BIG DECISIONS
This is the best season to be planning ahead
You have picked a good time of year to start a veg patch: you can stay indoors for a while yet and take the most important step: sit down and make some crucial decisions. This will guide the degree of success and satisfaction you get from a veg plot, so please take time to get it right. I’m not going to tell you planting distances, or when to sow what – you have the internet for heaven’s sake – I’m going to share, from a few decades of making mistakes, what I have learned makes a difference and what gives the most pleasure.
MAKE A WISHLIST
First – before sketching beds and acquiring tools – decide not what you’d like to grow, but what you want to eat. If it rains at night and shines by day you might get what you ask for, so ask for the right things. Make a wishlist: every crop should be something you can’t wait to tuck in to. I can tell you from experience that hauling sackfuls of something you quite like to your kitchen is an excellent way of finding out what you’d rather be doing. Life is too short to grow ordinary food.
START SMALL
Some will tell you that a veg patch is too much work: this is because they bit off more than they could chew. Start small and build – if you want to – from success, rather than start too big and work back from there; I say this as someone who has continually done the latter, disproving the theory of evolution as I go. If you want a life, don’t follow my example. Life is busy, time fills up: don’t squeeze the rest of it into endless waves of weeding and watering. Remember: even a few pots of herbs can change every meal.
GLUTS OR STEADY HARVESTING?
Ask yourself whether you want gluts or a steadier supply. This is crucial: 10kg of beans ready today
means you have to process them today. This may be ideal if you are labouring under the illusion that everyone you know wants eight jars of runner bean chutney for Christmas; otherwise, you need to sow to suit how you eat, which is little and often.
Check the seed packet for details but, as a guide, if you sow a second batch of salad leaves, peas or beans a month after the first, you’ll have plants ready to take over when the first batch tire.
DECIDE WHAT TO DO IN WINTER
Don’t be one of those gardeners who clears away the last of the summer harvests wondering what next: decide now whether you want to grow through the winter – there are all manner of brassicas, leaves and more to choose from – or if you’d rather take the cold months off. There is no right or wrong. If you decide not to, you can sow green manures (see right) and the soil will be in good heart for spring.
GROW ONLY THE BEST VARIETIES
I can’t emphasise this enough: it takes no more effort to grow the most delicious peas, tomatoes or whatever, than perfectly ordinary ones, so don’t compromise. Read catalogues and seek advice about which varieties are delicious, which suit particular recipes, which thrive in your area.
DIG OR NO DIG?
Investigate no-dig. Charles Dowding has refined and developed this long-standing method of adding layers of compost to the soil surface (mulching), that mimics leaf fall – nature’s way of accumulating organic matter, minerals and nutrients. Digging disturbs the soil ecology and uncovers weed seeds. A no-dig plot takes time to set up, but ongoing work is often reduced. It may not be for you, but do consider it.
UNDERCOVER SPACE
This offers three things: it gives heat-lovers like chillies and tomatoes the best chance of thriving, it provides an engine room to get seedlings under way early and quickly, and it’s somewhere you can garden despite wind and rain. A greenhouse or small polytunnel is good if you have the space, but a windowsill, cloche or one of those weird-looking vertical affairs that looks like a transparent wardrobe will provide the protected, warmer conditions seedlings need.
LIGHT
Most plants like plenty of light to grow well, yet in the hottest months, heat and intense sunlight might require you to offer shade with netting or similar. Read up on your preferred crops and choose their location accordingly. “Right plant, right place” is an adage with much to recommend it. Even shady areas can be filled with plants that thrive: sweet cicely, morello cherries and redcurrants are among the delicious possibilities.
SPACE
Calculate the space you’ll need to grow all of your wishlist: it’ll almost certainly be too much, so prioritise those that take little space and give most flavour and yield.
Vertical plants – peas and beans – will give you repeated harvests in a couple of months without taking much floor space.
Cut-and-come-again harvesting – picking or chopping off salads and chard 5cm above the soil as you need them allows the roots and heart of the plant to grow more leaves. These can be picked again in a week or two. Expect three to five pickings per plant.
Try interplanting a quick crop of radish sown with slow-germinating parsnips, or planting in swathes as you might an ornamental garden; or make the most of walls with climbers, espaliered or fanned fruit, and grapes. Containers are an excellent way of extending your veg patch on to areas of paving.
DON’T WALK WHERE YOU GROW
Create paths that allow you to reach to the middle of every bed and use planks to stand on if necessary; this avoids compacting the soil.