Last spring and summer I grew vegetables for the first time. I had some successes and few failures, and overall it was a really rewarding experience. Now it's January and so I am starting to plan what I am going to grow this upcoming season. Ordering seeds has made me think about what I learnt and what I wish I had known before I had started last year. So if you're new to growing vegetables and you think you might like to try it, then give this post a read.
1. I needed more room than I thought
Plants can be monsters; in the growing season they expand at an alarming rate. This past summer my courgette plant completely took over my raised bed (see the monstrosity in the picture above). While it produced many fine courgettes, it meant that I didn't have as much room to grow other vegetables. I hope with more experience I will know how much room to leave, but in the mean time, I could pay more attention to the planting instructions on the seed or plant labels as they usually give recommendations on how much space to leave (Yes I am not very good at following instructions).
2. Grow vegetables you use a lot in your cooking
This seems like an obvious one, but sometimes it can be tempting to grow all kinds of different crops rather than thinking about the vegetables you actually know you will enjoy and use reguarly, especially as you are likely to have gluts of certain crops, Which brings me to my next point...
3. Find lots of preserving tips, recipes or join a local community where you can swap produce
Research ways to make your harvest last way into the winter - for example, runner beans freeze well, chillies can be dried and cucumbers and courgettes make fabulous pickles and preserves. Alternatively you could always arrange a produce swap with a local community - an allotment, or perhaps your neighbours - especially if you have grown something they haven't, or if their crop has failed. Recently I heard about a fantastic website and app called Olio (https://olioex.com), which is dedicated to reducing food waste. It would have been very useful this past summer, when I could have opened a courgette shop if I wanted to, and I fully intend to use it next year, should I have any surplus veggies to give away.
4. Plastic seed modules are handy
So this year I planted seed in plastic modules and then transplanted the seedlings to their final growing positions. This made the whole process seem easier for several reasons. First of all I could start sowing earlier in the year under cover (well if I had been better organised I would have). Secondly I could easily protect young seedlings from the hot intense sun of summer 2018, as they would have been scorched in their final growing locations if they had been sown directly. Finally sowing in modules is great if you are a bit short of growing space, which I am. It makes it easier to keep up continuous sowing for a more constant supply. When an older batch of seedlings are planted out in their final growing spot, I can sow a second and even a third batch in module trays, ready to plant out as soon as the first batch have been harvested.
5. I got distracted by ‘pretty’ cultivars when I would have been better to research varieties with reputations for being easy to grow and great tasting
I grew the radish ('Bluemoon') in the picture above purely because I thought the cultivar was so pretty. I also grew French Breakfast radishes, which were reliable, tasty and yes, the traditional radish colour. The fancier Bluemoon cultivars germinated, but most of them failed to grow and the ones that did grow often didn't taste like radishes should. This might have been because of an error on my part, or perhaps the past hot summer was hard on them. However radishes are a really easy crop to grow, and I think it is more likely that this cultivar just doesn't perform as consistently as the traditional varieties. My main point is this: Growing interesting or unusual cultivars can be fun, but when you are starting out it is probably best to grow the previously tried and tested varieties until you feel more confident to try something a little wackier.
6. My tomatoes took ages to ripen
Last summer I couldn't work out why my tomatoes were taking ages to ripen. For what seemed like weeks, they remained stubbornly green. As it turns out, the optimum temperature for ripening tomatoes is 21°C to about 24°C, and temperatures any higher than 29-30°C can actually stop the ripening process. So don't assume its anything you are doing wrong and just give it a bit more time. If tomatoes are starting to turn red, but taking their sweet time, you can pick them and ripen them up inside to speed up the process.
7. If you are short of room, then go for fast growing varieties that you can harvest regularly.
Yes growing a pumpkin is an amazing achievement and I would definitely be giving myself a high five if I did grow one. However crops like this take up a huge amount of room and the fruit takes a long time to form. So to make the most of the space you do have, I recommend growing vegetables that germinate quickly from seed and give a regular return. Salad crops such as radish and spring onions are good examples, and in the summer you are likely to eat them regularly. Perpetual spinach puts out new baby leaves ready for picking merely days after the last harvest in the growing season. If you feed tomatoes plants, they will keep producing more fruit, as will jalapeños!
8. Slug tape is expensive but it does work
Slugs and snails are the Gardener's nemesis but putting slug pellets down just doesn't bode well with me, so I am always on the lookout for organic ways to deter them from my plants. It's important to protect seedlings and young plants from pests, because they can be totally annihilated if a peckish slug passes by. For some reason copper keeps snails and slugs away, and you can get copper tape to stick around pots and keep your plants protected. Its quite costly, around £5 a roll, but it does work and stops slugs and snails dying needlessly.
9. I wish I had grown winter veggies
One thing I do regret is that I didn't think about what I was going to grow over the winter. Apart from a few carrots, which I harvested in October, I have nothing edible growing now. The only sign of life in my raised beds is the garlic I planted in September, which won't be ready to harvest until next summer. So I recommend thinking about what you might want to harvest in the winter at the same time as what you would like to harvest in the summer, as you will need to get winter harvest crops started in the summer. I am planning to grow winter cropping sprouting broccoli, leeks and carrots for harvest next winter. I will let you know how it goes.
10. Growing vegetables from seed is satisfying, but the best part is harvesting food that you have grown on your own land, so do buy ready-grown vegetable crops from the garden centre if you have neither the time nor inclination to grow from seed.
Not everyone has the space or time to grow plants from seed, and it's quicker and easier to buy ready to plant vegetables from the garden centre. If you buy them early enough in the season, you can get really healthy plants which you can grow on to reap the rewards. While sowing from seed is cheaper, ultimately the whole point is to harvest fresh food from your own garden, so don't think its lazy or cheating if you spot some ready to plant veggies at the garden centre - go for it!
I hope this post has been helpful and inspired you to try growing vegetables yourself.
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