Never tried it before? Then make this the year you give it a go. Carol Klein explains how to get started with veg. Photos by Jason Ingram
Reproduced from January 07 issue of Gardeners' World magazine. This month's issue on sale now Subscribe now by direct debit and save 25 per cent.
When my husband Neil and I moved from London to Glebe Cottage in North Devon nearly 30 years ago, one of my ambitions was to grow vegetables. Though neither of us had any previous experience, within a couple of years we had a thriving patch, and by the time our daughters came along there was plenty for everyone. Eventually, though, raising herbaceous plants for my nursery and for flower shows had to take priority. But once you've tasted your own home-grown produce, supermarket veg comes a poor second.
Rediscovering the thrill of growing vegetables through filming my new BBC2 series Grow Your Own Veg has been richly rewarding. Some gardeners are apprehensive about growing their own - so I hope the series allays any such fears. Think about it - people have been growing their own food from the very moment they decided to stay in one place and put down roots. When you sow your first beans or plant out your potatoes, you're joining a tradition that goes back to the earliest days of civilisation.
Seeds want to grow. Plants want to produce leaves, roots, flowers and seeds. All we have to do is give them the conditions they need, weed them, water and nurture them, then harvest and eat them. What could be easier?
Short on time?
You may be worried that there's not enough time in your busy life to grow vegetables. But most of the hard work is in setting up the plot initially. After that, it should be plain sailing. There are very few fussy crops - it's mainly a question of raking the soil and sowing seeds, then watering and weeding the plot. Spring tends to be the busiest time, though if you're growing for year-round crops there will be veg to sow and transplant in every season. Sometimes working out a plan takes as much time as putting it into operation.
Try to match the size of your plot to the time available. Don't take on a huge area full of weeds if you only have a couple of spare hours at weekends. If you're busy, just start small. Vegetables don't need much fuss, but they do need consistent attention. Half an hour after work each day is enough - though you'll probably find yourself still there much later, as growing veg is moreish!
Did you know? Eating fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of stroke
Source: Stroke Association, 2006
3 reasons to grow your own
1. Health
Gardening is good for you - it's physically active, all fresh air and freedom. But as well as the exercise, it's good for the soul. Dealing with the soil, plunging your hands into it and enabling seeds to grow into mature plants that you can harvest and eat is such a rewarding activity. What's more, if you garden organically, the crops you harvest are as nutritious as they could be, full of vitamins and minerals, bursting with goodness and absolutely fresh.
2. Money
Growing your own saves money too. A packet of seeds will give you a summer of crops, yet costs less than one portion of its shop-bought equivalent. You can also exchange seeds with other gardeners, as most packets contain far too many for one family. And you can use surplus seed to grow your own baby leaves, sowing batches in seed trays and harvesting them young.
3. Seasonality
When you grow veg, you eat with the seasons, enjoying what each one has to offer. There are no food miles involved, just food inches. The only distance your veg travels is from your plot to the table. Food is fresh and the taste is beyond compare. In spring and summer, concentrate on picking fresh. In winter, rely on stored roots, pumpkins and hardy crops such as leeks, kale, sprouts and broccoli.
How to grow
Raising young plants
Once upon a time, seed companies just sold seeds, but now their catalogues are full of young 'plug' plants (so named because they're raised individually in modules in seed trays). The great advantage of these young plants is that they've come through their infancy and already have a good root system. If you plant them, spaced the right distance apart, they're almost bound to grow. However, while they are time-saving, they're also expensive and they take away some of the thrill of growing from seed. But they are very handy when you want to plant crops regularly to provide a non-stop supply (known as succession planting). As soon as one crop is finished, the next can be put in the ground to replace it, already half-grown.
There is no reason why you shouldn't grow your own plug plants. Suitable module trays are cheap and, after a wash, can be reused for years. First sow your seeds in a regular seed tray - try cabbages, sweetcorn or beetroot - spacing them a centimetre or two apart. Then, once they've germinated and sprouted their first or second pair of leaves, carefully transfer each seedling into its own compartment of the module tray. You can use a pencil to help lift the plants, supporting their roots, from one tray to the other. And don't worry, you don't need a greenhouse - just put them on a warm, sunny windowsill until they're large enough to plant out in the vegetable plot.
