Vegetables to grow

As we discussed in the previous post, growing vegetables can be a very satisfying experience. Now you know the basics, the question that remains is:  -  what to grow???

Don’t bother with vegetables that you can get easily and cheaply from a supermarket or the farmers’market, such as standard potatoes or onions, or vegetables that are too fussy and attract pests or diseases.

These are the best vegetables to start with:..

Tomatoes
Saw them in March and keep them indoors until Summer. They like lots of sunshine so plant them accordingly. They grow well in pots, but they need to be fed weekly from the time the fruit appears. Use comfrey juice or liquid seaweed to feed them. Stop feeding them a week before eating, otherwise they will taste of the feed!

Spring onions and shallots
You can sow seeds in 60 cm channels at intervals throughout the spring & summer so as to have regular supply. Shallots are sown as bulbs as early as possible in early spring – they should be ready by July.

New Potatoes
You can start sowing some seeds now and leave them in a warm room (ideally on the window-sill) for a week or two to sprout. Then plant them in rows at least 2ft apart. When they grow (normally in about a month) ridge the soil over them – they should be ready to harvest after about 3 months.

Courgettes
They can be sown in pots or in outside soil from mid May. Don’t let them grow too big, in order to encourage further fruits to grow.

Lettuces
Growing lettuces is easy and very satisfactory. Their freshness in taste is streets ahead of the ones sold in supermarkets!  You can start sowing them now and transplant them when they are a couple of inches tall. Sow some every three weeks in order to have enough supply. There are many varieties – experiment with them to find the ones you (and your garden) like the best. Try Paris Island, rocket, radicchio etc.

Beans & Peas
These are good to grow because, apart from the eating, they put nitrogen back into the soil. You can start sowing them now. Sow broad beans in double rows so that they can support themselves. Start sowing peas now until early summer to avoid pea moths and thrips. You might need to protect them from birds with chicken wires.

Spinach
Sow some now for a summer crop then in July for winter picking. Don’t harvest them too early!

These are just a few examples of how you can start your own vegetable garden. Later on, you can experiment with more “difficult” crops. Good luck and enjoy your own veggies!

BTW – growing herbs is quiet easy too – read more about herbs to grow in your garden.