Surrey Homes | SH65 | March 2020 | Good Living supplement inside

Garden
manure pellets and blood fish and bone can be added
at planting time if the crop requires an extra boost.
Easy Peas-y
The least troublesome crops to grow will depend to a
certain extent on your soil, but some well-behaved plants
manage to do well whatever the circumstances. On my
light soil I’m usually successful with leeks and onions,
roots, such as beetroot and carrots, and also salads and
herbs. On heavier clay soils, which are more nutrientrich,
brassicas – cabbage, broccoli and, if you firm them
in really well, Brussels sprouts – should flourish. Soil type
aside, the list below would make a general starter pack:
Peas and broad beans – start these off directly in the
ground now, but only if mice can’t detect them (remember the
mouse in Mr McGregor’s garden with the pea in her mouth?).
Beetroot and perpetual spinach – sow this early or
Top left: Beetroot Top right: Cabbages and kale Above: Small
Chantenay carrots can be grown in containers
late and avoid the height of the summer when these
crops can bolt (or buy bolt-resistant varieties).
Loose leaved lettuce – you can harvest this over a long
period by picking the outer leaves and allowing the rest to
keep growing. Loose leaved, as opposed to varieties with
‘hearts’, won’t run to seed so quickly in hot weather.
Short carrots – these are much easier and quicker to
grow than the longer ones and are good in containers.
Kale – can be grown all year and is as handsome as it
is nutritious, but watch out for pests such as white fly
and cabbage white caterpillars in the summer months.
You can grow the above all from seed, or buy them as
little plug plants and plant them straight out. Buying
plants isn’t cheating – it is the quickest, simplest way to a
successful harvest, but remember that the garden centres,
a bit like the supermarkets, are choosing varieties for their
own reasons, so flavour might come lower down the list than
something like heavy cropping, or uniform shape and size.
Best Value
The vegetables that will give you the best value for money are
those that crop prolifically, such as courgettes, climbing beans
and tomatoes. Go easy on these super producers (you’ll know
if you’ve overdone it if you catch your neighbours crossing
the road when they see you). One or two courgette plants is
definitely enough to feed a family, if not the neighbourhood.
Gluts also have a habit of appearing just when you go on
holiday too – avoid this by picking heavily just before you
go, which should give you a small gap for a week or so.
These crops are tender and won’t tolerate frosts, so
don’t be tempted to plant them out too early (or too
late). Late May is usually when half-hardy vegetable
(and bedding) plants are safe to be left outside.
Water-wise
Plants that bear fruits and pods may need watering in dry
spells once they start to flower and set fruit. I try to keep
watering to a minimum, and dig a ‘bean trench’ under beans,
courgettes and squashes. This involves digging a hole/trench
18-24 inches deep earlier in the season and filling it with
kitchen scraps, cardboard, organic matter – the sort of things
you’d put on a compost heap. Then finish with a layer of
earth to plant into. The vegetables will have a nutritious and
moisture retaining root run, so you won’t have to water
105 surrey-homes.co.uk