This season’s seven vegetables:

Sweetcorn

Michael: “Sweetcorn is very temperamental and dependent on a good summer. But it is really worth sticking with because you never experience the true taste of sweetcorn until you’ve grown it yourself.” Sowing: Sow indoors in small pots about 2-3cm deep, one seed per pot. Don’t do this until May. They will need temperatures of 20°C to germinate so a warm sunny windowsill or a heating mat is required. Harden off well before planting out.

Peppers

Michael. “Peppers are easy to grow. They can grow so well in a pot and they are so prolific that you can get 40 or 50 chillies from one plant.”

Sowing: Peppers need a long growing season and so the earlier you get started the better your chance of producing good, ripe fruit. Get the seeds sown in February on a heating mat if you can and they can take up to two weeks to germinate.

Courgette

Karen: “Up to last year I had never grown courgettes before but they are relentless once they start. We called them the weapon of mass production.”

Sowing: Sow the seeds indoors in pots at a depth of 2cm from April. They will need a temperature of 20°C to germinate so leave the pots on a sunny windowsill. Feed and water well. Harden off well and transplant in June.

Pumpkin

Michael: “We go mad buying butternut squashes, imported from wherever, but we can grow pumpkins really well in this country but don’t tend to eat them, which is weird.” Sowing: Sow seeds in early May individually in 7cm pots and about 2cm deep. The pots will need to be kept on a heating mat or a sunny windowsill. Transplant them to larger pots after about three weeks and leave indoors before hardening off to plant in rich soil outdoors when there is no more risk of frost.

Kale

Michael: “It’s easy to grow once you get it through the summer as it has big problems with pests then, so it needs to be covered.”

Sowing: Sow them in module seed trays – sow one or two seeds in each module 1.5cm deep from April to late June. Thin out the weaker seedling. Kale will germinate in about a week and will be ready for planting out about six weeks later.

Onion

Michael: “We grew our onions, a mixture of white and red, from sets (small partly grown onion bulbs) so that was easy-peasy. Karen grew her onions in a window-box so you can grow them most any place.” Sowing: Sets: sow 10cm apart in rows 20cm apart in March/April. Hold off if the weather is very cold – onion sets won’t do well in cold, damp soil.

French bean

Karen: “We grew two varieties. There was the green bean in the glasshouse and in the raised beds and container we grew the dwarf beans. Sowing: Sow two seeds per pot 5cm deep in late April or early May; you can sow again in July for a late summer crop.