Cottage Garden

GROW VEGETABLES 

GROW YOUR OWN VEGETABLES

Make the most of your own vegetable garden with Sue's expert advice for growing vegetables and exotics.

WHAT ARE THE EASIEST VEGETABLES TO GROW?

Radishes are really easy to grow vegetables and will be ready to harvest in less than a month. Just sow them thinly and cover with a little fine soil. Fresh young radishes are much less spicy than from the supermarket-Spinach is easy grow vegetables too and can be eaten raw in salads when young, or steamed. Don't worry about sowing rows, just sprinkle some seeds in a small area and pick off the leaves when they're ready. That's the way to easy grow vegetables! Dwarf French beans and courgettes are quick to grow too - it's best to start them off in pots indoors in early
May and plant out when they're a few Inches high. Allow lots of space for courgette plants as they get quite big!

HOW CAN YOU GET THE MOST OUT OF A VEGETABLE PLOT?

Most vegetables that grow in the garden can be sowed much closer than shown on the packet, especially if you want to pick young, lender crops. Sowing some seeds each week, such as carrots, letcuce and beetroot will keep a succession of produce through the year. Some plants can be
slotted in after others have finished - we sow our leeks in April and plant them when the broad beans have finished. And our autumn/winter cabbages go in after the new potatoes have been lifted.

WHAT VEGETABLES TO GROW IF YOU ONLY HAVE A SMALL GARDEN?

Raised beds are a very good way to use to grow vegetables in a small space. They don't need to be raised much, it's really about defining a snail space for vegetables. We use 1m x1m wooden framed
squares for grow vegetables and pack in as much as we can.

Alternatively carrots grow really well in pots, potatoes are perfect in old compost bags or sacks and salads and leafy crops work perfectly in small wooden trays.  Or try just grow vegetables by sowing a few seeds amongst your ornamental plants. Runner beans look very pretty in flower climbing up a pergola and Rainbow Chard stems look fabulously colorful in borders.

These are very helpful garden tips on how to grow vegetables!