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The beginner's guide to starting a veg garden

Fancy starting your own veg garden?  - Alamy
Fancy starting your own veg garden? - Alamy

There has never been a more interesting time for edible gardening. It is right on so many levels. It saves money, saves the planet and satisfies our epicurean appetites. Edible gardening is an opportunity to grow interesting flavours fresher than money can buy. It is the key to children being more adventurous with food. If they grow it, they will eat it – and that’s exciting.

Unlike crazes of the past, such as decking and blue fences, a cohort of trowel-carrying cooks has created the current enthusiasm for home-grown. I think it’s a trend that’s here to stay. Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have not only raised sales of vegetable seeds above those of flowers; they have brought many beginners into gardening.

Latin names are not required and the archaic notion that veg growing is a “blue job” and cooking “pink” has been booted well and truly into the long grass. In its place is an ever-expanding range of edibles bred for our plots and our pots. If you’re just starting out, here’s what you need to know.

Choose your ground

Give vegetables the sunniest spot you have. Sunshine makes for stocky, disease-resistant plants and sweeter flavoured onions, carrots, tomatoes and chillies. If you need shade, for salads or strawberries, it’s easy to create some with netting or a wattle fence.

Most ordinary garden soils are fine for veg growing, but avoid extremes. If your soil is thin – less than a spit deep (the length of your spade’s blade), or full of stones that cause your carrots to kink, build raised beds or grow crops in large pots. Clay soil is nutrient-rich and good for summer crops. But as this type of soil sits cold and wet in winter, you’ll need to build raised beds to extend your season.

Vine tomatoes in a garden - Credit: Alamy
Tomatoes need lots of sun Credit: Alamy

Slugs and snails

Keeping your plot neat and tidy by clearing weeds and leaves gets rid of the places where molluscs hide. Don’t have long grass or dense flower borders adjacent to your veg plot as slugs hidden within will mount night-time raids on your crops.

Where possible put a path (ideally paved, but compacted soil is fine), in between beds as a no-man’s – or rather no-slug’s – land where they will be easily picked off by you or the birds. The lower surface area, compared to a covering of bark or raked earth means that they are also more likely to encounter a sprinkle of organic slug pellets.

War on weeds

A “clean” weed-free plot before you start is the key to success with vegetables. Otherwise you risk an endless war of attrition to prevent your plot from being swamped. The non-chemical approach is to pull out weeds and their roots as you dig.

If there are perennial weeds with spreading wiry or deep roots, such as docks and couch grass, then cover the soil with card or doubled-up sheets of newspaper topped with a 2in (5cm) mulch of compost.

This is sufficient to stop even persistent weeds regrowing, but is soft enough to cut through with a trowel when you are ready to plant pot-grown veg and fruit.

Given the choice, most gardeners would be chemical-free, but if you are time-poor it is better to start with a clean plot than fail and give up in the first year. The best weedkillers contain systemic glyphosate that kills right down to the roots, then breaks down in the soil and will not affect subsequent crops.

Spray on a dry day and be prepared to reapply in spring.

Closeup of garden tool cultivating a garden - Credit: Alamy
Starting with a weed-free plot is the key to success Credit: Alamy

Allotment or not?

An allotment buzzing with life and brimful of fresh produce is an achievable dream if – and this is where it goes pear-shaped – you have time to tend it and conquer the weeds. Before you commit make sure the plot is right:

  • Choose a site near where you live. Every mile to drive will be a disincentive to go.

  • Some sites are more family-friendly than others. Look out for play equipment on other plots if you have young gardeners in tow.

  • Proximity to the water supply and the drop-off point for things such as manure deliveries reduce time and effort lugging stuff about. If possible, avoid shade-casting perimeter trees.

  • Not all plots have water. To become self-sufficient you will need to buy a shed, gutter and water butts.

  • Don’t feel obliged to take the first plot offered to you if you don’t feel it can work. You are better to wait and get one close by than struggle with one that’s not right.

