Alan’s guide to great veg
Growing veg is easy and productive once you know the pitfalls to avoid. Follow Alan Titchmarsh’s expert guide to get your best-ever harvest
He explains how to guarantee bumper harvests whatever you want to grow
t’s customary, when writing about veg growing, to begin by waxing lyrical about the f lavour, the tenderness and the freshness of home-grown produce. But then any fool knows that. The real reward is the sense of satisfaction and achievement. Yes, I admit there are frustrations to be faced when growing your own food – from pests and diseases to droughts and frosts – but we do it because we love doing it. And because there’s a kind of integrity about vegetable gardening – a primal instinct to keep body and soul together. The trick is to try and reduce the chances of things going wrong. Any garden can produce vegetables, whatever its size, provided the conditions are right and aspirations are tailored to circumstances. Where space is at a premium, salads can be grown in pots and windowboxes, and tomatoes in hanging baskets. What I want to do here is make sure you stand the best possible chance of getting a decent harvest, and that means giving the plants themselves the best possible chance of doing well. Oh, and there are two important things to remember: first, only grow crops that you enjoy eating. Obvious? Only perhaps after you’ve sown a row of every possible veg, in a fit of early spring passion, then find that half of them run to seed because no one in the family likes eating them. The second is to ensure no crop goes short of water. Dryness at the roots will bring growth to a halt and may cause plants to run to seed. Evenly moist earth is the best way to ensure success with all vegetables. Whatever you decide on, now is a great time to start on soil preparation and seed ordering. Never, ever, sow any seeds when the ground is too cold or too wet. But seed selection can be done at any time (and the seeds then stored in a cool, dry place), and the soil can be prepared whenever it’s not frozen or soggy. Well-rotted manure and a good general-purpose fertiliser are essential helpmates in food growing.
Now is a great time to start on soil preparation and seed ordering