Grow your own fruit and vegetables

GROW YOUR OWN

There's no black art to growing your own, just some basic rules to follow. If you know how to read a recipe, you know how to cook - sure a good cook knows how to get the most out of a recipe and add that je ne sais pas, but even a rank amateur can produce a half decent plate of food. Rather like a plate of food, the better the ingredients, the better the result.

Start off with the medium - the soil. Raised beds are definitely preferable to straight in the ground. They are much more manageable and less back breaking. If you're starting from scratch get a good multi purpose soil which can be delivered by the lorry load or smaller 700kg bags. If it's an existing bed then a good mulch on top. Avoid digging over too much as all you will be doing is giving dormant weed seeds the chance to grow.

If you are adding mulch just use a hoe and to deal with the weeds and lay the mulch on top.

Seeds

Young shoots

Seeds

1/4

DOWNLOAD YOUR PLANNER HERE

The most important thing to do is have a plan. Read the seed packet as you would a recipe and sow accordingly. The things to watch out for are

Overcrowding
Direction of the sun
Wind
Height
Spreading
Complimentary planting
Sowing frequency

Putting courgette plants next dwarf beans, putting tomato plants in a north facing spot. Mixing up the planting avoids getting too many of one pest in one place. Make sure you plant little and often. You want to have a good variety vegetables and good seasonality so you have produce all year round