Hugh’s tips for no-waste growing
Sow little and often That way you get small harvests, which are spread out. I like to keep peas and broad beans going all summer. I’ll sow some in pots in the polytunnel and because they’re fairly frost hardy, I’ll get them outside in March if I can and then do a direct sowing around May. Early-sown peas will be ready in June and later ones in August. From the first peas off a row, you’ve still got a month of cropping, so you can have lovely fresh peas all summer.
Sow quick crops in gaps I’m not one of those people who plans meticulously in an exercise book. I plan spacing and a bit of rotation but I keep an eye out for what might be ready, where the gaps are and what could go in those gaps – quick crops like radishes are ideal. You’ll get more harvests out of your veg plot, and when you’re picking regularly you’re more likely to notice when other crops are reaching their peak or need a bit of attention.
Make several harvests I harvest some things early, particularly if I’ve put in a lot. I’ll start eating baby carrots when they’re not much bigger than my little finger even if from the same row – three or four months later – I’m pulling up huge donkey carrots. Eat your thinnings too.
Grow food that you can get excited about I like to grow half-grown onions and eat them when they’re fresh and green – they look like giant spring onions, and are great on the barbecue.
Grow food guaranteed to taste better home-grown I grow peas and broad beans because they are never as good in the supermarket, where they have been sitting around in their pods and can go quite starchy. There’s only one way to enjoy popping the pods and having a fresh pea – you cannot buy that freshness, you’ve got to grow it.