If you’ve never grown vegetables before but always wanted to have a go, perhaps this is your year. However, I must warn you that growing edibles is addictive. Until three years ago I hadn’t grown any vegetables apart from a few herbs, but now I can’t envisage my gardening year without them. It’s not only that they taste so much better (which they do) and that you know exactly what’s gone into them (which you do), but also there is something undeniably rewarding and satisfying about eating veg that you have grown yourself.
In your first year keep it simple and try a few things out to see what you have success with. Although some vegetables will grow in partial shade (salad leaves, beans and spinach), the sunnier the better for most. If you have a small garden you can grow many vegetables in pots, containers and raised beds as long as you water regularly. Unless you have plenty of space I’d forget about slow-burners such as onions, leeks and parsnips in your first year. Brassicas such as cauliflowers, cabbages and broccoli can be tricky to grow, take up space and are slow to mature.
You can sow seed yourself or buy small plants from a garden centre to grow on at home or buy them when they are ready to go straight into the garden. “Sow indoors” means to grow from seed, in a frost-free greenhouse or on a windowsill, in small pots or modules ready to be planted out mid to late May. “Sow direct” means that you can sow straight into the ground. Read the packets and always thin out if recommended after germination to give each plant room to mature. To avoid gluts and to ensure a long season of cropping, sow little and often (every two weeks), especially with salad leaves and annual herbs.
My recommended starter crops
French beans They come in climbing varieties, which will need support (bamboo wigwam), or dwarf varieties, which don’t. They loved to be picked; the more you pick the more you get. Sow under cover now; sow direct from May onwards. They like moist, fertile soil — 12 weeks to cropping.
Advertisement
Sweet corn Technically a slow-burner (about five months to cropping), but in my view it has the most noticeable difference in taste between home-grown and shop-bought of all the veggies. Plant in blocks rather than lines because they are wind-pollinated. Plant squash (or substitute with courgettes) between the corn plants and climbing beans up their stems. Sow under cover now; sow direct in May. Suitable for any soil except waterlogged — 20 weeks till cropping.
Courgettes These are prolific once they get going, so three plants per family is ample. Pick as soon as they are ready or they will turn into marrows overnight. Keep picking and they’ll keep producing. Sow under cover now; sow direct in May. They like moist, fertile soil with plenty of compost — 15 weeks till cropping.
Salad leaves The leaves can be picked and eaten at any stage and the plants respond by producing more. Many good ready-mixed varieties to buy include rocket and mustard leaves for a kick. You can sow in neat lines or “broadcast” sow a small area, which can be easier and more productive. Sow the seed more densely than the packet suggests for cut-and-come-again salads. Sow direct about now; moist but well-drained soil — about eight weeks to cropping.
Herbs Perennial and shrubby herbs such as thyme, sage, mint and rosemary will form the basis of your herb garden. However, tender annuals such as coriander, basil and dill can easily be grown by sowing in pots now to be transplanted or direct a little later.
Catch crops These are fast-maturing plants that can be grown in any available gaps ensuring that the ground is used as productively as possible. Radish, spring onions, small lettuce and spinach are good.