Growing vegetables, herbs and fruit is a
popular trend these days. And you don't need an allotment or huge amounts of
space to have a few small home-grown goodies of your own. Editor Jane Curran
gives her top tips on how to start.
Eat
smart and eat well
I've had all shapes and sizes of gardens,
ranging from two small balconies to a fully-fledged 1.5 acres with raised beds
for veg surrounded by fruit bushes. For the past six years, I have been working
on my medium-sized London garden.
I didn't want to give up valuable
space in the borders to veg, as I also have a major snail problem, with the
garden being walled. So, a few years ago, I started to grow my vegetables in
pots, which is a different challenge, especially where watering is concerned.
The joy of gardening, like cooking, is that
we never stop learning. So I am passing on my tips learned so far - and am sure
that next year there will be even more!
There's a real sense of satisfaction when
you eat something that you have grown yourself. And home-grown herbs are
superior to anything you buy in a packet, so if you only grow one thing, make
it herbs. You will probably be reading this early in the growing season, which
is the fun time to start planning your garden while it's still a bit chilly
outside.
Window-box salads
Great success last year came from investing
in some cheap, yet cute, terracotta window boxes. Just as with pots, add some
broken-up old plates to help drainage. Then we used them to grow French
breakfast radishes, which are so delicious when freshly picked and eaten, and
really peppery. Once the weather is warm enough, they grow quickly, within a
few weeks, so plant successively by sowing a row, then another one about two
weeks later and so on. The other window box we used for salad mixes, the
cut-and-come-again type. Again we sowed successively and had enough salad
leaves to keep us going all summer. They were delicious as we snipped them when
young, so they were really sweet tasting.
Window-box
salads
Planning, for summer
Although it is too early to plant seeds for
summer crops, you can start your planning and the preparation of your pots.
Peas, runner beans, French beans and
mangetout all grow well in pots and look pretty, too. You'll need a large, deep
pot and some bamboo canes to build a wigwam. You can then plant a seed either
side of each cane. I always put in extras as some won't germinate. For a large
30-litre pot, I put in 6 canes. Then, as the climbers grow, I dig in little
sticks for the tendrils to cling to. You can buy pea sticks, but I Just use
whatever falls in the garden from the eucalyptus tree.
For May delivery, you can also order
vegetable plants from all the major seed specialists. These will cost you more,
but does save lots of time.
Planning, for summer
Although it is too early to plant seeds for
summer crops, you can start your planning and the preparation of your pots.
Peas, runner beans, French beans and
mangetout all grow well in pots and look pretty, too. You'll need a large, deep
pot and some bamboo canes to build a wigwam. You can then plant a seed either
side of each cane. I always put in extras as some won't germinate. For a large
30-litre pot, I put in 6 canes. Then, as the climbers grow, I dig in little
sticks for the tendrils to cling to. You can buy pea sticks, but I Just use
whatever falls in the garden from the eucalyptus tree.
For May delivery, you can also order
vegetable plants from all the major seed specialists. These will cost you more,
but does save lots of time.