Crop rotation
If you have space, crop rotation pays dividends. The idea is simple - if you grow the same crop year after year on the same plot, pests and diseases tend to build up. Also, different crops take out specific nutrients and minerals from the soil, so that they're unavailable for future crops.
Peas and beans (legumes) love rich soil and are happy in quite freshly mucked ground. By the time they've been harvested, nodules on the roots will have helped fix all-important nitrogen in the soil. The following year, plant brassicas in the bed, as these can make use of the fertility of the soil without it being over-rich for them.
In the third year, use the bed for root crops, as these hate freshly mucked ground. If you have room for four beds, then the next year plant green manure (such as grazing rye or phacelia - available in garden centres) or potatoes, salads and onions.
For the health and vigour of your crops, it pays to rotate. But don't be pedantic about it, simply adjust the principles to suit your own plot.
Problem solving
Neil and I garden organically. We've had few problems with pests and diseases, although some crops didn't perform as well as they might. Our garden is full of insect life - hoverflies abound and their larvae are partial to aphids. Birds eat caterpillars and so do wasps.
Wherever possible we 'companion plant', putting plants together that help each other thrive. So I put onions and chives next to carrots (the oniony smell helps prevent carrot flies homing in on the scent of the carrots), and to protect my broad beans and cabbages from greenfly I plant French marigolds, whose strong scent keeps aphids away from the veg. Despite that, we had major problems with carrot fly (next year I'm going to use a physical barrier) and cabbage-white caterpillars (which we had to pick off by hand).
When you're just beginning, success is all-important, so stick to easy crops that give rich rewards, such as runner beans, courgettes, potatoes, salads and onions from sets. Avoid trickier crops, such as Florence fennel or cauliflowers, until you're more experienced.
Where to grow
Enough space?
People often assume they don't have enough space for anything worth growing. But even a tiny patch, used imaginatively, can provide fresh vegetables all year. The best way to cultivate intensively is in raised beds, which can be made out of scaffolding boards.
The more limited your space, the more important it is to grow the vegetables you like best. So make a list of your favourites, then work out how they could grow together, and get sowing. In fact, you don't even need a garden - just a few pots.
The right soil?
While some crops grow best on particular soils (brassicas are best in alkaline soils and carrots love deep sandy soil), vegetables will actually grow in any soil. But soil is alive and should be nurtured and managed lovingly. When we grow vegetables, we ask a lot of it, so we must be prepared to do our bit to replace
what we take out. Adding compost (home-made is best, but shop-bought is fine) and well-rotted manure will help maintain soil fertility.
I have heavy clay soil, but over the years it's become more workable thanks to the addition of organic matter - compost and manure. Light soils, too, benefit from this treatment. It helps them retain moisture and nutrients. If you haven't yet made your own compost and there are no nearby sources of manure, then buy them from a garden centre.
Bagged salad leaves are often washed in chlorine solution 20 times the concentration of a swimming pool SOURCE Not on the Label, Felicity Lawrence (Penguin Books)
Golden rules
- Look after your soil and replace the nutrients that have been taken out.
- Concentrate on growing the crops that you like to eat.
- Sow little but often to give you a constant supply and avoid gluts.
- Pick vegetables young, when they're at their freshest and tastiest.
- Rotate your crops to avoid disease and maintain vigour.
- Use your space to the maximum - plant quick-cropping lettuces between rows of slower-growing veg such as leeks or cabbages.
- Grow for taste rather than volume of harvest - you're not a farmer!
- Make sure your plot is in full sun for as much of the day as possible.
- Don't tolerate bare earth - sow green manure on any vacant patches.
- Enjoy yourself and encourage the whole family to join in.
What can I do now?
- Draw up a list of your favourite vegetables, and then select the ones you'd like to grow.
- Rummage through specialist seed catalogues (see www.gardenersworld.com for contact details) and order seeds that take your fancy.
- Mark out some vegetable beds and dig them over, removing all weeds.
- Swap seed with friends - this is a great way to try lots of different varieties.
- Don't miss our February issue, where we'll give a rundown of the different types of vegetables available to grow.