You can pick up battery-operated timers for $30 and I find they’re a very helpful and worthwhile investment for someone who doesn’t like being tied to a garden.
3. Make sure your potting mix is able to hold moisture. Plain potting mix will dry out quickly, so I like to add extra ingredients to help retain water such as mushroom compost, home-made compost or worm castings. I find I only have to water my potted herbs and greens every 3-4 days with this mix at this time of the year.
4. Have a small pond as part of your system where you can dunk any pots that’ve dried out, to help them rehydrate
5. Experiment with mulch to hold the moisture in and protect the soil from the sun.
With these systems in place, you’ll be harvesting organic greens on a daily basis and not be tied with a hose to your potted garden. Hope that helps!! x
meccanno.
Also, self watering pots.
My problem is dealing with possums & such. They seem to destroy/eat anything we have planted in pots. 
That’s totally understandable and always disappointing Claire! Augh! They used to get my herbs in Brisbane..
The best way to deal with possums and such is to use exclusion methods. This means making a space, even just a small space, that’s covered and they can’t get into. Ways you can do that is with a little enclosure made of chicken wire, bird netting, or even experimenting with mozzie netting, provided you have something securing it around the base.
It seems like a little bit of extra effort, but it doesn’t have to be big, and it will save you lots of time (and heart-ache!) in the long-run. Good luck! x
Thank you. I guess mozzie netting would help to keep birds out too. I am going to have to try this. Having pots & tubs out naturally just can’t happen for me anymore.
Thank you….i have spare balcony at home and i have always wanted to grow veggies in pots on it…but have avoided it because i thought i really needed them in the ground…you have inspired me to start my own little veggie patch on my balcany…i suddenly know what i will be doing this weekend X
That’s great to hear you’re inspired Claire! You can certainly grow loads of organic veggies in pots – that’s for sure x Have fun this weekend!
What a shame Nicola isn’t a part of ‘healthtalks’ she would make a fantastic addition as a guest speaker she is passionate, knowledgeable and so authentic! Jess thank you for the knowledge and inspiration you always provide xx kym
what a fabulous thought xxx
Great video Jess!
Was wondering if Nicola could share how she got rid of the parasites.
Thanks,
Kathy
Thanks Jess & Nicola! I have a small space and my problem is possums (Brisbane as well) but also I seem to be missing the green thumb gene! I have tried to grow plants in pots before, followed the instructions…and crispy brown leaves in no time. But I am willing to give it another chance!
Awesome video girls. Your blogs, the two of you, are my favorite blogs. You are both so inspiring. I love the quote at the bottom too. Happy Friday to you both. xxoo