Advice you can ignore…

  • Crop rotation: the sensible farming practice of not growing crops in the same place doesn’t work on a small scale, as the crop turnover is too fast. Instead, try not to grow things in the same spot two years running.

  • You can ignore the feeling that you are a failure if you buy veg plants rather than sowing your own. Super-reliable grafted melons and cucumbers are worth the money.

  • The same goes for slow-starting seeds that require a heated propagator, such as chillies and aubergines.

aubergines growing - Credit: Alamy
Credit: Alamy

…and what you can’t

  • Advice on seed packets. Never start earlier than recommended, as plants that get off to a weak start in low light never recover. Far better to sow later, in the middle or towards the end of the recommended sowing window, when seedlings romp away.

  • The make-your-own-compost rule. Use lawn clippings, green prunings and kitchen peelings. When turned to compost they help feed your veggies and in turn feed you.

What to do now: Practical projects

  1. Collect leaves and pile into chicken-wire pens or old compost bags to create a free and fabulous leafmould soil improver. Leafmould is wonderfully moisture-retentive and perfect for covering and keeping freshly sown seeds hydrated. It takes a year to break down in the bags, though I use it earlier to line potato trenches where it helps keep spuds clean and clear of the soil.

  2. Build raised beds using on-edge scaffold planks fixed at the corners and screwed to short posts driven into the soil. They are ideal for making a plot more controllable, involve less bending, are an obvious no-go area for children and pets, improve drainage on heavy soils and divide your plot into manageable chunks. They also lift crops up into the light in shaded gardens.

  3. Make them wide enough so that you can reach comfortably into the middle without treading on the soil and fill with a 40/60 mixture of soil-improver such as compost or local-council green waste and good topsoil. Using only compost is expensive and will not provide the anchorage or nutrient and mineral content of soil.

Crafting a raised bed  - Credit: Jason Ingram
Crafting a raised bed Credit: Jason Ingram

What to plant this weekend

Spring cabbage 

One to get you started. Garden centres stock bare-root bundles ready for planting 12in (30cm) apart straight into the garden. Bury the roots and stems up to the bottom leaves. Pick from early in the new year for spring greens, leaving the best to heart up into cabbages. Net them if pigeons take an interest.

Asparagus 

‘Pacific Purple’ is even more tender than green types. Asparagus takes three years of patience while roots bulk up to cropping size and, although usually planted in spring, you can knock a year off the wait by planting crowns now. In the meantime, use the ferny leaves to flavour salads.

Broad beans 

The ‘Sutton’ is short (45cm) and ideal for large pots and raised beds. Sown now, spaced a hand-width apart in blocks or staggered double rows, they will be ready to pick from May. Put out traps where mice are a problem.

Blueberries 

The fruit-crop for pots. ‘Bluegold’ is short, so ideal for containers, while ‘Herbert’ has the tastiest berries. Grow in ericaceous compost and have at least two varieties to ensure pollination.

Microgreens 

Now is a good time to sow seeds of the cabbage clan (swede, red cabbage, broccoli) to eat cress-style in salads or sandwiches. Broad bean and pea shoots are delicious wilted in butter. Grow all-year in seed trays on a windowsill indoors.

Chilli peppers 

Much more productive than sweet bell or box pepper. Super-hot Naga types need heat to sprout and a long growing season. Slim cayenne types are best, being prolific and tasty, plus you can dry them on the windowsill for warming winter curries.

Lettuce/salads 

Now is your last chance to sow winter gems, lamb’s lettuce and salad mixes that contain spicy rocket, mizuna, komatsuna and frilly mustard for cut-and-come-again leaves through winter. Pick a bright spot and cover with fleece or a cloche to keep them baby-leaf soft.

Onions and shallots 

Put autumn sets of the long and sweet shallot ‘Jemor’ in now, along with the golden onion ‘Radar’ or red ‘Electric’. Key to success is well-composted ground and good drainage. Plant 20cm apart in rows with their noses just above the soil and cover with fleece of sticks to protect from birds until they start to grow.

