A beginner’s guide to growing your own veg in the New Year By Hannah Stephenson, PA If you’re planning to turn over a new leaf in the new year and want to grow your own vegetables, expert grower Resh Gala has some simple tips and tricks.
If you have tall raised beds or deep containers you don’t necessarily have to fill them up with compost.
“I don’t recommend that you just go and dig up some soil from your garden because you might have very heavy soil that’s difficult to work or light soil which is lacking in nutrients,” she says.
“You want the soil that you use for growing veg to be high in nutrients and organic matter.”
She believes that the secret to success lies in starting small.
For raised beds, the RHS recommends a general potting mixture of three parts organic matter (such as garden compost, leafmould or well-rotted manure), two parts sharp sand and seven parts topsoil.
“I think the daunting part is when people try to turn the entire back yard into a large vegetable garden and want to do everything at once.” says Gala,whose new bookVegetable Gardening Made Easy takes newcomers through the basics.
Gala recommends five easy edibles for first-timers to grow.
Here’s her advice…
1. Mint
Choose your location carefully
The easiest edibles to grow are herbs, she says, and especially mint. “This is really hard to kill, but don’t plant it in the ground, plant it in a container as otherwise it will take over as it’s very invasive. “People think mint is just for summer to put into wonderful refreshing drinks and to add as a garnish, but you can dry the leaves and then crush them, turn them into a powder and make delicious herbal teas.”
“The most important thing is to start with selecting the right location, in your back garden or on your patio, deck or balcony, and make sure that you find the location that gives you the maximum amount of sunlight,” she says.
Then you can choose what to grow your veg in, whether it’s a regular bed, a raised bed or a pot.
Be cost effective
2. Lettuce
“When you’re a first-timer, you don’t want to go all out spending money on all the bells and whistles, so I highly recommend growing in containers when you start out,” she says. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, as long as you drill holes in the bottom of the container, you could grow veg in large buckets or other recycled containers. “Growing bags are another option, or old breathable sacks (such as potato sacks).You might be able to get them at a farm shop.”
“Lettuce is extremely simple and cost effective.As a beginner you don’t want to feel overwhelmed about how deep you should plant and space the seeds,” she says. “The advantage with lettuce is that you can randomly sprinkle the seeds on the soil, barely covering them and just make sure the soil stays moist, until you see the seeds start to germinate.”
You can easily grow lettuce in containers and they will also grow in lower temperatures in autumn and winter.
Think about soil
66 | mccarthyholden.co.uk
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