'Grow Your Own Vegetables' Guide.
Our incredibly passionate Head Gardener has put together a handy guide, not only to encourage you to enjoy your garden, but to also think about how you might be able to grow your own Vegetables! This could be an activity to get the whole family involved in, wouldn't it be lovely to tuck into a delicious dish made with home made vegetables?!
Many different Vegetables and Salads can be grown easily and quickly at home, all of these can sown and harvested in a fairly short space of time.
- Lettuce
- Radish
- Salad Rocket
- Spinach
- Beetroot
- Cucumber
- Courgettes
- Baby Carrots
- Spring Onions
- Kale
Some like Radish, Carrots and Spinach are best sown outdoors or into large containers filled with compost, with these it is best to wait until the soil has warmed up, or start them in a greenhouse/conservatory.
1. Make a small shallow trench approximately ½ inch deep, sow the seed thinly then cover it and water in well with a watering can and rose.
Indoor sowing is a great way to get things started early, any plant pots and compost can be used but try to avoid brands which contain a lot of nutrients meant for hanging baskets etc.
2. Part fill the pot, firm the compost gently then water with a watering can and rose. Now scatter/sieve a thin layer of compost over the top.
3. With small seeds scatter over the top being careful not to sow too much, some seeds require light to germinate so always read the instructions on the packet, most should be covered with a very thin layer of compost. Do not water them again.
4. The pots should be covered with a small piece of glass or sealed inside a plastic bag and placed somewhere warm to germinate, a sunny window ledge is fine. Most seeds will germinate quite quickly, Lettuce often in a few days, as soon as you can see the leaves remove the cover and continue to water carefully.
5. Once the seedlings are big enough use a pencil to lift them out and pot into a tray, a standard seed tray will hold 40 seedlings in rows 8x5.
6. Keep them warm and watering carefully, once big enough they can be planted out into the garden or large containers. Keep sowing small amounts of seeds regularly to keep a constant supply of small tasty vegetables.
Please do keep us updated with your progress, we would love to see your hard work!