Cutting micro-greens - Credit: Jason Ingrams
Micro-greens are fun to grow at any time of year Credit: Jason Ingrams

Plan ahead: Toby’s choice of the most rewarding crops

Keep handy this list of good doers that are either cut-and-come-again so give a long picking period, or have flavour that money can’t buy.

Courgette 

‘Lungo of Firenze’, with the go-faster stripes of an Italian sports car, is my new favourite. It has big, blowsy edible flowers and you can leave it to turn into a marrow. Don’t sow too early – wait until May.

Cucumber

I grow ‘Gherkin National’ instead of outdoor cucumbers as they are just the right size for slicing into a salad. They are produced early and have a distinctive flavour.

Elephant garlic 

A big country cousin of the leek, with a crunchy swollen base and mild flavour. There are two other types of garlic: softnecks (such as ‘Provence White’) which are easy to grow in spring, and hardnecks (like ‘Early Purple White’) which tend to need deadheading and have fewer but larger, more pungent cloves. This type is good for planting now. Trowel out shallow holes deep enough to bury the clove but leave its papery nose sniffing the air above the soil. Then cover with sticks or net to keep off the birds until leaves grow. Always plant extra for a supply of the mild and delicately flavoured leaves through winter.

Jerusalem artichoke 

A spreading veg that does well on weedy ground. It’s a perennial, ie can be left in the soil year after year, but if dug and replanted you get larger, easy-to-peel tubers. ‘Fuseau’ is the best variety. Plant now through until spring.

Peas 

Nothing beats the flavour of fresh, home-grown peas. In the mild South and South West, sow ‘Meteor’ now in modules then plant out under cloches (don’t forget the mouse traps) for a spring harvest. ‘Kelvedon Wonder’ is best for flavour.

Potatoes 

Earlies like ‘Rocket’ and ‘Lady Christl’ are the most reliable and perfect for pots. Start them off in a bright frost-free shed in February; or plant in a large tub in March. As they grow, bury the stems with fresh compost. Once in flower they are ready to tip out and eat.

Pumpkins 

Great first-year crops that smother weeds and need little looking after. Grow the lantern-red ‘Uchiki Kuri’ for flavour and the Cinderella-carriage ‘Rouge vif D’ Etampes’ for looks.

Quinoa 

A 6ft-tall close relative of the weed fat hen that produces buckets of home-grown high-protein grain. The plants are pest-proof and the grain, after a soak, cooks like rice. Colourful ‘Rainbow’ is the one to grow. Sow in spring for autumn harvest.

Rhubarb 

‘Timperley Early’ is the one I grow — long picking period, great for forcing for February eating. Order bare-root crowns now for December.

Spinach

Sow ‘Tetona’ now in pots or under cloches for crops of baby leaves through winter and into spring. In cold gardens try the closely related spinach beet and rainbow chard.

Strawberries 

Plant now to give roots time to establish over winter. ‘Alice’, ‘Darlisette’ and ‘Elsanta’ are all winners.

Sweetcorn

The tastiest are the Xtra-Tender varieties that are so sugary you can eat them like apples and they keep in the fridge for weeks. Sow in spring and plant out after the frosts.

Tomatillos

Like a tangy tomato but easier as not affected by blight. Grow in the same way, planting out after the frosts. The fruits are fabulous in salsa.

Tomatoes 

‘Apero’ and ‘Black Krim’ have the best flavour but always make space for the less interesting but reliable and early ‘Tumbler’ and ‘Gardener’s Delight’. They produce even if the summer is poor.

Unusual crops 

Check out James Wong’s new seed range that includes colourful and reliable callaloo, popcorn and chop suey greens, along with ‘Electric Daisies’ – edible flowers that taste of “fizzy sherbet and nine-volt batteries”!

Vines 

If you have a sunny spot, the seedless ‘Perlette’ and ‘Suffolk Pink’ are delicious. From Lancashire northwards they will need the protection of greenhouse, but what better excuse to invest in one. 

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